A 2024 resolution for the VA: Scrap 'diversity, equity and inclusion' ideology

This is the time of year when people traditionally make resolutions to break bad habits and improve themselves with a fresh start. So this year, for 2024 the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) should end the bad habit of employing diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) ideology in its operations.

Regardless of any good intentions involved, the ideology underlying these programs is toxic. It is creating far more problems than it is solving.

In suggesting that the VA end the DEI programs, I do not mean it should abandon their stated goals just because they have been usurped by radical activists. In fact, the department's Equal Opportunity programs have an excellent track record of protecting against unlawful discrimination and promoting fairness based on merit. We do not need DEI to achieve those goals.

There are several problems with DEI which justify ending the programs. For some, the cultish behavior of adherents may be enough. For others, it is the realization that even the common understanding of the words diversity, equity, and inclusion have been scrapped by radical activists to have entirely new, ideologically charged meanings.

"Diversity" has ceased to mean bringing people together from different backgrounds; instead, under DEI, it means enforced ideological conformity. "Equity" once meant creating equal opportunities and ending discrimination. Under DEI, it means equal outcomes through active discrimination and increased government control. "Inclusion" once meant welcoming more people from different backgrounds. But when DEI activists say it, they mean discrimination against anyone with a viewpoint that does not fit their ideological narrative.

After the horrifying attack in Israel on Oct. 7 shocked our consciences, Americans were shocked to see students, many at our most elite educational institutions, taking to the streets, many in open support of antisemitism. This is a legacy of DEI programs, which create a hierarchy of victimhood in which Israeli and even American Jews are second-class citizens.

So was the resultant and abhorrent testimony from presidents of three elite educational institutions, who made clear that antisemitism and threats were almost the only form of free speech they were genuinely willing to defend on their campuses.

The DEI ideology has infiltrated nearly every institution, and even the medical profession has not been immune. This includes psychiatrists espousing fantasies of killing white people, to restricting access to potentially life-saving treatments if the patients were white.

The cult-like recitations of DEI nostrums at medical school events, rooted in oppressor-versus-oppressed political ideology, will not instill confidence in patients seeking treatment. Under DEI dogma, individuals are seen as representatives of groups rather than as having the inherent dignity and worth that the medical profession is supposed to respect in the individual patient.

And this is precisely the concept that fuels the justification of wishing harm against those deemed as representatives of “oppressor” groups, as noted above. Although it has taken far too long, some doctors are finally speaking out about the potential for this ideological capture of medicine to harm patients.

Reports continue to materialize as the public becomes more aware of the radical political nature of DEI programs and their potential for harm. Diversity trainings have consistently shown to be ineffective for various reasons. For example, many focus on "implicit bias" with no mention of the lack of evidence for this concept.

The VA has had recent challenges with topics related to viewpoint diversity and antisemitism. It seeks to be an organization where veterans want to seek treatment. Yet, some practices, such as racially segregated treatments, have raised concerns.

It is clear now that continuing DEI will not have the desired goal, because the underlying ideology is focused on dividing people, not on improving health care or health outcomes. We can and should do better.

Dr. Edward Waldrep, a veteran of the Iraq War and Purple Heart recipient, is a clinical psychologist for the Department of Veteran Affairs specializing in post-traumatic stress disorder. His views expressed here are not necessarily those of the Department of Veterans Affairs or any other organization.