{"id":72795,"date":"2023-02-10T22:35:49","date_gmt":"2023-02-10T22:35:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/02\/10\/dod-schools-diversity-chief-responds-to-racism-claims\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T14:26:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T14:26:14","slug":"dod-schools-diversity-chief-responds-to-racism-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2023\/02\/10\/dod-schools-diversity-chief-responds-to-racism-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"DoD schools diversity chief responds to \u2018racism\u2019 claims"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Pentagon official who oversees diversity, equity and inclusion for the Defense Department\u2019s schools is at the center of an inquiry from lawmakers who said she made \u201cracially disparaging\u201d comments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, Kelisa Wing, who has led diversity efforts for the Department of Defense Education Activity<\/a> since December 2021, is pushing back against those claims in an exclusive interview with Military Times. She emphasized that she is speaking only as a private citizen and educator, and not on behalf of DoDEA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo, I did not make disparaging comments against white people. I would never categorize an entire group of people to disparage them. I\u2019m speaking now as a private individual, about my private free speech from July of 2020,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At issue is a tweet Wing sent that month, before she was appointed to her current position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m so exhausted at these white folx in these PD [professional development] sessions this lady actually had the CAUdaacity to say that black people can be racist too \u2026 I had to stop the session and give Karen the BUSINESS \u2026 we are not the majority, we don\u2019t have power.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wing\u2019s tweets have since been removed along with most of the videos on her web page, and her Twitter account is now set to private. FoxNews.com<\/a> first reported on Sept. 13 about remarks made by Wing before she took on her current position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wing told Military Times that tweet must be considered within the context of that day. The professional development session was was not affiliated with DoDEA, she said. It was held outside of work on a day when she was off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was in a space where I was the only person of color,\u201d she said. It was in the wake of George Floyd\u2019s murder in 2020. \u201cThe purpose of that was people wanting to reconcile what was happening at the present time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the middle of that session, someone just called out, \u2018Well, Black people are racist, too.\u2019 It didn\u2019t have any context to what we were talking about, and I started to explain to her that yes, everybody can be racist. But we\u2019re talking about systemic racism and how that impacts people and their ability for housing, their ability for a lot of things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s something that I thought we were there to discuss.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lawmakers also cited press reports stating that Wing tweeted she was \u201cexhausted by 99% of the white men in education and 95% of the white women.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those reports are wrong, Wing said. Fox News correctly reported in September that the tweet was made by another Twitter user, she said. Fox reported that she responded to the tweet, saying \u201cIf another Karen tells me about her feelings \u2026 I might lose it \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Somehow, a follow-up story in December attributed the original tweet to her, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is now gaining traction at other news outlets and in Congress, and \u201cit\u2019s an absolute lie,\u201d Wing said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe truth is important. I never would say anything like that,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s in direct contradiction and misalignment to who I am and who I\u2019ve been my entire life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can\u2019t advocate for equity and access and opportunity and then not be willing to advocate for myself when an injustice is happening for myself,\u201d she added. \u201cI have to stand up at some point, and this is the right time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the first press reports<\/a> appeared in September, lawmakers have been pressing defense officials to respond to their concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That same month, 20 Republican lawmakers, including members of the House Armed Services Committee, wrote to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, demanding to know whether DoD officials were aware of Wing\u2019s tweets before they placed her in her current position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawmakers also asked Austin whether DoDEA endorses \u201cthe ideology\u201d in those tweets, and whether it\u2019s been incorporated into the curriculum proposed by DoDEA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The House members followed up with a second letter to Austin on Jan. 30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is outrageous that a DoD official whose job it is to oversee \u2018worldwide K-12 education programs for the children of DoD personnel\u2019 has engaged in racially disparaging comments with clear inflammatory language on her social media and in other writings,\u201d wrote Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, and Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., chairman of that committee\u2019s military personnel subcommittee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo date, no meaningful answers have been forthcoming,\u201d Rogers and Banks noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n