HELENA – Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen today led a coalition of 17 states in support of employees’ civil rights in the face of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training that encourages racial discrimination against races singled out for negativity.

In an amicus brief filed in Young v. Colorado Department of Corrections, Attorney General Knudsen asks the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse a lower court’s decision dismissing Joshua Young’s claims that the DEI training forced on correctional employees at the Department creates a hostile work environment for the races singled out for negativity. Young ultimately left his job as a correctional officer because the training made the job even more dangerous in an already divisive environment.

“Unsurprisingly, when employers train their employees to treat people of different races differently—or that members of a certain race, as a group, have certain negative characteristics, or that members of certain other races deserve to be given priority treatment—hostility in the workplace increases,” Attorney General Knudsen wrote. “Employer training sets the tone for the entire workplace… Even infrequent training can create a pervasive race-based hostility for the races singled out for negativity.”

Attorney General Knudsen argues in the brief that DEI programs that engage in race stereotyping and race scapegoating cause workplace hostility and division, which put Young’s safety at risk. While theoretically the goal may be to encourage respect, cooperation, and collegiality, DEI trainings are notorious for defaming the character of the majority group through racial stereotyping and race scapegoating.

The racial discrimination Young was subjected to also violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or natural origin, and is antithetical to our Constitution and our values.

“Our Constitution and statutory law require that individuals be treated as individuals without regard to race or color.  Put succinctly, ‘[t]he way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race,’” the brief states.

During the training Young was instructed that “all Caucasians are racists, that they perpetuate white supremacy, that the very notion of race was invented by white people to justify the oppression of people of color, that white supremacy is an ever-present feature of daily life…., and that Caucasians who deny their own racism are merely ‘fragile’ racists who cannot accept their own prejudice.” The training also advocated for employees “treating their colleagues differently based on their race.”

Young is asking the court to declare his rights were violated, enjoin the defendant from utilizing racially discriminatory materials in its mandatory trainings, and demand the Colorado Department of Corrections reinstate him as a correctional officer.

Attorneys general from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, and the Arizona Legislature also joined Attorney General Knudsen in filing the brief.

Click here to read the brief.