Are racial issues critical to animal healthcare? Who would have such a theory? Evidently, the answer is “veterinary schools.”
Critical Race Theory (CRT) has snagged lightning over the past few years; what is it, exactly? Well, in 2021, Florida’s Board of Education instantiated the following rule:
Instruction on [required historical] topics must be factual and objective, and may not suppress or distort significant historical events, such as the Holocaust, slavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction, the civil rights movement and the contributions of women, African American and Hispanic people to our country…
CNN covered that declaration with the headline “Florida Bans Teaching Critical Race Theory in Schools.” The Associated Press heralded, “Florida Bans ‘Critical Race Theory’ from Its Classrooms.”
Florida’s Section 1003.42(2) offered examples of forbidden instruction:
- The denial or minimization of the Holocaust
- [Defining] American history as something other than the creation of a new nation based largely on universal principles stated in the Declaration of Independence
- Teaching…the theory that racism is not merely the product of prejudice, but that racism is embedded in American society and its legal systems in order to uphold the supremacy of white persons
CRT paints black Americans as the underdog; should it be taught to people who are often under dogs? According to a new study, the majority of the nation’s top ten vet schools say yes.
CriticalRace.org founder William A. Jacobson — and writer Kemberlee Kaye — explain:
[D]EI has penetrated deeply into the training of veterinarians who will take care of your pets, based on claims that “the industry was exclusively for White people” and, as [Cornell University] says, “building antiracism in animal welfare” is needed.
White pet owners “not wanting a Black veterinarian treating their pet” is allegedly pervasive, per the American Veterinary Medical Association.
Legislation targeting pit bulls may reflect “biases towards persons of color,” a University of Pennsylvania graduate thesis says; indeed, “implicit racial bias in the United States adversely affects the welfare” of the breed.
Thought “biases” come into play whenever a vet makes “a judgment toward treatment” — or so insists a paper titled “Preparing veterinary hospitals for greatness through DEI initiatives.”
In 2020, the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges joined with the American Veterinary Medical Association to create the Commission for a Diverse, Equitable and Inclusive Veterinary Profession. Its purpose is three-fold:
- [Promote] the value of diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout the veterinary profession
- [Increase] diversity among veterinarians, veterinary school applicants and enrollees, interns, residents, and board-certified specialists
- [Encourage] and [assist] veterinary medical associations and animal health companies to measure and improve diversity, equity, and inclusion
Th coalition also aims to create “a brave space for DEI issues and discussions, implicit bias and microaggression training.”
Per CriticalRace.org, eight of the country’s top eleven veterinary training institutions host “CRT/DEI curriculum or training; three have school-wide mandatory CRT training.”
The staff and faculty training prognosis is much worse. Eight of the 11 schools have some sort of mandatory faculty and staff training. Six of the 11 integrate DEI into their search and hiring processes.
These days, politics is for the birds. And other animals, too:
Fish Fry: Social Justice Sizzles With the Woke Renaming of a Racism-Riddled Carp
Fish Management’s White Supremacy: Calling Fish Negative Names
Shark Advocates Call for an End to the Word ‘Attacks’ in Favor of ‘Interactions’
Just in Time for Mother’s Day: The World Gets Its First Nonbinary-Named Insect
Racist Parks, Nonbinary Frogs, and the Importance of Public Places for Gay Sex
Legal Journal Publishes Plea for Hate Speech Laws Protecting Animals
Back to veterinary schools, they’re making sure everyone stays in line: A majority of the Big Eleven offer a bias-reporting system so participants can make anonymous DEI accusations against their peers.
Not long ago, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion was mostly nowhere. And “CRT” was a type of computer monitor. But in 2023 — to quote William Jacobson and Kemberlee Kaye — “DEI has gone to the dogs.”