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EDUCATION Published October 17, 2022 2:00am EDT

Pentagon equity chief praises book

calling 9/11 first responders
'menaces' as she pushes for
'revolution'
DoDEA Director Tom Brady has said, 'Kelisa Wing is exactly the right person to lead our efforts... to support
meaningful change'

By Hannah Grossman | Fox News

Pompeo blasts Pentagon's focus on 'green energy and racism'

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo responds on 'Jesse Watters Primetime' to President Biden's diversity officer's comments.

FIRST ON FOX – A self-described "woke" Pentagon equity chief, who is currently under
probe over anti-White tweets uncovered by Fox News Digital, recommended a "social
justice" book for classrooms which called 9/11 first responders "menaces."

Kelisa Wing is a diversity, equity and inclusion chief at the Pentagon's education wing –
the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA). She is involved in curriculum at
DoDEA, which services over 60,000 military-connected children at 160 schools around the
globe, according to a press release announcing her position in December 2021.

Fox News Digital found that on two occasions DoDEA's diversity, equity and inclusion chief
promoted the anti-police book "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates while
representing herself as an employee of the Pentagon's education wing.

Kelisa Wing has written books about ‘White Privilege' and ‘Defunding the Police.’ (Fox News)

Coates wrote in "Between the World and Me" about 9/11 responders, "They were not
human to me. Black, white, or whatever, they were menaces of nature; they were the fire,
the comet, the storm, which could — with no justification — shatter my body."

‘WOKE’ DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE EQUITY CHIEF WRITES ANTI-WHITE POSTS:

‘EXHAUSTED WITH THESE WHITE FOLX’

The Pentagon was one of the targets of radical Islamic terrorists on Sept. 11; 125 people
in the Pentagon and 59 people aboard American Airlines Flight 77 were killed.

According to a Department of Defense historian, "In the first terrifying minutes after the
plane crashed into the building the swift actions of survivors and rescuers helped save the
lives of many who would otherwise have perished."

Image 1 of 5
Unidentified family members of the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon embrace at the September 11th Memorial Marker in Arlington National Cemetery Sept.
11, 2004 in Arlington, Virginia. A ceremony was held in remembrance of the attack on the Pentagon that killed 184 people three years ago. (Matthew
Cavanaugh/Getty Images)

In 2018, when Wing was a teacher, she advocated for "Between the World and Me" to be
used in classrooms in an article published to "Digital Promise," an Obama-era organization
created by Congress which helps teachers monitor "stereotype threats" of students. Wing
currently sits on the advisory board of the nonprofit, according to her website.

The article recommended teachers include materials from a " Social Justice Book List."
One of the anti-police books recommended was "Between the World and Me."

"Your classroom materials should be a mirror for your students in which they can see
themselves represented," the article said.

"We also have to avoid the pitfall of teaching about the same historical people from
various cultures as well (e.g., only focusing on Martin Luther King, Jr., or Harriet Tubman)
when there are a wealth of diverse, historical and current people of color who we can
choose to highlight," the article said.

BIDEN PARTNERED WITH ORGANIZATION WHICH QUESTIONED PARENTS' RIGHTS TO

BE NOTIFIED ABOUT THEIR KIDS' TRANSITION

Wing has also co-written a children's book about defunding the police in which she ,

explains to young audiences the differences between abolishing, defunding and

disbanding police with anti-racist policies.

On another occasion, in 2021, Wing included "Between the World and Me" in a DoDEA
Equity Summit presentation. The video of the session was captured by OpenTheBooks, a
nonprofit organization dedicated to government transparency.

Kelisa Wing reads a quote from 'Between the World and Me' during a DoDEA session. (DoDEA|Screenshot)

"Ilove this quote from his book and it makes me think about what kind of environment are
we setting in our classrooms, in our own schools… Are we seeing children as guilty?" Wing
said during her presentation.

The quote from Coates said, "I came to see the streets and the schools as arms of the
same beast. One enjoyed the official power of the state while the other enjoys its implicit
sanction. But fear and violence were the weaponry of both."

Wing commented, "I hope that we are setting an environment in our schools in our ,

system, where schools don't look to be not providing access to seeing our children in their
full humanity and allowing them to be successful."

Wing is currently under probe for tweets which referred to White people as "Karen[s]" and
said she was "exhausted with these white folx in these [professional development]
sessions." The matter will be taken to the Under Secretary of Personnel and Readiness –
Gil Cisneros – for a final decision 30 days after the initial review, which started on
September 19, the Pentagon told Fox News.

Kelisa Wing, a diversity chief at the Department of Defense, posts disparaging posts about White people on Twitter. (Kelisa
Wing/Twitter)

Wing's Twitter said, "… this lady actually had the CAUdacity to say that black people can be
racist too… I had to stop the session and give Karen the BUSINESS…we are not the
majority, we don't have power."

"Caudacity" is a slang term that is used to describe audacity demonstrated by White

people.

On another occasion, Wing responded to a user who said, "I am exhausted by 99% of the
white men in education and 95% of the white women. Where can I get a break from white
nonsense for a while?"

Wing responded, "If another Karen tells me about her feelings… I might lose it..."

As a result of these tweets, as well as the books she co-authored, 22 House Republicans
— including some on the Armed Services Committee — requested that Secretary of
Defense Lloyd Austin take "immediate action" to investigate her for "egregious bias."

"This woke ideology is destroying our military and poisoning the minds of American
children," Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., said.

"IfPresident Biden wants to know why he has a recruitment problem and low morale, he
need look no further," Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said.

Kelisa Wing, a DEI chief officer at the Department of Defense education wing -- known as DoDEA -- said that she is a "woke
administrator. (Twitter/Screenshot | Kelisa Wing)

BIDEN'S EQUITY-OBSESSED EDUCATION SECRETARY DODGING ACADEMIC PRIORITIES

AMID 'CATASTROPHIC' READING SCORES

"This is very intentional. They've put her in this place because [the Defense Department] is
another institution that [the Biden administration] has every intention of tearing down,"
former CIA director, Mike Pompeo, said.

In June 2021, Biden signed an executive order which "reinvigorate[d]… the approach… first
established in the Obama-Biden Administration" and directed all federal agencies to
" establish or elevate Chief Diversity Officers," among other priorities.

The director of DoDEA, Thomas Brady, said, "Kelisa Wing is exactly the right person to lead
our efforts in building on the foundational work done to support meaningful change in our
organization."

"This new position will take a holistic approach to identifying and improving how we
integrate the practice of diversity, equity and inclusion in every aspect of DoDEA, from
curriculum and assessment to hiring and professional development," he continued.

After protecting her tweets, Kelisa Wing's Twitter account appeared to be deleted or deactivated following Fox News
Digital's investigation into her social media history. (Kelisa Wing | Twitter/Screenshot)

Wing said in Sept. 2020 that she was trying to "completely tear down" the system,
according to the nonprofit OpenTheBooks.

"Iam anti-racist," she said, according to the nonprofit. "[Anti-racist] means I am actively
taking a stand to completely tear down, uproot, rebuild, and create something new, and
that's exactly what we need to do in education. I know that sounds really revolutionary and
hard but there are a lot of mechanisms and tools out there that can help us get there."

Wing was then asked by an audience member, "As we go through this racial reckoning is it

time to really transform education, transform curriculum – is it time for a revolution?"

Wing responded, "Most definitely," according to the nonprofit.

Fox News' Jessica Chasmar, Houston Keene and Charles Creitz contributed to this report.

Hannah Grossman is an Associate Editor at Fox News Digital.

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