Federal workers ordered to probe their ‘unconscious bias’ on race, sexuality

[Geee]

Washington Times:

A top U.S. Forest Service executive told his employees to probe their own “unconscious bias” on everything from race and sexuality to the disabled and fat people, asking them to use an unproven assessment tool to explore their feelings.

 

The online test, which Forest Management Director Bryan Rice urged other agency directors to use as well, specifically warns of problems when it is taken “outside of the safeguards of a research institution.” Users also are told to be careful about how far to go in interpreting the results.

 

Mr. Rice, in a March 11 email to his employees, also instructed them to read a New York Times piece titled “Straight talk for white men,” which argues that white men benefit from unconscious bias. He also shared a study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that shows managers are more likely to hire those with a “very white sounding name” over those with a “very African American sounding name.”