DEI Colleagues: Your Anti-Semitism is Showing

Time for an ideological reckoning

Antisemitism / DEI

DEI COLLEAGUES: YOUR ANTI-SEMITISM IS SHOWING

Time for an ideological reckoning

Tabia Lee, EdD

Toxic ideologues are ruining America’s institutions of higher learning. This is something I know firsthand. This spring, my tenure review process as a Faculty Director for the Office of Equity, Social Justice, and Multicultural Education at De Anza College, a California Community College, was subverted by Critical Social Justice (CSJ) ideologues who after two years were successful with a termination campaign that they had initiated less than two weeks into my employment. These people found odious and unacceptable my efforts to bring people together to identify common definitions of the terms diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), to think critically about and to better understand the ideologies that emergent institutional understandings of anti-racism were rooted in, and to bring about a campus culture that was more inclusive of the diverse population of students that it serves. For these efforts, I was branded a “White supremacist,” a “right-wing extremist,” a “dirty Zionist,” and called “the wrong kind of Black” among many other things. However, while ideological extremists did manage to successfully strip me of my livelihood, instead of silencing my voice, they have only amplified it and I am thankful to serve as a Senior Fellow with Do No Harm Medicine seeking to raise awareness about the CSJ ideologies that are corrupting the medical field and the education of medical students in too many institutions.

To the average person, CSJ ideology may sound like a whole lot of gobbledygook. However, it is important to understand CSJ ideology as a way of viewing the world that spread like wildfire during the pandemic and has gotten us mired in a civic and educational landscape wherein we’re increasingly obsessed with thinking and talking about race and gender identities. In CSJ narratives, America is a nation founded on White supremacy that must be dismantled by any means necessary. In the CSJ worldview, each person has a role to play as a victim or an oppressor representing their racial tribe or gender identity group and the goal of education becomes creating activists that are committed to righting the wrongs of so-called systemic racism by centering the identities, knowledge, and experiences of BIPOCs (Black, Indigenous People of Color) as supreme over the identities and experiences of Whites and staying “woke” or vigilant about the racism and gender identity oppression that CSJ adherents claim is ever present in every interaction or disparity. A CSJ worldview encourages people to view all human interaction through a matrix of privilege, power, and oppression, and demands that all make Ibram X. Kendi’s so-called anti-racist maxim—“The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination”—the fulcrum of educational and civic policies. The ultimate goal of CSJ ideology is a vision of society where equality of outcomes, in every meaning of the phrase, is manifested by any means necessary.

Unfortunately, I learned the hard way and in real time about CSJ Ideology during my time at De Anza College. For example, the proponents of CSJ-infused DEI that led my tenure review process and their colleagues emphatically told me that it was not important to raise awareness about Jewish inclusion or anti-Semitism because to their eyes, Jews are “White oppressors,”and the State of Israel is a “genocidal, settler colonialist state.” These sincerely held CSJ-infused beliefs are rife with historical inaccuracies about the great diversity of the Jewish diaspora. CSJ represents an ideological buffoonery that I had not previously imagined prior to my very personal encounter with its proponents.

I came to have many questions: How could a people, the ancient Israelites of Judea and Samaria, those indigenous to the land in question, genuinely be considered either settlers, occupiers, or colonialists? Where are the accounts and records of the Arab genocide that purportedly took place and that, according to tired CSJ activist talking points, purportedly continues to take place every day? The willful ignorance of these ideological zealots who refuse to recognize the historical facts about Jewish indigeneity is staggering. Their refusal to acknowledge the Arab Israelis, a diverse group that includes Arab Christians, Secular Humanists, Muslims, and Mizrahi Jews alike who live in peace as citizens in the Nation of Israel is telling. Make no mistake, according to the deluded CSJ narrative, the two million Arab Israeli citizens that were also violated by Hamas’s terrorist actions on October 7th deserve what they are getting because they’ve internalized systemic oppression. The CSJ story of Israel’s past and the telling of its present is largely predicated on lies that we must no longer accept merely because how loudly or forcefully they are professed. Enough is enough.

