Buckeye Reporter

U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) criticized a Forbes column about so-called “white-centering,” saying the column was "racist" and "gross."

The article was written by “senior contributor” Janice Gassam Asare, owner of “DEI Consultancy” BWG Business Solutions.

“I’m just done with this shit. It's racist and it's gross,” Vance posted on X, formerly Twitter. “Forbes should be ashamed of themselves for publishing it.”

“The author is a ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ consultant,” said Vance. “I've directed my staff to investigate whether her ‘business’ receives any public money from Ohio.” 

The column was entitled, “3 Ways To Decenter Whiteness In Your Workplace,” and Asare writes that “white-centering” is “a system that prioritizes white dominant culture to the detriment of non-white groups and cultures.”  

She also writes in the column that “white-centering” is also called “the white gaze” and “whiteness as default.”

Asare, whose LinkedIn headline is, “I help workplaces become anti-racist,” founded BWG in November 2018 . She also has been a “contributing writer” to Harvard Business Review since May 2023 and is a “LinkedIn Learning Instructor.”  

Her LinkedIn course is entitled, “Awareness to Action: Level Up as a Change Agent in Your Organization,” which, she writes, is designed to “help you learn how to recognize, reduce, and respond to microaggressions, tokenization, and exclusionary behavior.”

Asare’s past Forbes columns include headlines, such as, “Is Artificial Intelligence Anti-Black?” And “What are Micro-Reparations And How Can They Benefit Your Black Employees?” She also hosts a podcast called, “Dirty Diversity” and authored a 2020 book by the same name. 

Her website lists a “10-part white supremacy course,” but as of publication time, the hyperlink to that course is not working.

Vance, 38, was first elected to serve Ohio in the U.S. Senate in the Nov. 2022 General Election. He defeated U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), winning 53% to Ryan’s 47%.

A Middletown native, Vance graduated from Middletown High School and then served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2003 to 2007. 

Vance served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2003 to 2007. He then graduated from Ohio State University and received a J.D. from Yale University Law School.

Vance also is the author of the the 2016 book, “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis," which reached The New York Times Bestseller list in 2016 and 2017.