In the modern era, it isn't uncommon for corporations to launch diversity and racial sensitivity programs, even if at the most cynical interpretation it's just to protect their image.
But news of a diversity program from Disney called "Reimagine Tomorrow" that aims to promote anti-racism, should be a welcome change and nothing to flip out over.
Unless you're pro-racism, of course.
Republican Representative Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina doesn't seem to be a fan of the initiative. Cawthorn—the youngest member of the House of Representatives and an Adolph Hitler landmark tour enthusiast—retweeted an account called Breaking911 to criticize Disney and diversity.
The Republican said "anti-racists are the real racists."
Cawthorn, a man who had "visiting Hitler's vacation home" on his bucket list and uses such blatant racist dog whistles it's just viewed as racism at this point, was not at all a fan of Disney's new initiative.
He said:
"These documents should concern everyone."
"America is not a racist country. "
"The only racists are the people at @Disney who are directing white employees to 'not question or debate anything they are told by Black people.'"
"The woke anti-racists are the real racists."
His criticism was quickly shot down.
@StanillaMichael / Twitter
Cawthorn's tweet and the source he is retweeting are making a big deal of the program. They claim it says that White people shouldn't question what they are told by Black people.
However, this isn't accurate.
Instead, the program tells people to not debate their BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) colleagues' lived experiences. When BIPOC speak out against racism and microaggressions, they are often met with patronizing dismissals, such as "Are you sure it was racist," or "They didn't mean it that way."
This is demoralizing and stressful, especially when trying to make certain issues known.
However, as people pointed out online, Cawthorn instead chose to completely misinterpret what the program was advocating, for the sake of scoring points against liberals in the culture war.
This is actually a common issue with Cawthorn, who seems to misread or just not read many things he comments on.
Cawthorn claimed the recent relief bill pushed by the administration of President Joe Biden had no money for veterans, yet the bill very explicitly had $14.5 billion allocated for veteran suicide prevention and fighting homelessness.
The same month, he claimedThe Washington Post retracted a story about former President Donald Trump pressuring Georgia elections investigator Frances Watson to find fraud. However, the story was not retracted, instead the quotes by Trump were just corrected with the exact language he used.