While perhaps we can all agree that there was colonial interference in the region that has brought us to the messy state of affairs that we continue to navigate as humans committed to peace, I and others point to the historical record that said colonial interference and mucking about has always been more rooted in mostly European-led efforts at regional interference and dominance than attempts at subjugation or oppression by the Israeli government. This happens to this day via, for example, bodies such as the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East which scholars like Einat Wilf argue exists solely to keep the people of Palestine as perpetual refugees. This is why when I notice events being promoted by medical departments on American campuses that talk about “freeing Palestine,” and ending funding for Israel during its time of greatest need after the brutal, ongoing assaults by Hamas, or DEI officers and the social movements they align with making and supporting statements that the horrific terrorism against the nation of Israel that we are all witnessing is a “natural response to colonization” or “a natural consequence of Jewish oppression of the Palestinian people,” it makes my stomach turn. 

In recent days, I have witnessed with great horror and concern DEI offices and student governments at public and private institutions of learning funding and promoting the activities of groups like White Coats for Black Lives (WC4BL) and its offshoot White Coats Protecting Black Lives (WCPBL). I wanted to know more about who these people with nearly 100 chapters in public and private medical schools across the nation were and what they stood for, so I read their Vision Document which informed me that their job is “two-fold: 1) dismantling dominant, exploitative systems in the United States, which are largely reliant on anti-Black racism, colonialism, cisheteropatriarchy, White supremacy, and capitalism; and 2) rebuilding a future that supports the health and well-being of marginalized communities.” From their Chapter Guide, I learned:

“White Coats for Black Lives Chapters are groups of medical students or house staff who organize themselves to promote racial justice and fight white supremacy at their hospital or medical school.”

Furthermore:

“WC4BL is committed to Black queer feminist tactics, which include the following:

• Centering the voices and needs of Black people, particularly queer and trans people, women/femmes, and non-binary people

• Avoiding, in general, symbolic actions such as ‘moments of silence’ or wearing of buttons that are divorced from demands for material changes in the lives of BIPOC people, such as redistribution of wealth and healthcare resources, abolition of police and other carceral institutions (including campus and hospital security), and the elimination of separate and unequal systems for providing healthcare.” (WC4BL Chapter Guide, p.2) 

I discovered that in many medical schools, organizations like WC4BL are working with Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI Offices) and Student Governments to fund “health justice” certificate programs for their students that emphasize things like elevating White supremacy, race ideologies, gender identity ideologies, anti-racism, defunding the police, and organizing for CSJ ideology instead of focusing on improved medical competencies or compassionate care for all. To learn that our public university medical students, who take an oath to do no harm and whose profession used to center around healing and bettering the lives of people, have since 2014 been participating in and promoting participation in bizarre exercises like “Die-Ins” that only serve a purpose of virtue signaling allegiance to the Black Lives Matter platform to target White guilt and glorify death was an eye-opener of the worst kind.  

However, what drove me to speak out was witnessing promotion of events that are anti-Israel and anti-Zionist during a time when we have all witnessed the grotesque and barbaric attacks by Hamas, including attacking and indiscriminately murdering hundreds of innocent people dancing at a music festival, and the coordinated and unprecedented attacks on largely unarmed Israeli civilians from land, air, and sea, including taking hostage and brutalizing holocaust survivors, women, babies, toddlers, and children, as well as slaughtering and burning families alive.

It has been devastating to see CSJ activists in America dancing in the streets and celebrating these actions. What could lead to such depraved actions and why would any medical professional committed to promoting health and life participate? It is helpful to review both the WC4BL Statement on Palestine Solidarity and Resisting Israeli Apartheid and a petition being circulated by WC4BL local chapters titled Healthcare Workers Against Palestinian Genocide if you seek better to understand the typical CSJ talking points that underlie the toxic mind virus that has infected far too many American institutions of higher education. To me, these are warning signals to all of us of a CSJ-infused DEI activism targeting medical students that has gone horribly wrong.

