Johns Hopkins walks back diversity email stating straight white Christian male 'privilege'

BALTIMORE, Md. (TND) — Johns Hopkins Medicine is under fire after an internal email to employees accused straight white Christian men of having unearned “privilege.”

The memo, a newsletter the school’s Chief Diversity Officer Sherita Golden, listed privilege as the “Diversity Word of the Month.”

“Privilege is a set of unearned benefits given to people who are in a specific social group,” she wrote. “Privilege operates on personal, interpersonal, cultural and institutional levels and it provides advantages and favors to members of dominant groups at the expense of members of other groups.”

A definition of the term included listed several demographics that possess privilege.

“In the United States, privilege is granted to people who have membership in one or more of these social identity groups: white people, able-bodied people, heterosexuals, cisgender people, males, Christians, Middle of owning-class people, Middle-aged people, English-speaking people.”

Commenters on X immediately derided the message for appearing divisive.

“This must end!” X owner Elon Musk wrote.

“This message is toxic And divisive,” commentator Mercedes Schlapp wrote. “We need to push back against the identity targeting and appreciate each individual for their own character. God made us all uniquely special.”

In an email to The National Desk (TND) Thursday, a Johns Hopkins Medicine spokesperson explained the message did not represent its values.

“The January edition of the monthly newsletter from the Johns Hopkins Medicine Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Health Equity used language that contradicts the values of Johns Hopkins as an institution,” they said. “Dr. Sherita Golden, Johns Hopkins Medicine’s Chief Diversity Officer, has sincerely acknowledged this mistake and retracted the language used in the message.”

An image circulating X Thursday appeared to show an internal apology from Golden to recipients of the email.

“The newsletter included a definition of the word ‘privilege’ which, upon reflection, I deeply regret,” it reads. “I retract and disavow the definition I shared, and I am sorry.”

The hospital placed a doctor on leave in November after he allegedly made anti-Palestinian on social media.