An Update: What You Need To Know About The Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism
An Update: What You Need To Know About The Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism
Founder Melissa Chen just resigned from the FAIR Board of Directors.
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I have a long track record of telling you exactly which so-called “anti-woke” organizations you can trust, and which ones you might want to stay clear of. Some people call this drama. I call it pragmatism.
We cannot win and beat back the woke cultural revolution that is currently occurring in this country if all of the money and resources are going to the wrong people and the wrong organizations - when we ignore problems, that means there is no money or resources left for people who need it.
So while discussing these issues may be unpleasant, and people will make all sorts of excuses for why they don’t want to hear it, I believe it is absolutely vital.
And that’s why, in October 2021, I started exposing one of the largest anti-woke organizations in the space - the Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism (FAIR).
Here is an abbreviated version of what I wrote back then:
I met FAIR CEO Bion Bartning before the organization - properly titled The Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism - made its bold launch onto the scene with a star-studded Board of Advisors that included Bari Weiss, Melissa Chen, Peter Boghossian, Megyn Kelly, Steven Pinker, and more.
Back before they launched, I joined two mutual contacts on a group brainstorming call with Bion to discuss an idea one of them had to encourage alumni to pledge not to give another dime to their alma mater so long as the college was engaging in illiberal initiatives around equity, anti-racism and critical race theory. The campaign was a great idea, one conceived entirely by my friend, and I was happy to help in any way to make it a reality.
But on this group call, I watched as Bion Bartning stole the idea out from under him. Instead of brainstorming the idea with us to see if there was a fit with the organization he was launching, Bion immediately started registering URLs in his name, even though my friend had not agreed to partner with him on the idea and had signed no agreement with the organization. Bion made it very clear that if my friend wanted to pursue the idea, he would have to work through FAIR to get it done. My friend ultimately abandoned the idea entirely, and the campaign was never launched.
As an organizational psychologist, I’m used to seeing CEOs engaged in behavior that is, shall we say, less than above board. However, this was one of the most brazen things I had ever seen - I witnessed the theft of intellectual property by someone who was about to launch an organization with a massive war chest, claiming to fight for liberal values.
But I kept my mouth shut. I liked the idea of FAIR, believed in the positive intentions of many of the advisors, and wanted to see them be successful. I knew that sometimes the stress of a launch made people do things out of character, and I hoped that was the case with Bion.
I continued to keep my mouth shut when I heard that Bion sabotaged the fundraising campaign for an important legal challenge to critical race theory.
I continued to keep my mouth shut when I heard that Bion was withholding money raised to help parents fighting back against CRT.
I continued to keep my mouth shut when I heard that Bion wasn’t paying some of the vendors providing services to the organization, or wanted them to sign away the rights to their likeness to receive the payment they were already promised.
I continued to keep my mouth shut when it became obvious that FAIR wouldn’t be associated with anyone who publicly supported Trump for President - so much for a non-partisan organization.
I continued to keep my mouth shut when I heard that Bion was making demands of his staff to take things off their personal website that might be considered too right-wing.
I continued to keep my mouth shut when I heard Bion demanded an independent journalist sign over his website to FAIR, and threatened to just steal the content off of it if the keys weren’t handed over.
I’m not keeping my mouth shut anymore. The idea of FAIR is wonderful, and I do believe it has a world of potential. However, it will never be successful under its current leadership and something must be done. I want FAIR to be successful. The only way it can be is Bion Bartning is removed as CEO.
I did a series of articles and interviews that kept hitting the organization, demanding answers:
FAIR's CEO responds through a letter to his Board of Advisors
What you need to know about the Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism (FAIR) with Gabrielle Clark
Chapter lead at the Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism (FAIR) tells all with Unwokeable
Sadly, it wasn’t enough. Bion stayed in control of FAIR, I pretty much turned my brain off to the organization and moved on. It was really disappointing to see how much power he had to control what people in the space said.
Because I went after FAIR, I was blacklisted by a lot of people. Bion has friends in powerful places. But, I didn’t care so much because it was always my intent to remain independent anyway. It also really showed me who to trust in the space and who were just in it for power, money, and ego.
And then something funny happened: Yesterday FAIR founder and member of the Board of Directors Melissa Chen abruptly resigned:
And she wasn’t the only one speaking up:
And so, on my stream yesterday, I told more of what I learned back in 2021 to give people more of a sense of what was going on. This is the first time that some of these stories have been told publicly. It’s important that we’re honest about this.
Melissa really did try to fix things. Sadly, it wasn’t possible, but that’s not her fault.
If anyone connected to FAIR wants to talk, my DMs are open on Twitter. You can find me at @DrKarlynB. And if you’d prefer email, it’s activelyunwoke (a) gmail.com.
What do you think?
Do you think it’s important to discuss corruption in the anti-woke space?
Leave a comment and let me know! And please share this with your friends and family who need to learn this information.
Fight back against the woke and support my work.
I believe the woke - on the left and the right - are an existential threat to our values as Americans. Some of them know it, most of them are just useful innocents. Regardless, fighting back against this woke cultural revolution is my full-time job. I’m dedicated to exposing the woke ideology in our country, helping people to understand what’s going on, and providing spaces for non-woke people to connect, support each other, and plan ways to fight back.
Here’s how you can help.
The same principle applies to other charities. If the CEO pays him/herself $1M+/yr, abuses staff members, and adheres to no ethical code other than expediency, donate elsewhere.
Oh no I like FAIR’s content.