'Chief diversity officer' at Johns Hopkins Medicine makes extraordinary admission after offering definition of 'privilege'

Johns Hopkins Medicine's chief diversity officer is backtracking after sending a controversial email in which she declared that even "English-speaking people" have "privilege."

In this month's "Diversity Digest" from the Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Health Equity at Johns Hopkins Medicine, Dr. Sherita Hill Golden sent an email telling subscribers that "privilege" is the "diversity word of the month," and then she offered her definition of the word.

"Privilege is an unearned benefit 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."

According to Golden, people in the following "social identity groups" are "granted" privilege in the U.S.:

• White people
• Able-bodied people
• Heterosexuals
• Cisgender people
• Males
• Christians
• Middle- or owning-class people
• Middle-aged people
• English-speaking people

Golden claimed that privilege is "characteristically invisible" to those who have it, thus making them members of "dominant groups." People who have privilege, said Golden, mistakenly believe that others who don't have their same privilege can earn it.

After the email gained unwanted attention online, Golden released a statement with a full-throated apology, saying she "deeply regret[s]" what she previously wrote.

"The intent of the newsletter is to inform and support an inclusive community at Hopkins, but the language of this definition clearly did not meet that goal," Golden said in her follow-up message.

Ironically, Golden admitted that her definition — coming from Johns Hopkins Medicine's office of DIHE, no less — was actually "exclusionary."

"In fact, because it was overly simplistic and poorly worded, it had the opposite effect of being exclusionary and hurtful to members of our community," she admitted. "I retract and disavow the definition I shared, and I am sorry."

In a statement, Johns Hopkins acknowledged that the language Golden used "contradicts" the values of the university.

"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," a university spokesperson said.

"Dr. Sherita Golden, Johns Hopkins Medicine’s Chief Diversity Officer, has sincerely acknowledged this mistake and retracted the language used in the message," the spokesperson added.

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