The American Academy of Dermatology on Sunday voted to reject a proposal to end its diversity, equity and inclusion programs, in what Black dermatologists are calling a small victory for the organization and the field in general.
The academy, a nonprofit organization of dermatologists in the U.S. and Canada, has been embroiled in DEI-related controversy since February, when dozens of members co-authored a resolution looking to put an end to DEI initiatives and programs being implemented in the institution. The group called the resolution “Sunsetting all diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs” and held that the “DEI movement” would do more harm than good to the branch of medicine. News of the resolution spread quickly, with several news outlets detailing the diversity battle brewing in the AAD.
After a race scandal involving the CEO at my job, we’ve all been taking DEI training. The latest one took months to complete. They aren’t one-off “be nice to each other” bs webinars. They’re deep dives into the history and origins of racism, from the feudal lords in Europe inventing indentured servitude and how that morphed into slavery, to redlining and how that impedes generational wealth.
The only reasonable conclusion you can come to, if you honestly engage with the material, is that capitalism and its interests lie beneath all forms of discrimination and inequity. Corporations were all into DEIA when they thought it was good PR that made them look good to customers and improved staff morale. But then, the material starts giving those employees ideas. That’s what this recent push-back on DEIA is about.
See, and I think more people could benefit from those. Our DEI training is like a 15 minute video and then a 7 question quiz. “Karen called Sharon the N word in an email, was that bad??!? (Y/N)”. It really is no wonder that a large swath of people think dei is a joke. In a lot of places it IS a joke.
If you’re interested, try this: https://mvmt10k.org/
Site’s broken
It’s back up as of last night.
I can’t say I’m surprised there are racist doctors. After 14 years dealing with over a dozen doctors and chronic illness I can tell you being a doctor doesn’t make you a good or compassionate person. Although there are some good and compassionate doctors.
For very smart people, Doctors seem unusually prone to dumb and/or shady ideas. My pet theory is that, if they’re going to succeed in a hypercompetitive, rigorous, and important field, they’re forced to specialize so early (in a general “pick a career” sense, not the later medical specialties sense) that they end up both not well-rounded and lavishly praised for their intelligence and confidence. That sounds like a recipe for confirmation bias to me.
Any “applied” science like medicine or engineering leads to overly pompous assholes who think that their knowledge in one specific field makes them a genius at everything.
Oh wow. They actually chose the word sunsetting about ending policies against discrimination. They’re either
A) total idiots,
B) mask off about wanting to return to a time where black people weren’t allowed in some towns after sunset or
C) both
I’m guessing C.
