Greene County Democrat

Tag: Dr. Georges Benjamin

  • Newswire : Federal health workers terrified after ‘DEI’ website publishes list of ‘targets’

    By Berkeley Lovelace Jr. and Erika Edwards, NBC News

    Federal health workers are expressing fear and alarm after a website called “DEI Watch List” published the photos, names and public information of a number of workers across health agencies, describing them at one point as “targets.”
    It’s unclear when the website, which lists mostly Black employees who work in agencies primarily within the Department of Health and Human Services, first appeared. “Offenses” for the workers listed on the website include working on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, donating to Democrats and using pronouns in their bios.
    The website, a government worker said, is being circulated among multiple private group chats of federal health workers across agencies, as well as through social media links.
    The site also reached Dr. Georges Benjamin, the executive director of the American Public Health Association, who learned about it Tuesday evening when a federal health worker sent it to him. “This is a scare tactic to try to intimidate people who are trying to do their work and do it admirably,” Benjamin said. “It’s clear racism.”
    A government worker said they found out theirs was among the names on the website Tuesday afternoon after a former co-worker sent them the link on social media.  “It’s unnerving,” said the person, who requested anonymity because of safety concerns. “My name and my picture is there, and in 2025, it’s very simple to Google and look up someone’s home address and all kinds of things that potentially put me at risk.” “I don’t know what the intention of the list is for,” the person said. “It’s just kind of a scary place to be.”
    On Tuesday evening, the site listed photos of employees and linked to further information about them under the headline “Targets.” Later Tuesday night, the headline on each page had been changed to “Dossiers.” A side-by-side view of the word change “Targets” to “Dossiers.” Was obtained by NBC News
    The site lists workers’ salaries along with what it describes as “DEI offenses,” including political donations, screenshots of social media posts, snippets from websites describing their work, or being a part of a DEI initiative that has been scrubbed from a federal website.
    Benjamin suggested the acts of online harassment are criminal. “Law enforcement should look into them.”
    A person who isn’t on the list but works at a federal health agency called the website “psychological warfare.” The link, this person said, is being circulated in their private group chat of federal health workers, causing some to “freak out.”  It’s hard to gauge, the worker said, whether it’s a legitimate threat. “I don’t know anything about the organization doing this or their parent association. People are just paranoid right now.”
    A note at the bottom of the website says, “A project of the American Accountability Foundation.” That group is a conservative watchdog group.  It’s not the first time the group has created such a list. In December, it sent Pete Hegseth, then the nominee for defense secretary, a list of names of people in the military whom it deemed too focused on diversity, equity and inclusion, the New York Post reported at the time.
    Neither the American Accountability Foundation nor HHS immediately responded to requests for comment.  The website comes after a bruising two weeks for public health workers. Employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say they have received “threatening” memos from the Department of Health and Human Services directing them to terminate any activities, jobs and research with any connection to diversity, equity and inclusion — and turn in co-workers who don’t adhere to the orders. HHS oversees federal health agencies, including the CDC and the National Institutes of Health.
    “The tone is aggressive. It’s threatening consequences if we are not obedient. It’s asking us to report co-workers who aren’t complying,” said a CDC physician who wasn’t authorized to speak to reporters. “There’s a lot of fear and panic.”
    NBC News reviewed one of the memos, which directed employees to “review all agency position descriptions and send a notification to all employees whose position description involves inculcating or promoting gender ideology that they are being placed on paid administrative leave effective immediately.”The result, staffers said, is paranoia.
    “I know of people who have been put on administrative leave for perceived infractions related to these ambiguous memos. People are thinking if I put one foot wrong, I’m just going to be fired,” another CDC physician said.
    In one case, a potluck luncheon among co-workers was hastily canceled for fear it would be seen as a way to promote cultural diversity .Despite the harassment, public health employees said they remain committed to their work. “If I leave, who’s going to replace me?” a CDC physician said. “If nobody replaces me and enough of us leave, then who’s going to be doing the public health work

  • Newswire: African Americans die more frequently from Covid-19, but MIT researchers say poverty isn’t why

    By Donna Fuscaldo, Zenger News Service


    Black Americans are dying from Covid-19 more frequently than white people. But two researchers found it’s not because of obesity or poverty.
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management professor Christopher Knittel and graduate research assistant Bora Ozaltun analyzed daily Covid-19 death rates for a nearly two-month period, at the beginning of the pandemic, for counties and states to understand the correlation between Covid-19 deaths and patients’ typical commutes, exposure to pollution, race and other factors.
    While African Americans are dying at higher rates than white people, the researchers found obesity, poverty and smoking weren’t correlated to those deaths. Diabetes was ruled out, too.
    “Why, for instance, are African Americans more likely to die from the virus than other races? Our study controls for patients’ income, weight, diabetic status, and whether or not they’re smokers,” wrote Knittel in the study. “We must examine other possibilities, such as systemic racism that impacts African Americans’ quality of insurance, hospitals, and healthcare, or other underlying health conditions
    that are not in the model, and then urge policymakers to look at other ways to solve the problem.”
    The MIT researchers’ work comes as Covid-19 cases are on the rise in several states and in African American communities. According to data compiled by the COVID Tracking Project and Boston University for the COVID Racial Data tracker, black people represent 13% of the U.S. population but account for 23% of the known deaths from the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
    As of early July, more than 26,708 black people have died in the U.S. pandemic, and four of the five counties with the highest death rates from Covid-19 are predominantly black. In counties where black people are the majority, MIT found they’re dying at rates close to 10 times higher than white counties. Other at-risk groups include the elderly and Hispanics, although healthy, young people, have also died from Covid-19.
    The difference isn’t because of income disparities or that white people have a larger net worth on average than African Americans and therefore access to better care, although Knittel said in an interview that’s where policymakers often look to lay blame.
    “The reason why African Americans face higher death rates is not because they have higher rates of uninsured, poverty, diabetes,” said Knittel. “It could be because the quality of their insurance is lower, the quality of their hospitals is lower, or some other systemic reason. Our analysis can hopefully allow policymakers to focus on a narrower set of potential causal links.”
    Public transit usage is one potential link. The MIT researchers found people who use public transit to commute to work are at a higher risk of dying from Covid-19. People who rely on buses, trains and subways had higher death rates than those who drove to work or telecommuted. Essential workers, many of whom are black and Hispanic, often have no choice but to take public transportation and once at work, aren’t always equipped with proper protections. Paid sick leave isn’t a typical benefit for many hourly jobs, which means many people go to work sick.
    “Black Americans and Hispanic Americans are more likely to be employed in service sector jobs that may be considered essential,” said Laurie Zephyrin, who oversees the Commonwealth Fund’s efforts to help vulnerable populations. The Commonwealth Fund is a nonprofit foundation focused on improving access to healthcare.
    While the MIT professors weren’t able to pinpoint one direct cause for the higher death rates, Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, pointed to an inability to retreat during the pandemic, a high propensity for chronic diseases among African Americans and poverty as possible causes. He also said misinformation during the early days of the pandemic and a lack of proper testing put black lives at risk.
    Lackluster testing in the early days of the pandemic hurt the medical community’s ability to find and quarantine people to slow the spread of Covid-19. Even if a community had a testing site, it was often not easily accessible, said Benjamin.
    Zephyrin said better messaging on social distancing and increased access to healthcare could make a difference, among other measures.
    “We need to make sure the people who drive our buses, deliver our groceries, and are critical for day to day functions have the protective gear required to keep them safe.”