Group that listed 'pitfalls of working with white people' receiving DOJ grants

5/22/2014

  

Group That Listed ‘Pitfalls Of Working With White People’ Received DOJ Grants

An organization that published a list of 29 “Pitfalls of Working With White People” that was circulated at a diversity conference earlier this year received hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants from the U.S. Department of Justice, the Daily Caller has learned.

Beyond Diversity Resource Center, based in New Jersey, is listed as a partner organization for the White Privilege Conference which was held in Madison, Wisc. in March.

One of the “pitfalls” listed on the Center’s pamphlet, published by the website Progressives Today, is that white people “ask stupid questions”.

The diversity group, which claims that it “works to build a society that honors individuals because of their cultural differences”, wrote on the pamphlet that whites “benefit financially off the backs of people of color.”

White people “are arrogant”, they “say something stupid” and “get too friendly too fast,” the diversity center’s pamphlet claims.

The organization has published several books on diversity and racism including “The Anti-Racist Cookbook” and “The Great White Elephant”. They also lead educational seminars and workshops throughout the country.

And an increasing share of their funding has come from the federal government – mainly the U.S. Department of Justice.

In fiscal year 2011, the center received a $250,000 grant from the Office on Violence Against Women, which falls under the DOJ.

In Aug. 2012, they received a $249,479 grant from the Office for Victims of Crimes to conduct “National field-generated training, technical assistance, and demonstration noncompetitive continuation projects.”

According to the DOJ’s 2012 program plan, Beyond Diversity Resource Center partnered with the school of social work at Rutgers University on a “demonstration project” that involved providers of victim services from across the country.

“The center will implement organizational development strategies with the participating organizations, offer relevant diversity training, and develop organizational protocols in an effort to enhance LGBTQ victim services,” according to the DOJ’s planning document.

And in June 2013, Robin Parker, the group’s executive director, co-hosted an online discussion on “Incorporating LGBTQ Victims’ Needs into Mainstream Victim Services” for the Office for Victims of Crime, another sub-unit of the DOJ.

It is unclear if any of the funding from those programs overlapped. Parker did not immediately respond to The Daily Caller’s request for comment. Likewise, the Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment.

The Center’s grants have increased substantially over the past several years.

They received nearly $325,000 in government grants between July 2012 and June 2013, according to their 2012 Form 990. In the year ended June 2012, the Center received just over $147,000. In the prior two years, the center received no government grants while receiving smaller grants in the years before that.

The White Privilege Conference, which partnered with the Beyond Diversity group, has been exposed recently for some of the statements made by conference attendees.

“The longer you are in the tea party, the more racist you become,” said one speaker at the conference, whose statements were captured by conservatives outlets who infiltrated the event.

Another conference speaker, a former English teacher, told a seminar that “being a white person who does anti-racist work is like being an alcoholic.” (RELATED: White Privilege Conference Labels Little Kids Racists)

One white student attending the conference thanked conference attendees for helping him identify what he perceived as his own racism. “I feel like I’m going to go home and tell my parents that I’m a racist and I’m not proud of that, but I’m proud that I can say that,” he said.

The attendance costs and some of the planning expenses for the event were paid for out of taxpayer dollars, several watchdog sites have reported. The MacIver Institute, based in Wisconsin, found that at least $20,000 had been spent by the state and the University of Wisconsin education system to help fund the conference.

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Hat Tip: Michael Savage