{"id":43409,"date":"2018-12-06T15:09:53","date_gmt":"2018-12-06T15:09:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/12\/06\/va-secretary-defends-departments-commitment-to-diversity-amid-latest-controversy\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T07:40:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T07:40:07","slug":"va-secretary-defends-departments-commitment-to-diversity-amid-latest-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/veterans\/2018\/12\/06\/va-secretary-defends-departments-commitment-to-diversity-amid-latest-controversy\/","title":{"rendered":"VA head defends staff in controversy over response to race riots"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2018\/09\/26\/wilkie-touts-a-calmer-reformed-va-in-his-first-congressional-test\/\" target=_blank>Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie<\/a> said he still has confidence in his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2018\/02\/18\/who-is-in-charge-at-the-department-of-veterans-affairs\/\" target=_blank>top staffers\u2019<\/a> commitment to diversity and anti-discrimination efforts after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/dont-condemn-white-nationalists-veterans-affairs-diversity-chief-was-told-after-charlottesville-emails-show\/2018\/12\/05\/fbff66ce-f41d-11e8-aeea-b85fd44449f5_story.html?utm_term=.144ceba3b999\" target=_blank>a Washington Post report<\/a> Wednesday that showed opposition to department employees speaking out in the wake of racial violence in Charlottesville, Va., last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wilkie called the issue \u201cone that falls on the previous management\u201d and said that in the five months since he has taken over the department, he has focused on moving past the tumult of the department\u2019s leadership shakeup earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhen I started, one of the first directives I took was on inclusion and equal opportunity, same thing as when I worked at the Pentagon,\u201d he said at a telehealth event on Thursday morning. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t have anyone on the team who wasn\u2019t dedicated to that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/2018\/10\/24\/union-demands-investigation-into-va-officials-painting-honoring-kkk-founder\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"158\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/VA-sign.JPG.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Union demands investigation into VA official who displayed painting of KKK leader<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The painting was removed after a Washington Post story earlier this week detailing employee complaints about the racial issues it was causing.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/dont-condemn-white-nationalists-veterans-affairs-diversity-chief-was-told-after-charlottesville-emails-show\/2018\/12\/05\/fbff66ce-f41d-11e8-aeea-b85fd44449f5_story.html?utm_term=.144ceba3b999\" target=_blank>The Post report <\/a>included email exchanges between Georgia Coffey, then a senior executive at VA overseeing diversity issues, and John Ullyot, VA\u2019s top communications official, in the wake of the August 2017 riots in Charlottesville.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the days that followed, President Donald Trump said there was \u201cblame on both sides\u201d for the violence, prompting questions about his attitude towards white nationalism. The VA secretary at the time, David Shulkin, condemned the incident and added that \u201cwe know that staying silent on these issues is simply not acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Coffey at the time pushed for a forceful condemnation from senior VA leadership to the violence. Ullyot advised for a more muted statement and said employees were to \u201ckeep their personal views on the Charlottesville issue out of official VA communications.\u201d Officials say that directive came from Shulkin, and was not designed to prevent employees from speaking out against racist activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the email exchange, Ullyot backed Coffey\u2019s plans to remind VA employees of the importance of diversity and inclusion but offered other edits to minimize what he saw as personal views encroaching on an official department statement. She rejected that approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Coffey eventually posted her statement on a VA site, only to have it removed by leadership shortly thereafter. She resigned from the department a few weeks later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">VA officials told the Washington Post the issue was not one of diversity but one of department messaging and insubordination. Wilkie offered support for Ullyot on Thursday, calling him \u201ca dedicated public servant\u201d and adding \u201cI don\u2019t know the full story of what Dr. Shulkin ordered or didn\u2019t order.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2018\/09\/26\/wilkie-touts-a-calmer-reformed-va-in-his-first-congressional-test\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_18269745000658.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Wilkie touts a calmer, reformed VA in his first congressional test<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Just two months into his tenure leading VA, the new secretary promised significant culture changes for the department.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The incident is the latest in a series of racially tinged controversies for the department and the Trump administration. In October, federal union officials demanded an investigation after a separate Washington Post report uncovered a senior VA official who prominently displayed a picture of a Ku Klux Klan leader in his office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">VA\u2019s Office on Diversity and Inclusion has been without a permanent head since early this year, when the former head, John Fuller, retired amid concerns with the administration\u2019s approach to the topic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A news report found senior VA officials opposed plans for a forceful statement against white nationalism in the wake of the Charlottesville riots.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":68386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":19,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[100,23,93,12,25,68,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3334],"class_list":["post-43409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress","category-veterans"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"UKVANRAMXFFCNKV6PNSRYAQHFI","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/2018\/12\/06\/va-secretary-defends-departments-commitment-to-diversity-amid-latest-controversy\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>VA head defends staff in controversy over response to race riots - Army Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A news report found senior VA officials opposed plans for a forceful statement against white nationalism in the wake of the Charlottesville riots.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"VA head defends staff in controversy over response to race riots\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A news report found senior VA officials opposed plans for a forceful statement against white nationalism in the wake of the Charlottesville riots.\" \/>\n<meta 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