The acronym for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion – “DEI” – has almost become a curse word by some. It’s time we step back and look at it’s true meaning.
Diversity.
At one time, the United States encouraged its diversity: “The Great Melting Pot.” As I recall it, with a sense of pride.
I grew up on a city block in Trenton, NJ where Italian, German, Jew, Hungarian, a nondescript ‘pioneer’ woman and her son lived their lives without electricity, and a woman who wore men’s work pants, all lived in relative harmony, keeping watch on all the children from front porches.
Most were first and second generation immigrants. We were all White.
In the early 70s, a group of Black residents wanted to create a church from the decades-abandoned Bijou Theater. There were no protests; church-going people were welcomed.
Equity is when everyone gets a “hand up”. But, realize that the hand-up may not fit the differences for each of us.
If you want to do a visual, picture a one-size box that three people are standing on in front of a tall fence: One person is tall and can easily see over the top; the second is in a wheelchair, staring through the slates; the third is short, also unable to see over.
Education and good-paying jobs are the ‘boxes’ that can either advance or hold people back. Federal Minimum Wage is $7.25/hour, as is Pennsylvania’s.
When the Civil War ended for Whites, the battle for equality began for Black people. Their war has never ended. With the benefit of the vote given to freed Blacks, Black men who had managed to educate themselves, were elected to Congress. Many Whites resented this rise in power and sought to hold them back with brutal force, creating the KKK and Jim Crow practices. In 1921, Tulsa, OK, an affluent neighborhood called Black Wall Street was burned to the ground by white rioters.
The movie, “Hidden Figures,” tells the story of three Black women working for NASA in the 1960s who earned their degrees from historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) (President Trump recently threatened to remove federal funding). They had proved their capabilities, yet were still held back by prejudice simply because of the color of their skin.
READ: Dismantling DEI Is About ‘Making America White Again’
In the 1960s, “Civil Rights” began be acknowledged by many people. The realization that there was a huge discrepancy between advantages for White people and not so much for people of color, and maybe even a ‘foot on the neck’, while at the same time decrying it ‘being their own fault, etc.’ for not advancing.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion supporters cite the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964 as it’s catalyst, making discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin illegal in employment, leading to further developments. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed by George H. W. Bush on July 26, 1990.
A university course taught to law students known as Critical Race Theory (CRT), studies the centuries-long, purposeful, societal obstacles: denial of loans for education or to buy a house, redlining (when realtors create areas between Whites and Blacks, keeping people from advancing to better living conditions.), Black veterans of WWII cheated out of the GI Bill and VA loans.
But, I digress.
Inclusion is the aspirational “in this together.”
We were in that neighborhood; together. We are in this country; together.
Unfair ‘boxes’ against people of color also affects thousands of people with disabilities of all kinds. Discrimination because of age, LGBTQ people, and women that, despite their qualifications, fortitude, and resilience, denied opportunities.
This discrimination has been proven with statistics by comparison of population numbers to actual gained opportunities for these groups. It’s never been up to par, but now, with Trump’s Executive Order against the program, it says that no one need worry about discrimination. He’s going after the ADA next.
Doesn’t the opposition to DEI prove that it’s needed? Doesn’t the stamp against the cry for equality prove it’s necessity?
To think that we can take two and a half centuries of this country’s shared existence, such as it is, flip it over and shake out the ones that some feel are not entitled to a decent life is cruel, counterproductive and un-American.
