Far-right activist accused of racism after posting video of black medical school students and claiming they were destined to be ‘malpractice bailed’

The former GOP Senate candidate and far-right activist has faced backlash on social media for denigrating a big group of minority medical students seen in a viral video.

Lauren Witzke shared a video on her X channel of dozens of black medical school students at a conference in New Orleans whom she said were looking for “medical malpractice bailout.”

People flooded her comments, with many calling them racist.

“What a terrible thing to say. Shame on you. The best doctors I ever met were black. We don’t need any more divisions in this country and you are fueling the fire,” one person replied.

Her comments echo the anti-DEI sentiment circulating among hard-line conservatives and many on the right, who believe that diversity, equity and inclusion policies are inherently racist and discriminatory and do more harm than good to the industries that implement them.

The war on DEI has intensified after the Supreme Court ruled race-based college admissions policies unconstitutional last summer. Since then, DEI opponents have worked to ban DEI positions, anti-bias training, diversity statements, and race-based hiring practices in state offices, as well as against funding for DEI initiatives at public universities.

Some critics have even begun to claim that some industries and vocational schools have lowered their standards to make room for minority and job applicants.

In February, false allegations that Duke University School of Medicine lowered admissions standards as part of its DEI efforts began to spread after conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro posted thread on X, claiming that some of the country’s best hospitals are abandoning key metrics in their recruitment processes.

This thread included a video of a Duke surgical resident claiming that the school had moved to a “completely holistic review process” and had abandoned “all kinds of metrics and screens.”

Billionaire Elon Musk, who did not hesitate to share his opposition to DEI policies, he replied to Shapiro’s thread writing, “People will die from this.”

In a recent interview with Don Lemon, Musk went further to repeat falsely claiming that Duke University has lowered its standards by further maintaining that DEI policies could harm hospital patients, which Lemon condemned and called purely “speculative.”

Prince released statement released last month in response to the allegations.

“Duke University School of Medicine has not lowered its medical school admissions and graduation standards and continues to rely on GPA and MCAT scores, among others,” Duke Health said in an announcement. “Achieving health equity while recruiting diverse talent across our education and training programs allows us to provide the highest quality care to our patients and makes Duke a global leader in innovative and transformative research.”

As an opponent of DEI, Witzke has also shared her anti-DEI views on her social media channels, many of which attack hiring practices.

Witzke ran for U.S. Senate in 2020 in Delaware and won the Republican primary, but lost the general election to incumbent Democrat Christopher Coons.

During her term, she gained popularity among conservatives by promoting an “America First” platform that supported a 10-year moratorium on immigration, welfare benefits limits for married couples with children, and faith-based addiction treatment programs.

By this time, her ties to QAnon had become widely known, but she had sought to distance herself from this camp of conspiracy theorists. The QAnon conspiracy claims that there is a network of “deep state” enemies against Donald Trump, some of whom are pedophiles and child sex traffickers.

She is currently being sued for defamation by a Texas couple whom she accused of pedophilia and human trafficking after both men posted on social media about the birth of their surrogate twins, according to Delaware Online.

Witzke, who identifies as a Christian and nationalist, has publicized her anti-LGBTQ views and defended members of the Proud Boys organization, whom she called examples of “patriotic masculinity.”