The Pentagon official who oversees diversity, equity and inclusion for the Defense Department’s schools is at the center of an inquiry from lawmakers who said she made “racially disparaging” comments.
Now, Kelisa Wing, who has led diversity efforts for the Department of Defense Education Activity 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.
“No, I did not make disparaging comments against white people. I would never categorize an entire group of people to disparage them. I’m speaking now as a private individual, about my private free speech from July of 2020,” she said.
At issue is a tweet Wing sent that month, before she was appointed to her current position.
“I’m 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 … I had to stop the session and give Karen the BUSINESS … we are not the majority, we don’t have power.”
Wing’s 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 first reported on Sept. 13 about remarks made by Wing before she took on her current position.
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. . . .
. . . . In another tweet from 2017, Wing described herself as a “woke administrator.”
Wing told Military Times that, for her, “woke” means “being conscious, being aware, being aware of my surroundings, being aware of everything … that’s what it means to me and what it’s always meant to me.”
In their letters to Austin, the House representatives also referred to comments in books associated with Wing, saying she “reportedly disseminated her woke invectives.” The books are part of a series of children’s books on racial justice in America, with titles including “What Does It Mean to Defund Police,” “What is White Privilege?” and “What is Anti-Racism?”
The front covers of the books list each author and “with Kelisa Wing.” However, Wing said, “I want to go on record that I’m not the author of those books.” She describes her role as a “content adviser,” helping lay out what the general themes and purposes of the chapters should be.
A review of all the DoDEA school libraries by the group Open The Books, a nonprofit government watchdog, found that 11 of the schools collectively carried 45 copies of these racial justice series books. . . .
. . . . “It is outrageous that a DoD official whose job it is to oversee ‘worldwide K-12 education programs for the children of DoD personnel’ has engaged in racially disparaging comments with clear inflammatory language on her social media and in other writings,” wrote Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, and Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., chairman of that committee’s military personnel subcommittee.
“To date, no meaningful answers have been forthcoming,” Rogers and Banks noted.
Rogers and Banks are asking for answers by Monday. They want all materials related to whether DoD officials were aware of Wing’s comments before hiring her.
They are also asking for all materials used by DoDEA, including educational materials, that promote “the exclusion, denigration, discrimination of any individual or group of people on account of race or ethnicity, critical race theory, or culpability of any living person for historical actions.
In addition, they are seeking all early childhood and primary school course information, and any material related to service members’ parental rights over their children’s “educational formation.” . . . . . (read more on Military.com)
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