Lockheed Martin sends executives to reeducation training to deconstruct their ‘white male privilege’
Lockheed Martin Corporation, the nation’s largest defense contractor, sent 13 white male executives on a three-day diversity training program to deconstruct their ‘white male culture” and encourage them to atone for their “privilege.”
The diversity training program consisted of a “free association” exercise where the executives were told to list connotations for the term “white men,” including “old, racist, privileged, anti-women, angry, Aryan Nation, KKK, founding fathers, guilty, and can’t jump,” according to documents obtained by investigative journalist Christopher Rufo.
The program was led by the diversity consulting firm White Men As Full Diversity Partners, which claims to specialize in assisting white males “awaken together.” The executives were also asked to respond to a prompt about “what’s in it for white men” to take part in diversity training. Answers included “I won’t get replaced by someone who is a better diversity partner,” “I will improve the brand, image, reputation of white men,” and “I will have a less nagging sense of guilt that I am the problem.”
The executives took part in a “hearts and minds” segment of the diversity training program meant to help them deconstruct their “white male privilege” through a series of “privilege statements,” then working on rebuilding their identities as “agents of change.” The trainers provided the participants with a list of 156 “white privilege statements,” “male privilege statements,” and “heterosexual privilege statements” to read and discuss.
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The statements included: “My culture teaches me to minimize the perspectives and powers of people of other races,” “I can commit acts of terrorism, violence or crime and not have it attributed to my race,” “My earning potential is 15-33% higher than a woman’s,” “My reproductive organs are not seen as the property of other men, the government, and/or even strangers because of my gender,” “I am not asked to think about why I am straight,” and “I can have friendships with or work around children without being accused of recruiting or molesting them.”
The executives were told that white male culture is “devastating” to racial minorities and women, and to understand this, they were given a series of “I’m tired” statements to read from fictitious racial minorities and women. Statements included “I’m tired of being black,” and “I’m tired of you making more money than me,” “I’m tired of Black boys/girls being murdered,” “I’m tired of hearing about how we need a wall at the southern borders but not on the northern borders,” “I’m tired of the desire or comment to remove race—the concept that we should be ‘colorblind.’”
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Last year, President Trump signed Executive Order 13950, banning critical race theory and diversity training programs for federal contractors. President Joe Biden reversed the order on his first day in office.
“A few weeks ago, I BANNED efforts to indoctrinate government employees with divisive and harmful sex and race-based ideologies,” Trump tweeted on Sept. 23.
“Today, I’ve expanded that ban to people and companies that do business with our Country, the United States Military, Government Contractors, and Grantees. Americans should be taught to take PRIDE in our Great Country, and if you don’t, there’s nothing in it for you!” he said in a separate tweet.
Multiple states have made efforts to ban the teaching of critical race theory in schools, including Idaho, where Governor Brad Little became the first in the nation to sign a law banning it. Similar measures have passed in Tennessee, Texas, Arizona, and Oklahoma.