Lockheed Martin forced top execs including a three-star general to complete three-day Zoom course to ‘unlearn their white male privilege’ – and it was led by a firm called White Men As Full Diversity Partners
- The executives took part in the 16-hour training via Zoom last June
- It was run by White Men As Full Diversity Partners, which runs training courses
- The firm says it has been teaching since 1996 – it has likely boomed in the last year
- The Lockheed participants included retired Air Force lieutenant colonel David Starr and Air Force lieutenant general Bruce Litchfield
- They had to start with a ‘free association’ exercise listing the connotations of ‘white privilege’
- Then they had to recite ‘statements of white, male and heterosexual privilege’
- They then had to recite statements like ‘I’m tired of being black’, from the perspective of minorities
- They also had to watch videos by beauty brands Dove and Pantene about inclusivity and body positivity
- It’s unclear how much Lockheed paid for the training or whose idea it was
- Lockheed Martin takes in $6billion a year and 70% of that comes from government contracts
Lockheed Martin, the nation’s top defense contractor, forced 13 executives including a three-star general to complete a three-day Zoom course so they would ‘unlearn their male privilege’.
The course was led by a firm called White Men as Full Diversity Partners last June, at the height of the BLM movement. Details of the three-day course last June were obtained by City Journal.
The 13 employees included retired Air Force lieutenant colonel David Starr, retired Air Force lieutenant general Bruce Litchfield, Glenn Woods, vice president of production for the Air Force’s $1.7 trillion F-35 fighter jet program and Aaron Huckaby, director of global supply chain operations.
It was led by three men from the firm; Jim Morris, Mark Havens, and Michael Welp, one of the firm’s co-founders. Bill Proudman, the other co-founder, didn’t take part.
It’s unclear whose decision it was to have the training, or how much Lockheed paid the firm for the 16-hour training course.
On the firm’s website, they name the City of Portland, NASA, Boeing, Exxon Mobil, Dell, Kohler, Ohio State University, USAA and Suncor as other clients.
The session Lockheed paid for was a 16-hour, virtual White Men’s Caucus from White Men As Full Diversity Partners
Lockheed Martin, the nation’s top defense contractor, forced 13 executives including a three-star general to complete a three-day Zoom course so they would ‘unlearn their male privilege’
Lockheed Martin takes in $6billion a year and 70% of that comes from government contracts.
The training included the generals having to recite statements of privilege like ‘my body belongs to me’, and statements of frustration from the perspective of minorities like ‘I’m tired of being black.’
They also had to watch videos by beauty brands Dove and Pantene about self-esteem and body positivity.
Some of the talking points included the men adopting ‘radical new mindsets’ and having to forget their ‘problem solving’ tendencies to ‘listen’ instead and accept that ‘life is a journey’.
At the start of the session, the men were asked to list connotations of ‘white privilege’ during a ‘free association’ exercise.
Retired Air Force lieutenant general Bruce Litchfield was one of the execs who had to take part in it
The trainers wrote down what they said and the connotations included ‘old,’ ‘racist,’ ‘privileged,’ ‘anti-women,’ ‘angry,’ ‘Aryan Nation,’ ‘KKK,’ ‘Founding fathers,’ ‘guns,’ ‘guilty,’ and ‘can’t jump’, according to City Journal, which obtained the itinerary from the course and a screenshot of the men taking part in it.
The trainers also presented the men with 156 statements of privilege.
They included statements of ‘white privilege’, statements of ‘male privilege’ and statements of ‘heterosexual privilege’ that the men had to discuss.
Some of the white privilege statements included being able to find affordable housing if they move, being able to get a haircut, and being ‘encouraged’ to make as much money as they can.
Some of the male privilege statements the trainers listed included; ‘Unlike a woman who decides to keep her name when she marries, I am not interrogated and shamed by friends and family for doing the same thing’.
They also listed the comment: ‘I am not expected to “put out” because of my gender’ and ‘my body belongs to me. my reproductive organs are not seen as the property of other men/the government’.
The heterosexual privilege statements included ‘I am not asked to think about why I am straight’ and ‘I can have friendships with or work around children without being accused of recruiting or molesting them.’
Then, they had to recite a series of statements from the perspective of a minority.
All of them started with the words ‘I’m tired’.
These are the other clients the firm says it has worked with
They included: ‘I’m tired of being black’, “I’m tired of you making more money than me’; ‘I’m tired of people disparaging our campaigns (like Black Lives Matter)’,’I’m tired of black boys/girls being murdered’; ‘I’m tired of people thinking they’re smarter and more qualified than me’; ‘I’m tired of hearing about how we need a wall at the southern borders but not on the northern borders’; ‘I’m tired of the desire or ‘comment to remove race—the concept that we should be ‘colorblind.’
They had to watch videos including one titled ‘White Men: Time to discover your cultural blindspots’, ‘Always: #LikeAGirl’ and ‘Coca Cola, Remove labels this Ramadan’ and an ad campaign by the skincare brand Dove called ‘Average or Beautiful?’
Another was Pantene’s ‘A Man’s a Boss, A Woman’s Bossy’.
When asked at the start of the training what they thought was in it for them, the Lockheed employees replied: ‘I won’t get replaced by someone who is a better full diversity partner’, ‘[I will] improve the brand, image, reputation of white men,’ and ‘I [will] have less nagging sense of guilt that I am the problem.’
Lockheed has not commented on the training.
WOKE FIRM THAT DID THE TRAINING IS HIRED BY COMPANIES TO ‘AWAKEN’ MALE EMPLOYEES
The firm hired to lead the training is called White Men as Full Diversity Partners.
Its founder is Bill Proudman. The firm was formally started in the late 19990s and their first training lab – White Men and Allies Learning Lab – was launched in 2000.
Now, they offer a range of courses including the White Male Caucus – which is the course Lockheed paid for – and free webinars on their website.
It’s unclear how much Lockheed paid for the course.
Some of the free webinars on the company’s website include ones titles ‘When Our Identities Conflict—Learning to See and Hear Each Other Across Difference’ and ‘Unscripted: Who Gets to Belong?’
The firm’s founders, Bill Proudman and Michael Welp
Among clients listed on the company’s website are The City of Portland, NASA, Boeing, Exxon Mobil, Dell, Kohler, Ohio State University, USAA and Suncor.
They say its founder, Bill, devoted his life to improving diversity after launching it in the 1990s.
‘Before there were diversity programs, before D&I became a part of the national conversation and even before White Men as Full Diversity Partners officially came into existence, our collective work of engaging white men in diversity efforts had already begun,’ the company website says.
The firm’s website also says: ‘Our name, White Men as Full Diversity Partners (WMFDP), holds some shock value. But, it speaks to what we do.
‘We are intentionally including the group of folks who are rarely part of the conversation yet typically hold all the power — the “dominant leadership culture,” which is white males in the U.S.*
‘Women and people of color cannot carry the burden alone.
‘That’s why we feel it’s important and imperative to address white men directly.’
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