When questioned about her comments about white people she made her Twitter private.
QUICK FACTS:
- The chief diversity, equality, and inclusion officer at the Department of Defense’s education branch sent a number of derogatory tweets about White people on Twitter.
- Kelisa Wing, the DEI chief at the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA), calls herself a “woke administrator.”
- Wing provides K-12 education to the DoD community in the U.S. and internationally, and has not been quiet about her own political views on twitter, saying she was “exhausted” with white “folx.”
- Additionally, the DOD DEI official criticized a participant in her class’ “CAUdacity” for saying that black people can be racist. Wing went on to call the participant a “Karen.”
- When journalists reached out to Wing for comment, she changed her Twitter settings to “private” without responding.
SOME OF WING’S COMMENTS:
- In June 2020, Wing said, “I’m exhausted with these white folx in these [professional development] sessions.”
- “[T]his lady actually had the CAUdacity to say that black people can be racist too… I had to stop the session and give Karen the BUSINESS… [W]e are not the majority, we don’t have power,” she continued. “[B]eing antiracist means being active against racism… you will NEVER arrive… stop centering this on whiteness,” Wing said.
- The term ‘caudacity’ is commonly used as a slang term to describe the audacity of caucasian people.
- At another time, Wing responded to a comment on her social media which said, “I am exhausted by 99% of the white men in education and 95% of the white women. Where can I get a break from white nonsense for a while?” by saying, “If another Karen tells me about her feelings… I might lose it.”
BACKGROUND:
- DoDEA directs “education programs for school-age children of Department of Defense personnel” and “provides support and resources to Local Educational Agencies throughout the United States that serve children of military families.”
- Wing previously co-created a children’s book which says white people need to confess their privilege and were hurting black people by having benefited from unearned advantages.
- The book stated, “Overcoming White privilege is a job that must start with the White community.”