It doesn’t really matter how smart or cute you think your pet might be. What matters is whether Buddy is also an anti-racist.
If he’s not, or even if you’re just not sure, you must tune in to the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges’ 2022 conference, where Nikole Hannah-Jones, the founder of the New York Times’s ahistorical “1619 Project,” will be giving the keynote address. She’ll be focusing on a topic that is absolutely vital to the advancement of animal medicine: diversity, equity, and inclusion.
“The AAVMC’s annual conference is considered one of the leading professional development events in international academic veterinary medicine,” the group said in an announcement this week. “Hundreds of educators and other leaders from the veterinary medical profession gather every year for a three day-symposium that features respected thought-leaders from around the world, explores issues and opportunities, shares best practices, and focuses on diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
Here are just a few of the sessions the conference will include: one on the “Use of a Hackathon to Design a Longitudinal Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Thread in a Laboratory Animal Medicine Residency Program,” another on the “Health and Wellbeing Among LGBTQ+ Veterinary Professionals and Students: The Impact of Institutional Climate,” and last but not least, one on “Our College Community’s Response to Challenges Following the Death of George Floyd.”
It’s good to know the veterinary association is focused on what’s really important. After all, no one wants to take his dog into a clinic just to find out that the vet neutering Fido doesn’t support Black Lives Matter.
And the AAVMC really could not have chosen a better person to educate our veterinary experts. Hannah-Jones’s bold take on history, which includes her recent claim that Europe is not actually a continent, will guarantee our vets are exposed to views with which no one of substance agrees. By the time she’s done, our vets will be ready to lecture everyone (humans and animals alike) on the evils of America’s founding. What more could one want?
