Seattle Children's Hospital, a renowned medical institution, recently mandated a racially segregated diversity training for its doctors.
The training, which was reportedly divided into three racial caucuses, sparked controversy with its assertion that black individuals are "systematically targeted for demise." It also urged white doctors to delve into their "repressed racial memories" to cultivate a white "race-consciousness."
As reported by The Post Millennial, the training, which took place in August 2022, was compulsory for the hospital's gastroenterology department. The doctors were segregated into a white caucus, black caucus, and a "Non-Black POC Caucus," with the stated aim of "minimizing harm to our black learners and facilitator." The training involved "racial identity development exercises" using materials supplied by diversity consultants, including Robin DiAngelo, the author of White Fragility.
The black caucus was tasked with exploring ways they resist "internalizing anti-Black messages," according to the training slides. The "Non-Black POC" caucus was asked to identify their "anti-Black" actions and to acknowledge that "Black people will always be more susceptible to structural racism than other non-Black people of color."
White doctors were encouraged to "divest" from their "whiteness" and to "unpack their racial stories" by tapping into "repressed racial memories." They were also urged to "commit to practicing racial storytelling with at least one other white person." The training slides further suggested that doctors "need to implement" systems that "prioritize" black patients.
The training also promoted self-segregation post-training, advising "BIPOC learners" to "immerse" themselves "in racial/ethnic experiences and group settings." A slide directed "white learners" to collaborate with other white individuals to foster "racial identity formation," stating, "We believe black stories. We do not question them." It further claimed that any inconsistencies in a story could be attributed to "anti-Blackness" being "not always easily quantifiable by those outside of the Black community who have not shared the lived experience of anti-Blackness."
The training's stated goal was to strive for a world "where Black lives are no longer systematically targeted for demise. We affirm the lives of Black queer and trans folks, disabled folks, undocumented folks, folks with records, women, and all Black lives along the gender spectrum."
The training was led by Roberto Montenegro, a child psychiatrist at Seattle Children's Hospital, who employs a "social justice lens" to help children overcome the trauma inflicted by systemic racism. He was assisted by hospital learning consultant Ashley Jarrett and external diversity trainer April Baker-Bell.
Seattle Children's Hospital, known for its radical policies and a "microaggression reporting system," has been recognized for its efforts to "identify implicit bias and structural racism in clinical scenarios" as part of its "health equity rounds." The hospital's website states, "We build protected spaces for minoritized residents as they undergo training as physicians. In doing so, we hope to build inclusivity while celebrating people's intersectional identities."
The hospital's approach, which aims to "dismantle racism with bottom-up, rather than top-down, pressure," initiated its "Anti-Racism Action Plan" in 2021. This plan called for "organization-wide training" on "equity, diversity, and inclusion." However, the recent training has raised questions about the effectiveness and appropriateness of such racially segregated approaches in addressing systemic racism.
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