DEI isn’t political
Lately, I’ve been pretty active on social media. My algorithms are back to being screwy and because everyone is frickin ANGRY. For the last year, I’ve been trying NOT to engage so that I can concentrate my efforts in more “important” spaces. There’s nothing worse than investing so much time and energy into screaming into the void. To have your posts and comments go unread because of algorithms, or to feel the strong emotions that come up whenever we open the app that distracts us from our day ahead.
Today, I want to jump into DEI because it is at the center of much public debate. I practice and teach DEI, and I am concerned that the core meaning of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is being lost. Despite the backlash, I remain committed because I believe in the fundamental values of DEI, and I question why these values are seen as negative. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion should not be political it should be human.
What I’ve learned.
I took my first diversity class in college, where I would have seemed like a conservative republican at the time. I was fairly neutral on many issues, but I definitely didn’t understand people who didn’t look like me. Kathryn Gettlemen delivered a semester of insights that completely changed my worldview. That was a good thing. It helped me to be more empathetic and sympathetic to the plight of others. To be able to ask valuable questions that gave me and others information to process and think about the truth of things, rather than just our own preconceived notions.
Since then, I’ve spent an enormous amount of time deconstructing my understanding of the world. This took perspective shifting to a whole other level for me. I realized with very little effort on my part that the systems in the United States were built for one type of person… white males. So much so that large swaths of history – history that would offer us a deeper understanding have simply been left out of the textbooks, and lesson plans our teachers have taught us (more insidiously, there are large organizations dedicated to continuing that practice.)
Radical Practices
There seems to be this belief that is fundamental to the “anti-woke” activism that the inclusion of these things has created a world that is hostile to white people… and the belief isn’t wrong per se. When I first learned of the Tulsa Riots [https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=TU013], I was in my thirties. MY THIRTIES! Some of you who are reading this may be even older than I was and are just now learning about them. Arguably one of the most egregious acts of terrorism on American soil, and one of the first of its size, and to this day it is still not listed on websites that speak to terrorism.
To say I became angry at “whiteness” when I saw what had happened is putting it lightly. I was ENRAGED – why was I not taught this, why are we as a residents of the United States, a country steeped in racism from the start, not taught this – why do we still not talk about it when we speak of reparations, slavery, the challenges that black people face in today’s world? In 1921, an entire city was burned to the ground, and hundreds of black people were killed because the color of their skin and their success in the midst of the greatest economic crisis the country had faced was so unfathomable.
People were murdered because other people were jealous. A grand jury, composed entirely of white men, was convened shortly after the violence, and it ultimately blamed Black residents for the massacre, calling for more aggressive policing of the Black community.
Today, in 2025
More than a century later, we still lack widespread awareness about events like the Tulsa Riots. Decades after desegregation, we continue to debate the necessity of inclusion and still witness injustices against BIPOC communities. This ongoing lack of awareness and action is a main reason why I argue DEI remains critical.
We are a GLOBAL economy, a GLOBAL community now – we are no longer isolated based on states, communities, or sameness. We no longer live in a world where people can be so ignorant of the experiences of others. Or at least I thought we couldn’t.
Against Equity because it’s not equal
I shared a post a few weeks ago, where someone asked, “Please tell me exactly which part of DEI you want to get rid of, the diversity, equity, or inclusion.” I didn’t expect anyone to respond, but unsurprisingly, I had two older (Gen X or older) white males comment on my post, saying it was about equity because equity was the problem with society.
Each of them was approaching it differently, and I want to address each viewpoint in this post. The first viewpoint is that Equity means that things aren’t merit-based. This couldn’t be further from the truth. The reason we need DEI specifically for equitable scenarios is that, for far too long, our system has been based on merit in a society that doesn’t allow people to solely focus on merit. There is a great video explaining this on YouTube https://youtu.be/4K5fbQ1-zps?si=5VK6_DMNLSsWnV3C. This was one of the things that shifted my perspective on equity.
Meritocracy only works if everyone is considered equal.
We cannot have meritocracy if two candidates are the same, but our still racist and ignorant biases will hire one candidate over the other because of the color of their skin. We cannot have a meritocricy when Among Black students in higher education, women are more likely than men to earn degrees and specifically Black women get 64.1% of bachelor’s degrees, 71.5% of master’s degrees and 65.9%of doctoral, medical, and dental degrees and yet STILL Black women who work full-time year-round earn $58,278 less than White men and $60,142 less when considering all earnings. That even with a doctorate, Black Women earn only 76 cents of what their white male colleagues earn.
For the one troll who will read this and say, “yeah, there are so many getting degrees because of affirmative action – No, only 7% of the population of college students are black women… SEVEN PERCENT and yet they get over 60% of all degrees… because they HAVE to have it for people to even consider them for work.) In fact, the current administration’s elimination of affirmative action standards has actually reduced the number of white men in universities. Proof that BIPOC people have been overqualified for merit-based opportunities for a long time.
It’s not just about Race either.
Women in general have to work so much harder to overcome stereotypes of our intelligence, our emotional regulation, and our work ethic… but black women – they have to overcome all of the gender stereotypes AND all of the ignorant bias that’s based on their skin color and cultural identities.
That is why we need Equity, because people in our world should not have to work so fricking hard just to be considered equal. Black women are overqualified, underpaid, underrepresented, and yet still, people in our own GOVERNMENT want to claim that they only got their job because of a policy that FORCES people to even give them a chance. Do you see the absurdity and hypocrisy in this belief?
Now for the other argument
That wokeness is creating a pendulum effect that’s driving division and systemic hate and racism. The friend who commented said that DEI is why we lost women’s healthcare and affirmative action. And I fundamentally disagree. It is my whole-hearted belief that we lost those precedents because of lobbyists with a lot of money and conviction have a vested interest in dismantling these things. AND because our crap representatives won’t do their jobs and represent us.
