A longtime employee of Hennepin Healthcare, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of losing his job, joined Liz Collin on her podcast and talked about how a DEIB training claims to help make the organization “anti-racist”—but is more like a “slap in the face.”
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The employee, who we’ll call “Frank,” told Collin how Hennepin Healthcare has become a workplace “obsessed” with race and DEI.
Much of that, Frank says, stems from the hospital’s training, which asserts that “without Diversion, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) there cannot be health equity.”
However, Frank explained that in the more than 25 years that he’s worked there, “Nobody’s ever said, ‘Hey, this person’s this ethnicity, let’s not take care of them.’ I’ve never seen that in all the years I’ve been there. But the employer, Hennepin Healthcare as an organization, has become absolutely obsessed with race and ethnicity.”
“A lot of this is subjective opinion. You know … when it comes to microaggressions and white privilege and all of this, it’s—none of it is objective fact, it’s all subjective opinion. But you are expected to agree with it,” he added.
NEW: Hennepin Healthcare mandatory DEI training includes lessons on the “white fragility process”
Also, a sign in nurse admin on how to talk about racism includes the words “stop taking care of white people.”
(Submitted to Alpha News)
A hospital spokesperson says that sign… https://t.co/J8EHMIEUh3 pic.twitter.com/52diUok3Pu
— Liz Collin (@lizcollin) September 26, 2025
Video clips of DEIB training at Hennepin Healthcare
Frank is not only speaking out about the training and the consequences, but he’s been documenting them. He shared clips from training videos promoting DEIB at Hennepin Healthcare.
“It’s really disappointing. It’s discouraging. It’s heartbreaking. You spend all these years going to work and focusing on taking care of people, taking care of patients, keeping people safe, trying to make people feel better, doing everything you can to be helpful. And at the end of the day, your employer thinks you’re evil because of your ethnicity or your race,” Frank said of the training.
Alpha News found the Health Equity Compass Program says the training aims to make Hennepin Healthcare an “anti-racist” organization.
Hennepin Healthcare sent Alpha News the following statement when we asked about its training:
“Hennepin Healthcare affirms its commitment to creating a safe, inclusive environment for all. Our health equity and anti-racism trainings are developed with this goal in mind. We continue to deepen our commitment to health equity and embed principles of anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion to our work.”
Frank explained, however, that “when you’re a white male working there, your opinion doesn’t count for anything. And in fact, you’re with all these training sessions, you’re, you’re made to feel like you’re, you’re the bad guy.”
“So you’re the bad guy and if you don’t agree with them saying that, you’re the bad guy—you’re still the bad guy and you have privilege. But if you don’t agree with that, that’s just your privilege talking. There’s just, there’s no way around it,” he added.
He also explained how this relates to a bigger issue: “There’s a lot of people there that are very hyper-focused on this and their entire goal is to make you feel bad. You can’t even come out and say this to people because you’re just going to get railroaded as a white male. You’re going to get railroaded … you’re left feeling like you have no voice, you can’t say anything, you can’t disagree with it, or you’ll lose your job.”
Collin also asked Frank about funding implications, given the executive orders of President Donald Trump related to DEI.
Frank explained, “It kind of puts the hospital in a bit of a pickle because on the one hand, my understanding is that if a hospital or a healthcare organization is receiving state reimbursement for care, they’re required by Minnesota state law to implement some type of DEI program and on the flip side with president Trump’s executive order, if you do have stuff like that, you can’t receive federal funding.”
In pinpointing another significant issue within the organization, Frank said that following the training and focusing on race and health equity tends to lead to questionable conclusions and accusations: “If the white person has a better outcome than the black person, it can’t have anything to do with their physiology. It has to be racism. It has to be that our medical staff treated them poorly because they’re not white.”
“And it’s a disgusting accusation against all the men and women that work in this organization and give their all every single day to try and help people. It’s a slap in their face,” he said.
Liz Collin
Liz Collin is a multi-Emmy-Award-winning investigative reporter, news anchor, and producer who cares about Minnesota. She is the producer of The Fall of Minneapolis and Minnesota v We the People documentary films, and author of the Amazon best-selling book, They’re Lying: The Media, the Left, and The Death of George Floyd. Her work has prompted important state laws. Yet perhaps most of all, Liz has been giving a voice to the truth—and helping others tell their stories—for more than 20 years.
Dr. JC Chaix
Dr. JC Chaix is an editor, educator, and an expert in media studies. He wrote and directed the Alpha News documentary "The Fall of Minneapolis" and "Minnesota v We the People."
