Seattle Children’s Hospital segregates doctors by race to train them to ‘divest’ from ‘whiteness’

According to slides obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, the August 2022 training was mandatory for the hospital’s gastroenterology department. The doctors were divided into three "racial caucuses," a white caucus, black caucus, and "Non-Black POC Caucus," to "minimize harm to our black learners and facilitator."

Each caucus worked on "racial identity development exercises" from material provided by diversity consultants, including White Fragility author Robin DiAngelo.

According to the slides, the black caucus was asked to how they worked “against internalizing anti-Black messages." The "Non-Black POC" caucus was asked "which of your actions are anti-Black" and "how Black people will always be more susceptible to structural racism than other non-Black people of color."

White doctors were instructed to "divest" from "whiteness" and "unpack their racial stories" by drawing on "repressed racial memories" as well as "commit to practicing racial storytelling with at least one other white person." One of the slides told doctors they "need to implement" systems to "prioritize" black patients.

Doctors were encouraged to self-segregate after the training ended and told that "BIPOC learners" should commit to "immersing" themselves "in racial/ethnic experiences and group settings."

One slide said "white learners" should work with other white people to foster "racial identity formation," noting, "We believe black stories. We do not question them," claiming that if a story doesn’t add up it is because "anti-Blackness" is "not always easily quantifiable by those outside of the Black community who have not shared the lived experience of anti-Blackness."

According to the presentation, "We are working for a world where Black lives are no longer systematically targeted for demise. We affirm the lives of Black queer and trans folks, disabled folks, undocumented folks, folks with records, women, and all Black lives along the gender spectrum."

The training, was led by Roberto Montenegro, a child psychiatrist at Seattle Children's Hospital, who "uses a social justice lens to help children and youth surmount the trauma inflicted by systemic racism(s).” He was joined by hospital “learning consultant” Ashley Jarrett and an outside diversity trainer named April Baker-Bell.

Seattle Children's, which has a "microaggression reporting system," is known for its radical policies.

According to the Free Beacon, residents "identify implicit bias and structural racism in clinical scenarios" as part of the hospital's "health equity rounds." Case-based conferences address "issues of equity, bias, and racism that play out in medical settings today," and residents can also join race-based affinity groups that provide "safe spaces to process sensitive resident experiences related to diversity, equity and inclusion."

The hospital's website states, "We build protected spaces for minoritized residents as they undergo training as physicians. In doing so, we hope to build inclusivity while celebrating people's intersectional identities."

The hospital claims its approach will "dismantle racism with bottom-up, rather than top-down, pressure began its "Anti-Racism Action Plan in 2021 that called for "organization-wide training" on "equity, diversity, and inclusion."