Image Credit: Blount County Chamber of Commerce
The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –
The Blount County Chamber of Commerce is compiling profiles of all the candidates running for office in 2022.
For a candidate’s profile to be shared with the community via social media and the Chamber of Commerce’s website, candidates are required to complete a list of questions to be submitted no later than March 11th.
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As Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) is all the rage in many corporate circles right now, one of the questions stands out among the standard faire posed in the questionnaire.
Sandwiched between questions about a candidate’s ‘Top Three Priorities for small businesses’ and ‘what a candidate hopes to accomplish as an elected official’ is the question, “What kinds of policies, if any, will you pursue to promote Social and Racial Justice in our Community?”
Although the question is not a requirement for the candidate to complete in order for the Chamber to share their information via their social media and website platforms, it’s inclusion delineates a clear underlying agenda that the organization is supporting.
Many chambers of commerce across the state and the country have been pushing Woke Agendas for their business community members for some time, but a push for political candidates to ‘get woke’ appears to be a relatively new phenomenon.
For example, back on April 22nd, 2021Christy Gillenwater, President and CEO of the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce sent an email to many CEOs and managing leaders in Chattanooga urging them to sign the ‘CEO Pledge for Racial Equality’ and offered preferential treatment for those who completed the form and demonstrated that they had implemented Chamber-approved DEI measures in their businesses.
Legislators and policy-makers often think that what they hear from Chambers of Commerce represents the beliefs and desires of local businesses. The same could be said for political candidates, who are in need of support from local businesses and may not have their finger on the pulse of the local business community first-hand.
The truth is that the vast majority of Chamber funding comes from large, often left-leaning corporations, not small businesses, and those large corporations are driving the Chamber’s narrative.
About the Author: Jason Vaughn, Media Coordinator for The Tennessee Conservative ~ Jason previously worked for a legacy publishing company based in Crossville, TN in a variety of roles through his career. Most recently, he served as Deputy Director for their flagship publication. Prior, he was a freelance journalist writing articles that appeared in the Herald Citizen, the Crossville Chronicle and The Oracle among others. He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s in English-Journalism, with minors in Broadcast Journalism and History. Contact Jason at news@TennesseeConservativeNews.com
2 Responses
I am sick of the WOKE FOLKS when are they going to get of the WOKE BAN WAGON.
Knopf, Susan W – Administrator of Elections, 2021 $94,517.47 Blount County Citizens need a refund, THERE IS NO MENTION OF PROMOTING AGENDAS!!! “It is the mission of the Blount County Election Commission to ensure the integrity of every vote cast in Blount County by administering election law and procedures equally and fairly to all, by providing the most efficient, accurate and secure election process possible, and, in all our endeavors, exceeding the expectations of the voters, taxpayers and citizens of Blount County in accountability and competence.”