New York City
‘s government is denying that it required city employees to take
critical race theory
-inspired training, instead clarifying that the city has required employees to complete diversity and inclusion training for years that is unrelated to the hot-button topic.
The mandatory training, sent to all city employees with a March 6 deadline, according to an email
obtained
by Fox News, is completed by employees every two years, a City Hall spokesperson told the Washington Examiner.
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The City Hall spokesperson said it is “irresponsible to equate two separate things as the same.”
“In reality, for years, city employees have completed EEO and Diversity & Inclusion training, and the ‘Everybody Matters: EEO and Diversity & Inclusion Training’ has nothing to do with Critical Race Theory,” the spokesperson said. “Employees have been completing this training every two years, and trainings like these ensure that the city workplace remains a welcoming and fair environment for all New Yorkers.”
Critical race theory has been used as a catch-all
term
for lessons and policies that encourage children to see themselves and others, as well as the history of America,
through the lens of systemic racism.
However, racial equity and critical race theory are
not mutually exclusive
, as critical race theory is primarily an academic framework, while racial equity focuses on racial disparities within a school, workplace, or educational environment.
“The training provides all NYC employees with a framework to understand … the importance of racial equity … in the workplace,” read the training email.
The training reportedly also asked all employees to maintain an “equity lens” within their workforces by creating safe spaces to discuss race and address “unconscious bias” that could negatively affect the workplace.
“To foster equity. Embrace the idea that a problem may exist. Become aware of systematic racism and the possible presence of racial inequity in your workplace. Understand the dominant cultural patterns of your workplace and whether they are hurting or helping your diversity, equity and inclusion goals,” the training reportedly stated.
A source familiar with the city’s training said the person believed it did not align with the city’s promise to treat every staffer equally.
“Where they were discussing equity, how we have to look at people through a particular lens, that contradicted … [the idea that] we should treat everybody equally,” the employee said. “The [racial equity training] leads me to believe that they want the contracts with the city and the hiring from the city being looked at through this lens. And that’s what I think is really unfair. It goes against their [stated claims] … that everybody should be treated equally.”
The training purportedly argued that there was no scientific basis to race, a term the city said was invented to create a system of “exclusion and oppression,” per the email. Several studies and scientists over the years have
argued
that race is a social concept rather than a scientific one.
“Race has no genetic or scientific basis. It is a social construct created to classify people on the arbitrary basis of skin color and other physical features. Despite this, race has a very real impact on people’s lives. This is because our society has used race to establish and justify systems of power, privilege, exclusion and oppression,” the email reportedly read.
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The city’s training presented different types of racism other than “individual racism,” such as policies that “impose oppressive or otherwise negative conditions on identifiable groups on the basis of race or ethnicity,” per the email.
Systemic racism “occurs across multiple institutions and is integrated into politics, culture and other aspects of life. Creating a system that negatively impacts communities of color compared to White communities,” the email read.
