March 22, 2022 | Originally Published May 6, 2021 by Christopher F. Rufo

The Walt Disney Corporation famously bills its amusement parks as âthe happiest place on Earth,â but inside the companyâs headquarters, a conflict is brewing. In the past year, Disney executives have elevated the ideology of critical race theory into a new corporate dogmaâand bombarded employees with trainings on âsystemic racism,â âwhite privilege,â âwhite fragility,â âwhite saviors,â and launched racially-segregated âaffinity groupsâ at the companyâs headquarters.
I have obtained a trove of whistleblower documents related to Disneyâs âdiversity and inclusionâ program, called âReimagine Tomorrow,â which paints a disturbing picture of the companyâs embrace of racial politics. Although the intention of the program might be noble, multiple Disney employees, who requested anonymity out of fear of reprisals, told me that the Reimagine Tomorrow program has become deeply politicized and engulfed parts of the company in racial conflict.
The core of Disneyâs racial program is a series of training modules on âantiracism.â In one module, called âAllyship for Race Consciousness,â the company tells employees that they must âtake ownership of educating [themselves] about structural anti-Black racismâ and that they should ânot rely on [their] Black colleagues to educate [them],â because it is âemotionally taxing.â The United States, the document claims, has a âlong history of systemic racism and transphobiaâ and white employees, in particular, must âwork through feelings of guilt, shame, and defensiveness to understand what is beneath them and what needs to be healed.â Disney recommends that employees atone by âchalleng[ing] colorblind ideologies and rhetoricâ such as âAll Lives Matterâ and âI donât see colorâ; they must âlisten with empathy [to] Black colleaguesâ and must ânot question or debate Black colleaguesâ lived experience.â
In another module, called âWhat Can I Do About Racism?,â Disney tells employees that they should reject âequality,â with a focus on âequal treatment and access to opportunities,â and instead strive for âequity,â with a focus on âthe equality of outcome.â The training also includes a series of lessons on âimplicit biases,â âmicroaggressions,â and âbecoming an antiracist.â The company tells employees that they must âreflectâ on Americaâs âracist infrastructureâ and âthink carefully about whether or not your wealth, income, treatment by the criminal justice system, employment, access to housing, health care, political power, and education might be different if you were of a different race.â
In order to put these ideas into action, Disney sponsored the creation of a program called the â21-Day Racial Equity and Social Justice Challengeâ in partnership with the YWCA and included the program in the companyâs recommended resources for employees. The challenge begins with information on âsystemic racismâ and asks participants to accept that they have âall been raised in a society that elevates white culture over others.â Participants then learn about their âwhite privilegeâ and are asked to fill out a white privilege âchecklist,â with options including: âI am white,â I am heterosexual,â âI am a man,â âI still identity as the gender I was born in,â âI have never been raped,â âI donât rely on public transportation,â and âI have never been called a terrorist.â
Next, participants learn about âwhite fragilityâ and are asked to complete an exercise called âHow to Tell If You Have White Fragility,â with beliefs such as âI am a good person, I canât be racistâ and âI was taught to treat everyone the sameâ interpreted as evidence of the participantâs internalized racism and white fragility. Finally, at the conclusion of the 21-day challenge, participants are told that they must learn how to âpivotâ from âwhite dominant cultureâ to âsomething different.â The document claims that âcompetition,â power hoarding,â âcomfort with predominantly white leadership,â âindividualism,â âtimeliness,â and âcomprehensivenessâ are âwhite dominantâ values that âperpetuate white supremacy cultureââand must be rejected.
In the same collection of resources, Disney also recommends that employees read a series of how-to guides including â75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justiceâ and âYour Kids Are Not Too Young to Talk About Race.â The first article recommends that white employees âdefund the police,â âparticipate in reparations,â âdecolonize your bookshelf,â âdonât gentrify neighborhoods,â âfind and join a local âwhite space,ââ and âdonate to anti-white supremacy work such as your local Black Lives Matter Chapter.â The second article encourages parents to commit to âraising race-consciousness in childrenâ and argues that âeven babies discriminateâ against members of other races. The resource includes a graphic that claims that babies show the first signs of racism at 3 months old and white children become âstrongly biased in favor whitenessâ by age 4.
Finally, as part of an initiative labeled âCEO sponsored priorities,â Disney has launched racially-segregated âaffinity groupsâ for minority employees, with the goal of achieving âculturally-authentic insights.â In the original launch, the Latino affinity group was called âHola,â the Asian affinity group was called âCompass,â and the black affinity group was called âWakanda.â The racial affinity groups, also called Business Employee Resource Groups (BERGs), are technically opt-in for all employees, but in practice, have become almost entirely segregated by race, with the occasional exception for white âexecutive championsâ who attend on behalf of corporate leadership. âThe thing that this company does very well is they know politics, so they leave many things unspoken,â said one employee, who is a racial minority and said that the affinity groups are intended to be racially-segregated spaces. âI donât think anyone has necessarily even tried to attend something that they would discover that theyâre not welcome at.â
Multiple Disney employees told me the political environment at the company has intensified in recent months. There are âalmost daily memos, suggested readings, panels, and seminars that [are] all centered around antiracism,â said one employee. The company is âcompletely ideologically one-sidedâ and conservative and Christian employees are actively discouraged from expressing their views. âI attended several [training sessions] at the beginning just to see what the temperature of the discussion would be and to gauge if I would be able to bring up my own objections in a safe wayâsafe meaning for my career. And Iâve continually gotten the unspoken answer: âno,ââ said the employee. âItâs been very stifling to feel like everyone keeps talking about having open dialogue and compassionate conversations, but when it comes down to it, I know if I said one thing that was truthful, based on data, or even just based on my own personal experience, it would actually be rather unwelcomed.â
Despite these internal warnings, there is no sign that Disney is slowing down its efforts to achieve ideological purity. The company recently fired actress Gina Carano for expressing a conservative point of view. Content managers have modified and added âcontent advisoriesâ to films such as Dumbo, Aladdin, and Fantasia, which, according to an internal video that I have obtained, executives have denounced as âracist content.â In the same video, Executive Chairman Bob Iger pledged that the company âshould be taking a standâ on political controversies and no longer âshy away from politicsâ in the future.
Disney is playing with fire. The premise of the company has always been to provide an escape for middle Americans, but Disneyâs executives seem to have growing contempt for the very people who visit their amusement parks, watch their films, and buy their merchandise. Disney is no longer neutral ground; instead, the company has committed to becoming the âwokest place on Earth,â whatever the consequences.
Originally published at City Journal.
đ Original Source Documents:
Christopher F. Rufo is a writer, filmmaker, and senior fellow of Manhattan Institute. He has directed four documentaries for PBS and is currently a contributing editor of City Journal, where he covers critical race theory, homelessness, addiction, crime, and other afflictions.
SOURCE: Christopher Rufo