By Constitution Staff

The announcement of the selection of Christy Gillenwater as the new CEO of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce (OKCCOC) has led many to examine the eyebrow-raising history of her previous position as CEO of the Chattanooga, Tennessee COC. Ms. Gillenwater thought it was a good idea to lecture an area of the country to which she was a new resident on DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), and accuse the area of systematic racism while asking the business CEOs in Chattanooga to sign a pledge for Racial Equity. This infuriated many in the local community as well as business owners. The pledge that was given to them to sign makes flat declarative statements regarding the existence of systematic racism, but that is a matter of debate and opinion.

We took a look at the OKCCOC’s website to glean information regarding their stance on DEI. It was shocking, yet Ms. Gillenwater had not even started yet. She did not become CEO until January 5, 2023. But, in October of 2020, the Chamber already began a series on DEI. They have a webpage devoted to the subject and even decided to compile data into an annual research report. The Chamber vows to develop this report to track diversity and economic equality, using a committee they develop, which will be tasked with the issue.

Here are some questions we have regarding this report which deserve answers from the COC:

1. Who will be on this committee to analyze the data and make recommendations; how are they chosen, and by whom?

2. Who will compile this data; how is the information gathered; who gives the Chamber the authority to collect this data, and why would the city support such a thing?

3. Are they aware that this practice makes them appear suspiciously like the “brown shirts” of the Nazi era in Germany?

Regarding other aspects of the DEI section of their webpage, are they aware that by advocating for a focus on minority supplier development they are codifying reverse racial discrimination in awarding contracts? Devon Energy, one of the largest independent oil companies in the world, is headquartered in Oklahoma City. Why would they give money to sponsor DEI materials and practices with an organization that wishes to make it irrelevant through the green energy initiatives aggressively championed by the new CEO of the COC?

The OKC COC is partnering with the Urban League for its DEI initiatives. The Urban League is a nonpartisan civil rights organization based in New York which advocates on behalf of economic and social justice for African Americans and against racial discrimination in the US. It is the oldest community organization of its kind in the country. The Urban League is using very benign language on its part when making statements concerning its partnership with the OKC COC. On the other hand, the OKC COC mentions specifically the decades of work the Urban League has been doing in the area of DEI in order to justify the partnership. Roy Williams, the former head of the COC, mentions the anti-racism movement, which as practiced, is actually a divisive and racist movement.

The COC and the Urban League have hosted a Culture of Inclusion Series on the COC website. The first installment of that series is given by a woman named Marcia Bruno-Todd and is titled “Accountability and Healthy Disruptions.” In this tutorial, she mentions accountability in the workplace and continuous communication within an organization to help shift mindsets to prove the sincerity of commitment of the company to DEI. This sounds suspiciously like spying on private communications between employees, and brainwashing. Also mentioned is the alarming practice of “Healthy Disruptions,” which is essentially reprogramming the employees to accept necessary racism and discrimination to “fix” issues that have not been proven to exist. This practice, actually Polices Language, severely encroaches on the employees’ First Amendment rights to freedom of expression.

Next in the series was a segment on Implicit Bias presented by Silvia Siquera. Curiously, the summary of this synopsis states that “implicit bias” is a matter of opinion of the speaker and without factual root: “According to Siquera….” There is no outside source reference given for the existence of so-called “Implicit Bias.” The segment then goes on to mention fabricated categories of inherent or acquired diversity traits. But, half of the traits don’t even match the category they have been listed under.

Then she mentions “Unconscious Bias” which presupposes that everyone filters information and experiences the same way. It encourages group thinking and discounts the individual mind. Siquera’s opinion and her questions imply that there is a values-based opinion that is “right.” Her opinion is that there is more value to a two working parent household, than one where one of the parents stays home to care for their own children. Her opinion on this matter is curiously in the text of the summary of the presentation as an accepted fact. Then she is presented in the summary as being “higher minded” and self-aware that she may be biased about this opinion. The entire topic is confusing and makes no sense as presented.

Siquera then suggests that employers invest in “education,” which requires a sizeable monetary investment in their companies, and make efforts to become more aware of shortcomings, which would again, require the employer to police the communications of their employees. She calls this policing behavior, which is becoming an all-too-common theme with DEI training, “feedback” and a positive “gift,” attempting to brainwash employers into believing that the invasion of privacy and trashing of First Amendment rights is a good thing.

The third installment of this series featured Angie Christopher, who spoke on the Hiring Process. Christopher begins her presentation with a synopsis of implicit bias. Implicit bias assumes that people cannot be aware of their own mind, but someone else certainly is, and is an idea based on fabricated assumptions, in other words, bias. She begins by saying that if a company isn’t embracing DEI, discrimination based on racism and gender including gender identity, then they will find it difficult to make progress in the community and their profits and business may suffer. She encourages ongoing learning and training and the financial commitment that goes along with it. One company, 180 Medical, is given as an example of an organization that is making diversity and inclusion a priority. They have facilitated this type of action in their workplaces and who have carved out identity resource groups in their organizations, which by definition, discriminate against anyone not of those identities.

Christopher then gives five items to guide hiring practices. The last two are overtly discriminatory: “4. Be Intentionally inclusive, 5. Have a diverse hiring panel.” She then goes on to say that in every other respect, everyone should be treated the same. This is a contradiction.

She offers resources to easily facilitate discriminatory hiring practices based on race, gender, and disability. She encourages company websites to show a commitment publicly to DEI, and have employees include pronouns in their email signatures, which would effectively control employees’ very personal identities and how they individualize themselves in the workplace, another serious First Amendment question. Christopher then discourages companies from using referrals to hire people. In other words, paying attention to how well people do their jobs is no way to hire employees. Then she, like the two others previously, stresses accountability within the company, the policing of the employees, controlling how they think and speak about matters of personal opinion.

Also found on the OKC COC’s website is a program entitled “Inclusion At Work.” This program grew out of the Chamber’s 2020 commitment to push DEI onto its members. The website describes this as a collaboration of diversity leaders in OKC companies. This program was formed due to concerns companies had surrounding DEI practices. The topics covered by the program include building out measurement and accountability tools, how to police your employees’ thoughts and behavior and measuring how well they are being controlled, resources to improve climate, policing language, recruiting and retaining diverse talent, sufficient racial and gender discrimination in your hiring practices, training and leadership development, training the leaders of this ideology you are forming in your company, training and leadership development, and employee resource groups, which are exclusive resources based upon various identities that no one else can access. The website also contains a link to a very long list of DEI resource materials.

The Chamber’s blog, Velocity, also touts approval of Governor Stitt for bringing a Mexican Consulate to the city to help the growing Mexican population that is pouring into the state and the city due to the Biden administration’s failure to secure the border. The question remains as to why the COC is focusing on this instead of making sure all of the people in the state are here legally, in order to receive taxpayer funds for a consulate which could be used to facilitate legal ways for the illegals to remain here?

The direction the OKC Chamber of Commerce has taken in the promotion of DEI and the hiring of a CEO who caused problems regarding this subject in the previous business community where she lived, and was supposed to be serving, is something that should alarm every business owner that is a member of the Chamber.