Staff Reports
The Biden administration’s approach to public health has taken an unexpected detour into the world of social justice, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declaring racism a “serious public health threat.” This declaration, made back in April 2021, has set off a multi-million dollar spending spree by the Health and Human Services (HHS) department aimed at combatting the so-called harmful effects of racism on health, particularly concerning the HIV epidemic. Apparently, science has a new competitor: social ideology.
Spending records reveal that at least $73.9 million in grant money has been funneled into projects that explore how racism adversely impacts minorities living with HIV. These grants are laden with assumptions that suggest if a minority individual contracts HIV, it must be a consequence of societal injustice, not personal choices. The CDC posited that structural racism is not just a metaphorical construct; it’s allegedly a literal killer that prevents minorities from accessing healthcare, thereby exacerbating health issues. Nothing screams scientific rigor quite like attributing health disparities to structural racism instead of, say, lifestyle choices or genetics.
"$489,883,797 was spent on grants for race-based hiring; $343,337,286 went toward general DEI programming; and $169,301,221 went to DEI-based mental health training and programming, totaling $1,002,522,304.81 spent in all."
In 39 days this insanity begins to die. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/BU9ldnjwCE
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) December 12, 2024
In a particularly mind-boggling display of grant allocation, HHS employed $2.4 million on an effort with Columbia University to investigate whether individuals with HIV face declining vascular health due to systemic racism. Apparently, this sort of reasoning is par for the course when aiming to connect health problems solely to societal constructs rather than individual circumstances. Even a $2.5 million grant aimed at Rutgers University drew connections between racism, stress, depression, and ultimately the risk of contracting HIV. What’s next? A grant to study if the sky is blue because of systemic racism?
The Biden administration is really leaning into the concept of ‘antiracism’ as a central pillar of healthcare policy. HHS claims it does not endorse “antiracism” policies, yet the agency is actively working to implement them at all levels—from prioritizing low-income patients for kidney transplants to steering a sizable chunk of grant funding towards organizations that focus on serving “black, Indigenous, and people of color.” It becomes painfully clear that, when it comes to public health, certain groups are apparently more equal than others—especially when those groups can be framed in the light of victimhood.
One especially eyebrow-raising initiative involves providing considerable funding aimed at addressing the alleged health disparities faced by transgender women of color, a demographic the government seems to view as a victimized class within a victimized class. A grant worth $670,000 to the University of Michigan sets out to provide legal support for these individuals to achieve “legal gender affirmation” among other things, including cash grants and job training. It’s difficult to parse out where public health ends and social engineering begins. The fun of convoluted logic doesn’t stop here; HHS still employs hundreds of staff solely dedicated to diversity and inclusion efforts at an astonishing price tag of $38.7 million annually.
The grand finale of this governmental circus is the absence of oversight and accountability, as HHS remained tight-lipped when pressed for comments about its spending spree. At its core, the Biden administration’s health policy appears less about curing diseases and more about promoting a narrative that places blame on societal structures rather than advocating for personal responsibility. If the goal is to create healthy individuals, it might be about time to consider the impact of individual choices, rather than considering every ailment a product of systemic injustice.