I provide here but a sampling of social media posts that helped me learn more about what medical students on American campuses are focused on and what is being promoted by and to our future medical professionals and the groups they hold up as social justice giants:

The imagery used by and activities of our future medical professionals are deeply disturbing, especially when you consider that CSJ-infused DEI has captured far too many campuses and is creating toxic learning environments for all students wherein activists aligned with groups like WC4BL and WCPBL foster cultures that actively exclude and silence pro-Israel students and create a hostile environment for anyone that identifies as a Zionist. In fact, this is part of a wider anti-Semitic offensive that is being documented by organizations like the AMCHA Initiative which tracks anti-Semitism on American college campuses and in its most recent report explained that assaults on Jewish identity are rapidly escalating and that these attacks include:

attempts to redefine Jewish identity by dissociating Zionism from Judaism, pitting Zionism against progressive values, and denying that anti-Zionism is antisemitism, which increased by 75% over the last year with 41% more affected schools; efforts to denigrate and shame Zionist Jews by accusing them of undue privilege, power and control, which rose by 218% with over 105% more affected schools; and attempts to purge Zionism and Zionists from campus life, which increased by 232% with over 113% more affected schools.

 Often, when directly confronted, CSJ-informed activists will quickly claim that they are not anti-Semitic, and they attempt to draw distinctions between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. However, as Scott Shay reminds us, the whole debate about anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism in the academy is a diversion, because while the majority of anti-Zionists support the self-determination of most peoples, they categorically reject the national self-determination of the Jews in any form (including all articulations of the two-state solution). It is more important than ever to recognize that anti-Zionism is the new anti-Semitism and it must not be tolerated, even as CSJ ideologues intentionally malign and confound Zionism.

Let us all be clear about what Einat Wilf reminds us: we should make no mistake,  Zionism is a political movement for liberation and self-determination of the Jewish people in their homeland which includes the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. The land of Israel is not just rooted in a religious history, it is rooted in a political history that spans thousands of years. It is rooted in ancient Israelite and Judaean sovereignty to the land. And in this light, Israel has every right to defend herself against terrorism and to do so without equivocation or appeasement. America, as a longstanding ally and friend, should rightly support sustaining this effort until terrorism is rooted out and eradicated from every corner of Israel,  so that it remains forever shining as a beacon of hope for democracy in the Middle East.

However, CSJ-infused DEI holds a strong influence on student groups and is influencing all disciplines in the academy and our civic and religious lives in toxic ways. These are sad days indeed when we see rallies for Iran-backed terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah on our American campuses. It is an ironic tragedy to see student activists so misinformed, waving the very LGBT Pride flags next to Palestinian flags that would get them beheaded or worse without question in Hamas and Hezbollah strongholds. In their smug ignorance, they do not understand that Israel is the sole country in that region of the world that tolerates diverse viewpoints and identities where they could even dare, and indeed be welcome, to fly both of those flags for any reason. 

It is time for members of the public and the families of philanthropists and donors for which many of these medical schools are named to become more aware of organizations like WC4BL and WCPBL and the ways that their ideologies are shaping and influencing future generations of medical professionals. I want people to know that the celebration of terrorism against Israel being done in the name of “Black Lives”  does not reflect the viewpoints of all Black people. It is also important that the administrators who oversee these CSJ-infused medical student organizations and the student governments and the DEI offices that often fund as well partner with them get a clear and quick understanding that anti-Semitism in the form of anti-Zionism is not just morally reprehensible and the very opposite of inclusion, it’s illegal too.

When the organizations that are training our future medical professionals support and promote hate-laden speech and anti-Semitism in the form of anti-Zionism they show their hands as CSJ ideologues that are contributing to a world where medical professionals prioritize their pledges to take a knee or lay down on the ground to protect the CSJ ideological orthodoxy over their oaths to do no harm. The world is watching, and we will not forget.

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Tabia Lee, EdD, a founding member of Free Black Thought and Senior Fellow for Do No Harm Medicine, has contributed to the design, implementation, and evaluation of numerous educational and professional development programs. Her commitment to teacher education and pedagogical design is grounded in her experience as a lifelong educator and a National Board Certified English, Civics, and Social Studies teacher in urban American public middle schools. Dr. Lee prepares K-12 and higher education faculty to work with diverse communities by focusing on better understanding ideology-in-practice and the pedagogical and curricular implications of race, gender, and other ideologies. Her Race Ideologies Resource Site, featuring interactive dialogical activities and resources for exploring race ideologies, may be found here and her consultancy website may be found here.