{"id":1361616,"date":"2022-03-07T05:25:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-07T10:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1361616"},"modified":"2022-03-07T07:57:38","modified_gmt":"2022-03-07T12:57:38","slug":"award-winning-hiv-researcher-forced-into-re-education-for-dressing-up-like-michael-jackson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/award-winning-hiv-researcher-forced-into-re-education-for-dressing-up-like-michael-jackson\/","title":{"rendered":"Award-Winning HIV Researcher Forced Into Re-Education For Dressing Up Like Michael Jackson"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Faward-winning-hiv-researcher-forced-into-re-education-for-dressing-up-like-michael-jackson%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1361616&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/48050924987_8d55ba9bbb_o.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>A resurfaced blackface photo wasn\u2019t enough to get Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau or former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam fired, but a medical researcher was forced out of her senior vice president position last month after dressing up as Michael Jackson for Halloween in 2009. <\/p>\n<p>Dr. Julie Overbaugh was an award-winning senior vice president at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (\u201cFred Hutch\u201d) and a faculty member at the University of Washington Medical Center. She\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.geekwire.com\/2016\/fred-hutch-researcher-dr-julie-overbaugh-receives-nature-award-mentorship\/\">known<\/a> for her research on HIV in Kenya. But her career is being ruined over a costume.<\/p>\n<p>Nearly 13 years ago, Overbaugh attended the party at a lab at Fred Hutch. The theme of the party was Jackson\u2019s album \u201cThriller.\u201d But after a photo of her costume was anonymously emailed to senior leadership at the University of Washington, UW Medicine, and Fred Hutch, she\u2019s been forced to undergo \u201can intensive education process.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"wokescolds-harmed-by-a-halloween-costume\">Wokescolds \u2018Harmed\u2019 by a Halloween Costume<\/h2>\n<p>The photo immediately triggered an internal investigation at Fred Hutch, where she was placed on administrative leave.<\/p>\n<p>Fred Hutch released a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fredhutch.org\/en\/news\/releases\/2022\/02\/Fred-Hutch-statement-on-racist-act-involving-senior-staff-member.html\">statement<\/a> labeling the costume \u201cracist.\u201d The institution offered \u201cour sincere apologies to anyone who has experienced pain or upset because of the act or this photo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Though the incident didn\u2019t occur at UW Medicine, its CEO and equity officer also waded into the faux controversy. UW Medicine CEO Dr. Paul Ramsey and Chief Equity Officer Paula Houston notified UW Medicine staff in an email that Overbaugh was punished for engaging in the \u201cracist, dehumanizing, and abhorrent act\u201d of \u201cblackface.\u201d During a separate formal review process for UW faculty, the email confirmed, Overbaugh resigned from her UW affiliate faculty member appointment.<\/p>\n<p>Overbaugh released a short statement to me. \u201cI did not know the association of this with blackface at the time, in 2009, but understand the offense that is associated with this now,\u201d she said. \u201cI have apologized for this both publicly and privately and beyond that have no other comments.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ramsey and Houston claim that the UW Medicine community was \u201charmed\u201d by the 13-year-old photo that most staff didn\u2019t know existed until reading about it in the Feb. 25 email. \u201cWe acknowledge that our community has been harmed by this incident and the fact that 13 years elapsed before action was taken,\u201d they wrote. \u201cWe are convening a series of affinity group meetings in the next few weeks to provide spaces for mutual support, reflection, and response.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Neither Ramsey nor Houston explained how the photo \u201charmed\u201d anyone. Indeed, beyond one confirmed complaint, it\u2019s unclear if anyone even cared about the old photo.<\/p>\n<p>In their staff email, Ramsey and Houston acknowledged this isn\u2019t really their business. Not directly, at least. They wrote that they \u201crecognize that this particular incident was largely handled administratively at another institution.\u201d But they wanted to involve themselves because, \u201cwe at UW Medicine are not immune and know that such incidents could, and probably have happened here, and may have gone unreported or met with under-response or silence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If someone did wear a Halloween costume 13 years ago that was only recently deemed offensive, Ramsey and Houston \u201cassume that fear of retaliation or inaction are significant barriers to the reporting of racist behaviors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Consequently, UW Medicine is making it easier to feign victimhood or offense. They\u2019re asking community members to use their <a href=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hcequity\/bias-reporting-tool\/?mkt_tok=MTMxLUFRTy0yMjUAAAGC0QN54gGiVKyVYgS5TvQEOUplkPUC9-hJwNZtnOTe2lcxvsU1qyvKzXqZpKO6DtFh-lNyPyB9EVhKF_BlnNKCxGWYZZ3mtzxiDSo_OxiYNajK\">bias reporting tool<\/a> to report on people who hold \u201cbigoted beliefs\u201d by progressive political standards.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cReporting can include a variety of concerns ranging from one-time micro-aggressions to more severe and sustained behavior. We are committed to responding to these events and continuing to improve our climate,\u201d the tool\u2019s website reads. These reports can be made anonymously, and ensure the faux-aggrieved can make life hell for coworkers who hold different positions than they do on all sorts of issues.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"wokeness-curing-deadly-diseases\">Wokeness > Curing Deadly Diseases<\/h2>\n<p>UW Medicine is committed to being an anti-racist institution, Ramsey and Houston said. And they\u2019ll use this incident to push their values forward for the greater good.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are in the process of training and educating our workforce and leaders to recognize and respond to acts of racism, such as dressing in blackface, as well as the myriad of subtle acts of bias that occur every day, and to understand that these acts produce stress, anxiety, depression, burnout, and feelings of isolation and exclusion for members of our community,\u201d Ramsey and Houston wrote. \u201cRacism doesn\u2019t just negatively affect our Black and brown communities; it harms all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>UW Medicine is lashing out against Overbaugh to show its wokeness and earn social currency. That UW Medicine is helping to ruin a woman who devoted her career to finding a cure for HIV is immaterial to its leaders. To progressive activists, highlighting one\u2019s virtues is more important than curing a deadly disease.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Jason Rantz is a Seattle-based talk show host on KTTH Radio and a frequent guest on FOX News. Follow him on Twitter @JasonRantz and subscribe to his podcast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A resurfaced blackface photo wasn\u2019t enough to get Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau or former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam fired, but a medical researcher was forced out of her senior<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1361616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1361616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1361616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1361616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1361616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1361616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1361616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}