The Barrington Hills Observer

By: Mark Glennon | Wirepoints

Parts of America’s political left have awoken in their own way. They’ve seen the backlash against DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) extremism and backed off, at least a little. One liberal think tank, for example, recently published a memo advising the left to drop much of the DEI language it spawned. The language makes the left “sound like the extreme, divisive, elitist, and obfuscatory, enforcers of wokeness,” says the memo.

But the State of Illinois didn’t get that memo. In fact, it’s much worse: The state’s mandatory, annual training for its workers demands obedience to the worst of DEI catechism not just on language, but on thoughts and conduct. All state employees are now subject to DEI social engineering that’s as dogmatic and extreme as ever. Disobey and you can be fired. That’s not just tyrannical, it likely would make for a constitutional challenge based on the First Amendment.

This Orwellian employee training was partly exposed last week through a social media post that went viral about the training document used by Illinois State Police. Libs of TikTok published parts of that document, which garnered over 300,000 views on X alone.

But the training is statewide. The document used for the State Police is from the template for every agency, called “LGBTQIA+ Equity and Inclusion 2025,” published by the Office of Equity, which is part of Gov. JB Pritzker’s office. During his first term, Pritzker issued an executive order creating that office, saying that all state employees “shall participate in annual trainings focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion as directed by the Chief Equity Officer.” Today, the office is headed by Dr. Atiera Coleman, a career “equity” champion.

Chief Equity Officer Dr. Atiera L. Coleman

Skim through the document and you will quickly see that it’s not about routine professional training and compliance with nondiscrimination law. It dictates a political agenda of speech and conduct adhering to politics of the most extreme voices on “systemic oppression,” the horrors of capitalism, LGBTQIA+ theory, “intersecting identities” and the like. It’s ideological dogma that includes a required, signed certification by the employee that they understand that failure to comply with such policies and procedures “may result in disciplinary action up to and including termination of State employment/appointment.”

Read more here.

Mark Glennon is founder of Wirepoints.