Local and state government agencies in California spent approximately $1 billion on critical race theory diversity training for employees during the past two years, a new consumer protection watchdog report disclosed.
“Diversity, equity, and inclusion is becoming California’s newest billion-dollar industry — on the taxpayer’s dime,” Will Coggin of the Center for Organizational Research and Education told Fox News. “It’s everywhere from kindergarten classrooms to the Department of Fish and Wildlife.”
DIVERSITY TRAINING FORCED ON SAN DIEGO HEALTHCARE WORKERS
The Department of Fish and Wildlife spent $49,500 expenditure for contracts to conduct employee racial equity workshops, and the California High-Speed Rail Authority spent $29,000 on consultants to create a diversity task force, the report stated.
“Instead of effectively addressing issues like housing, crime, or homelessness, California officials have chosen to line the pockets of well-connected diversity consultants,” Coggin told Fox News.
Another state agency listed in the report was the Department of Conservation, which spent nearly $180,000 in the last fiscal year on diversity projects, including $88,000 on critical race theory training and $9,000 to purchase Ibram X. Kendi’s book How to be an Antiracist. The book was distributed to senior oil and gas engineers in the Geologic Energy Management Division.
Then the Department of Water Resources spent $414,000 on diversity goals for 2020 and 2021. This funding was part of $854,000 that the agency budgeted for its Office of Workplace Equality in fiscal year 2021, which grew by another $52,000 the following year.
The report was the result of nearly 400 public record requests to local and state agencies along with school districts asking for documentation of diversity and critical race theory expenditures. Such activities make up “a vast and growing component of taxpayer-funded spending at all levels of California government,” the report said.
The expenditure tally was about $500,000 during the fiscal years spanning 2020 to 2022. However, only half the agencies responded to the records request, and the Center for Organizational Research and Education estimated that the complete total is approximately $1 billion.
Below the state level, data show counties spending $110 million and cities spending $90 million on diversity programs.
Last year, the Washington Examiner uncovered diversity training that was forced upon unwilling employees of the San Diego Health and Human Services Agency. Critical race theory classes taught participants that “Racism is a WHITE” problem and “only white people can be racist.” The title of the course was “Power and Privilege.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
One participant said the training was completely one-sided and offensive.
“This training is lumping people into groups, and it has not explained how some (minority) individuals have succeeded in this systemically racist country — like Barack Obama, NBA/NFL players who make millions, Dr. Ben Carson, Oprah, and Whoopi Goldberg, to name a few,” the employee said.
