NASA’s DEI training under fire for linking ‘objectivity’ and ‘individualism’ to white supremacy
A diversity, equity, and inclusion training video posted online allegedly showed a NASA engineer expressing guilt over not being equally welcoming to all races.
The video begins with the supposed engineer discussing her desire to “create spaces where people can be all they want to be.”
The woman then said she regretted not making her projects as inclusive as possible.
‘All of these things can really limit the way we go about doing our work.’
“And in doing this work of examining my own intentions and my own actions and their impact, I can see that there’s so much more that I could have done to make the projects I’ve led equally welcoming to black, indigenous, and people of color as the white people they have engaged.”
“I feel a lot of shame and regret about that,” the woman continued. “So I’m looking forward to today’s event and to this whole series as steps in my personal and professional journey to make my work more anti-racist and therefore more effective in reaching my aspiration,” she added.
The video then cuts to a slide in a lesson plan with the heading “white supremacy culture,” which focuses on words and phrases such as “fear of open conflict,” “objectivity,” and even “individualism.”
A person leading the discussion is heard saying how these terms are more important to white people and, as such, are a product of white supremacy.
“All of these things can really limit the way we go about doing our work, and they can really limit the way we are able to connect with communities that come from different cultural backgrounds that don’t value these things the same way that white supremacy culture values them.”
The date of the unearthed video, posted by Tenet Media, is unknown but reflects other lesson plans revealed by the Wall Street Journal in 2022.
The outlet pointed to NASA training regarding “allyship,” which described the term “African American” as making black people feel excluded as if the word meant “other.”
The lesson plan went on to claim that being “colorblind and gender-neutral” is limiting.
“Over the years, we have been taught to act as if we are colorblind and gender-neutral and that no differences exist between people. But these efforts actually limit us,” the lesson claimed.
The slideshows were pointed out by an X user, who noted one of the training modules included a 45-minute session (requiring 50% attendance) regarding “unconscious bias & micro-messages” and “equity & privilege.”
NASA is entrenched in some of the most extensive diversity training of any government entity. Each sector of NASA seems to have its own DEI mission statement on top of an exhausting amount of planning and resources.
NASA’s Astrophysics Science Division, for example, published a breakdown of its demographics in 2022 to promote equity and inclusion.
The results showed that the majority of the division is still male (64%) and white (54.1%). The second-highest demographic is actually “foreign national” at 12.2%, while “Asian” was third-highest with 10.2% representation.
The space agency’s dedication to diversity has, of course, not helped its latest mission on the Boeing spacecraft known as the Starliner. The vessel has been in space for about 12 weeks after what was supposed to be an eight-day mission.
After weeks of delaying announcements about how crew members might return home, NASA finally admitted that it will rely on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon to bring them home no earlier than February 2025.
While crew members learned they would be spending at least an extra nine months in space, Boeing announced that its Starliner spacecraft would be returning to Earth in an uncrewed mission.
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