The World’s 3rd Largest Weapons Manufacturer Promotes Critical Race Theory

In response to the protests following the death of George Floyd, Northrop Grumman produced internal documents addressing the issues of race, gender, and sexual orientation. These documents include general reading lists, sets of instructions, as well as materials to watch aimed at children of the employees.

Lotuseaters.com has received a folder of these internal documents used at Northrop Grumman. The company was listed by SIPRI as the world’s 3rd largest weapons manufacturer in 2018 and it employed roughly 85 thousand people in that year.

Self-promoted and stylized as materials to alleviate racial bias and discrimination, they include resources with explicitly racist overtones and messages. Among others, for example, the book ‘White Fragility’ by Robin DiAngelo has been under intense scrutiny in the last months, with critics denouncing its eagerness to apply stereotypical labels and attempt to marginalize sections of society.

By including resources promoting hate and intolerance, authors of these documents aim at normalizing such discourse in the broader culture in order to further their political goals. Through occupying positions of power within large corporations like Northrop Grumman, activists of this type are able to generate societal and political pressure, and create the illusion of importance and urgency in relation to selected issues.

There is also a general tendency in the documents to attempt to increase control over people’s interpersonal behaviour. The method used here is to spread intolerance under the pretext of combating it. By classifying certain phrases as ‘microaggressions’, for example, an additional layer is added to people’s expressions, which can then be used as a power tool against them in the future, whenever necessary. To avoid this, the policing of one’s own behaviours becomes more prevalent - not out of consideration for others, but out of fear.