On Monday, Reps. Mike Rogers (R-AL) and Jim Banks (R-IN) wrote a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin demanding that he answer for racist comments made on social media by Department of Defense Education Activity Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer Kelisa Wing.
Biden's Department of Defense Education Activity’s chief DEI officer ranted about being "exhausted" by white people.
How is disparaging an entire group of people based on their race "inclusive"?
Chairman @RepMikeRogersAL and I wrote to demand answers.https://t.co/HDpgXCBWv2
— Jim Banks (@RepJimBanks) January 31, 2023
“We write to inquire how you are addressing racially disparaging comments made by a Department of Defense (DOD) official and to what degree her viewpoints are more widely accepted, promoted, or dispersed throughout the Department,” the Republican congressmen wrote. “Our society values the virtues of merit, hard work, and equality of opportunity which distinguish our nation from others. It is outrageous that a DOD official whose job it is to oversee ‘worldwide K-12 education programs for the children of DOD personnel,’ has engaged in racially disparaging comments with clearly inflammatory language on her social media and in other writings.”
The Republicans’ letter refers to Wing’s comments on Twitter, where she identifies herself as a “woke administrator.”
Wing made several racist comments on her Twitter, including one tweet that read: “I am exhausted by 99% of the white men in education and 95% of the white women. Where can I get a break from white nonsense for a while?”
In a book, the racist Biden administration official wrote: “White privilege hurts a lot of people. If you are White, you might not feel bad about hurting others or you might feel afraid to lose this privilege. Privileges like extra money in your pocket that you didn’t earn.”
In another instance, she used the term “CAUdacity” — a combination of the words “Caucasian” and “audacity” — which is a pejorative reference to White people.
“I’m so exhausted at these white folx in these PD sessions this lady actually had the CAUdacity to say that Black people can be racist too… I had to stop the session and give Karen the BUSINESS… we are not the majority, we don’t have power,” Wing wrote.
The Department of Defense Education Activity oversees the abroad K-12 educational opportunities for children of department officials.
Rogers and Banks expressed concern over Wing’s views, questioning whether she might be endorsing similar narratives in DOD schools.
“This kind of divisive rhetoric has no place anywhere, particularly for someone employed in a job whose purpose should be to encourage equal treatment of everyone,” the congressmen wrote. “As Ms. Wing’s behavior wildly betrayed her employment mission, it begs the question of whether her views are more widely held throughout portions of DOD leadership or if they are merely a product of her own intolerance.”
“We sincerely hope these are not the views being propagated to schoolchildren of our service men and women stationed throughout the world,” the letter concluded.
Rogers and Banks also demanded the DOD produce documents related to Wing’s propagation of these views and documents indicating the extent that DOD officials were aware of her comments before she was hired. They also requested any DOD educational materials that may reflect Wing’s views and those that espouse Critical Race Theory or other racially disparaging ideas.
