A Pentagon spokesperson said the book was used in a 'voluntary book study'
'Woke' Defense Department DEI education official's books now in one third of Pentagon schools: Gov't watchdog
Adam Andrzejewski, the CEO and founder of OpentheBooks.com, says controversial books co-authored or contributed to by Kelisa Wing -- chief equity, diversity and inclusion at the Department of Defense Education Activity – are in 49 Pentagon schools
A diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) training in the Pentagon's education wing recommends a book that claims Thanksgiving "perpetuates the power of White supremacy," a report from a watchdog group alleged.
Government watchdog OpenTheBooks released a July report which alleges the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) is indoctrinating military-connected children with "radical DEI curriculum." There are over 60,000 children enrolled in the DoD schools, which are located in the U.S. and across the globe.
The watchdog sent a Freedom of Information Act request for "DEI personal development content offered to DoDEA employees" and returned a slide from a presentation promoting a book titled "Coaching for Equity." Throughout the book, it expresses anti-American and anti-Western sentiment.
"DoDEA staffers were presented with a book called Coaching for Equity, which rebukes capitalism, ‘patriarchy,’ traditions like Thanksgiving, and America’s existence as a country," OpenTheBooks said in its report.
"History has been sanitized, and the brutality of colonialism has been erased," an equity book said about Thanksgiving. (Adobe Stock)
For example, it claimed Thanksgiving was connected to "White supremacy" and was part of the "distortion of truth" regarding U.S. history.
"In the United States, we rarely remember that we are on stolen lands, lands that were taken through blankets intentionally infected with smallpox, through broken treaties, and through outright genocide," the book said. "Our lack of memory, and the intentional distortion of truth, has led to the macabre. Take Thanksgiving, for example… typically celebrated with a big meal and family gathering… History has been sanitized, and the brutality of colonialism has been erased. This perpetuates the power of White supremacy."
Another section of the book states, "the United States was not founded on principles of equity and justice."
It went on to criticize the United States for being a capitalist society.
"Notions of White supremacy were developed hand in hand with the expansion of colonization and capitalism," the book said. "Capitalism, remember, birthed the ideology that White people are superior and that people of color exist to serve their masters."
Thanksgiving is part of "White supremacy," according to the equity book. (Adobe Stock)
Several GOP lawmakers took notice of the report and sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, demanding the DoD cease and desist its alleged indoctrination.
"DoDEA staffers were presented with a book called Coaching for Equity, which rebukes capitalism, "patriarchy," traditions like Thanksgiving, and America’s existence as a country," the watchdog group alleged.
"These books are blatantly racist towards hundreds of millions of Americans and delegitimize the founding of America itself," Reps. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and Jim Banks, R-Ind., said in a letter to Austin on Monday. "Radical woke ideology is rotting out the schools of our service members’ children and instead of addressing this, you have only exacerbated it. Our service members should not have to choose between serving their country or saving their children."
The Pentagon released a statement to Fox News Digital, stating the documents from the FOIA request were part of a "voluntary book study."
"The book ‘Coaching for Equity’ was used in a voluntary book study. This book is not used within the DoDEA-wide educator professional learning or professional development programs," the DoD said.
An artistic depiction of the first Thanksgiving feast. (Library of Congress)
"It is shameful and unsustainable that while our servicemen and women are risking their lives to defend our nation, their children are being taught that America is a racist country not worth fighting for," Banks said.
Stefanik added, "Our service members face many challenges and ensuring their children receive a high-quality patriotic education should not be one of them."
Fox News Digital previously spoke to teachers at DoDEA who explained that they were tired of being force-fed DEI.
"If they wanted me to start browbeating the kids about how our history [is]… racist, they should have told me this when I was hired because I wouldn't have agreed to do it. Because it's not true," one teacher said.
"I call it a social Marxist direction," another said.
Hannah Grossman is a Reporter at Fox News Digital.
