{"id":5494,"date":"2023-09-08T20:32:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-08T20:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=5494"},"modified":"2023-09-08T21:04:18","modified_gmt":"2023-09-08T21:04:18","slug":"national-archives-and-records-administration-embraces-dei-federal-equity-trainings-at-taxpayer-expense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=5494","title":{"rendered":"National Archives and Records Administration Embraces DEI, Federal Equity Trainings at Taxpayer Expense"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/www.wisconsinrightnow.com\/national-archives-and-records-administration-2\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\"National<\/p>\n

A closer look at the federal agency that sparked former President Donald Trump\u2019s first federal indictment shows that it has embraced far-left diversity, equity and inclusion policies.<\/p>\n

The little-known federal agency called the National Archives and Records Administration was thrust into the national spotlight after it tipped off the U.S. Department of Justice over Trump\u2019s alleged mishandling of classified documents.<\/p>\n

On its website, the agency calls itself a \u201cnonpartisan, independent\u201d group. A deep dive by The Center Square into its records show it has embraced ideology around gender and race and has reportedly been unwilling to hand over some records of President Joe Biden to investigators.<\/p>\n

In its 2022 budget<\/strong><\/a> request, the federal agency asked Congress for more than $28 million and nearly 150 news staff to \u201cadvance racial equity and support underserved communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA program increase of $20,052 thousand and 144 FTE to advance racial equity and support underserved communities,\u201d the budget said. \u201cThis request includes funding to address staffing needs across the agency and funds targeted recruitment activities to ensure a diverse pool of applicants to help increase the diversity of NARA\u2019s workforce.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of the record-keeping agency\u2019s equity spending, which has been encouraged and in some cases mandated by Biden since he took office, include a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion action plan.<\/p>\n

NARA\u2019s latest 2022 DEI plan<\/strong><\/a> pledges to double down on equity training for employees \u201cto strengthen and foster an inclusive workforce.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNARA will demonstrate leadership commitment through developing a DEIA recognition program that will reinforce a culture of equity and inclusion,\u201d the plan says.<\/p>\n

In NARA\u2019s most recent strategic DEI plan, the agency essentially pledges to work to get more minority applicants and leadership and lower the percentage of leading white Americans in the agency. The group\u2019s 2012 report<\/strong><\/a> defines minorities as \u201call categories of current and potential employees identified as non-white.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNARA will provide training and support to hiring managers to increase the diversity of the NARA workforce,\u201d the agency said, also pledging to \u201cmitigate biases\u201d and create \u201csafe spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n

The agency said these recommendations came from a report created by the NARA Task Force on Racism that delivered a document to the agency\u2019s leadership in 2021 recommending more training on things like \u201cwhite privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAddress offensive behavior by staff with specific training on white privilege and systemic racism,\u201d the report<\/strong><\/a> said.<\/p>\n

The task force also defines \u201creverse racism\u201d as \u201ca fallacy that refers to discrimination against White people\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnti-racist activists in the U.S. have largely deemed reverse racism to be impossible, as the power structure of the United States has historically benefited White people and continues to do so today,\u201d the report said. \u201cReverse racism is often confused with racial prejudice against White people, which does exist, but lacks the systemic relationship of power that would qualify such prejudice as racism.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report acknowledges not all employees agree with the equity agenda but says \u201dthe work of the Task Force needs to be done despite varying opinions and hurt feelings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Notably, that same agency worked to get classified documents back from both President Joe Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence, neither of whom were charged, though NARA did reportedly inform the DOJ about both.<\/p>\n

NARA leadership has rebuffed any claims of political bias or motivation, including in the agency\u2019s role in Trump\u2019s indictment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe National Archives has been the focus of intense scrutiny for months, this week especially, with many people ascribing political motivation to our actions,\u201d Debra Steidel Wall, the acting archivist at the time, said in a memo to employees last year.<\/p>\n

The agency has also come under scrutiny recently from the House Oversight Committee\u2019s Republican leadership. The Committee\u2019s chair, U.S. Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., has spearheaded the Congressional investigation into Hunter Biden\u2019s overseas business dealings and the president\u2019s alleged role in them. Comer has also raised questions about political motivation at the agency.<\/p>\n

IRS whistleblowers have testified that the Biden family and associates received roughly $20 million via about 20 overseas shell companies.<\/p>\n

Comer has called for evidence from NARA, including details on whether Hunter Biden used Air Force 2 at taxpayer expense to help with the deals, but said NARA has pledged to potentially withhold some Biden records if it deems them to be \u201cpersonal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, \u2018personal records\u2019 are defined as those records \u2018which do not relate to or have an effect upon the carrying out of the constitutional, statutory, or other official or ceremonial duties of\u2019 the Vice President,\u201d Comer said in a letter to Archivist of the United States Colleen Shogan. \u201cThe Committee has made clear that its investigation involves potential abuse by then-Vice President Biden of his official duties; it cannot be NARA that determines whether certain records \u2018do not relate to or have an effect upon\u2019 those duties.\u201d<\/p>\n

This national spotlight on NARA has drawn scrutiny.<\/p>\n

\u201cA taxpayer-funded agency, such as NARA, should not be staffed with one political party\u2019s affiliates, while the other party\u2019s affiliates are threatened with termination \u2013 assuming they manage to get hired at all \u2013 for protesting DIE ideology,\u201d Mason Goad of the National Association of Scholars, told The Center Square. \u201cBut you are extremely unlikely to hear DIE advocates, at NARA or any other agency, advocate on the behalf of conservatives for the sake of \u2018diversity,\u2019 \u2018inclusion,\u2019 or \u2018equity.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

NARA did not respond to a request for comment on its equity policies but told The Center Square it would respond to Comer\u2019s requests for information.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the Archives is doing is making those who work there, and those who hope to be hired or promoted, sign a loyalty oath not just to one political party, but to the extremist wing of that party,\u201d Mike Gonzalez, an expert at the Heritage Foundation, told The Center Square. \u201cThe way the words in DEI are now defined, each of them lead to unconstitutional measures, too, so not proper for government use. This is the case for the unconstitutional quotas of \u2018diversity,\u2019 the language codes of \u2018Inclusion,\u2019 or the unequal treatment of races of \u2018equity.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Casey Harper
\nGo to Source<\/a>
\nReposted with permission<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/www.wisconsinrightnow.com\/national-archives-and-records-administration-2\/ A closer look at the federal agency that sparked…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":5496,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wi-right-now"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5494"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5497,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5494\/revisions\/5497"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}