While I agree that we need something better than the mediocre and halfassed efforts of organizations that pretend to be trying, when in actuality, their actions are performative. Yes – I definitely agree we need something better, but for now, DEI is all we have. The people who work in DEI (like me) understand that DEI is about kindness, compassion, and empathy at its root. It’s about fostering curiosity, humanity, and connection. Yet, for some reason, my friend had a different understanding of the words Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Language can be tricky.
One of the challenges with words is that everyone gets to have their own understanding and meaning. Despite definitions, words come with emotions and history. And all of that information shapes the meanings. What you understand about a word is shaped by your lived experiences and perspectives. And yes, that, in and of itself, is a challenge within this space. Because people don’t understand that equality is not about giving someone a free ride based on anything. It’s about simply giving people the same chances.
DEI work does have problems.
I do see challenges and issues within the space, but ultimately it’s about humanity… just people being human to each other. What’s sad to me is that we need programs or laws to address this in the first place. I really don’t understand people’s hatred for each other, or their lack of interest in dismantling oppressive systems. Yet, I’ve never claimed to be normal. The fact that we need a legal system to dictate that we treat each other with respect is sickening, and as individuals, we need to do better so that it doesn’t have to be written into law.
All of that said, I believe that DEI is important
I’ve met too many white men (and women and others…) who don’t seem to care about the issues that people other than themselves face, and yet, when they get similar treatment, it’s as if the world should be burned down to the ground. That’s why DEI is important… It’s important because otherwise systems get put into place that cause a group of people to have to struggle because they aren’t represented.
Equity isn’t about representation; it’s about the understanding that even right now, we still aren’t “equal” 250 years after the “all men were created equal” line was written by a slave holder. If we can’t acknowledge that and make the correction for our future, people won’t ever be treated equally.
For me, DEI stands as a reminder…
None of us is “equal” because we have unique differences (diversity). An acknowledgement of those unique differences impacts heritage, company policies, and even current laws, hindering or helping the opportunities that people have (equity).
If we want true equality and the opportunity for success for everyone, we need to ask impacted people about how to fix it (inclusion). Otherwise, it continues on, and at some point, ignorance becomes oppression. If you have never walked in someone’s path… You can’t understand their plight.
So, if there’s a better plan than DEI that embraces the humanity of our population, the differences that we have, then I’m game to hear it, for sure.
What is DEI?
I’ve given you my understanding of DEI, but what are the definitions of the words according to the dictionary?
In short, Diversity simply means variety. Why is this important to teach? Diversity in the terms of DEI means embracing the variety that we have in our population… at work, and even in our own homes. It’s about understanding that we are all different. It’s also about understanding how our brains have worked to keep us moving forward.
As humans, our brains don’t care for things that are unfamiliar. We take in information at lightning speeds, and as babies, we begin to learn what is safe and what is not. When we are isolated from groups of people and cultures for our childhood and then thrust into situations to be exposed to new people and experiences, our brains tell us that it’s stressful. When a company or a person embraces diversity, it is more about the work that goes into deconstructing our ability to see people and embrace them. We learn to respect the unique variety that they bring to our lives, rather than shy away from them.
Equity.
Equity has two different definitions – the first is the quality of being fair and impartial. The second is regarding investment value. I think that both apply here. Equity in the context of DEI means that there are people in our society who aren’t being treated fair and impartially. This means that we put our bias, as discussed in the above paragraph, aside, and we treat people based on evidence. I think that this is so important to the grand scheme of things.
When we look at the justice system, people aren’t treated based on evidence; they’re treated based on judgmental bias of the jury, the judge, the prosecutor, the cops, and sometimes even their defense attorneys. It is most definitely shown in the way that we treat people in the media. What’s more is that when we look at a company that we work for or a community we live in, EQUITY means that we give people credit for the investments that they’ve made. Looking through history, there are too many instances where credit has been given unjustly and unfairly to people who didn’t deserve the credit, while others who did the work don’t receive credit. Vice versa in the judgment and condemnation, too.
Equity needs Curiosity
What strikes me most about this is that nowhere in the definition does it say that there has to be a curiosity, but it’s implied in the idea of being fair and impartial. The United States justice system speaks to searching for the truth, and what I find has been err apparent in my life is that there is never one truth… nor is there evidence for “truth.” One of the reasons I never went into law was because it was my understanding that I would have to defend criminals, and while I would have been very good at that, I recognized that, on the off chance I was defending someone who was guilty, I’d never be able to forgive myself if they went free and hurt someone else.
That said, the reason that I say I would have been very good is that all you hear in the retelling of a story is someone’s personal beliefs and biases. Rarely are the facts what actually matter. Regardless, there are countless scenarios that could happen despite the narrative of prosecutorial efforts which certain “facts” can seem to accuse someone. Our justice system says “beyond a reasonable doubt.” But isn’t there always reasonable doubt?
I digress, the point is, people have put blood, sweat, and tears into building this country and still have very little equity… couple that with the inequities of our court systems, which are not, in fact, impartial or fair, and you have a recipe for people being treated unfairly and without equity.
Inclusion
Inclusion, by definition, is the action or state of including or of being included within a group or structure. The definition speaks directly to DEI in that Inclusion is the practice or policy of providing equal access to opportunities and resources for people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized. Such as those who have physical or intellectual disabilities and members of other minority groups. Again, two definitions that both fit the context of DEI.
The fact is that if we want to be called the “melting pot” of the world, if we want to acknowledge that people who are here are largely diverse in all matters (race to religion to gender expression, to just the way we talk and think). The importance of including people different from yourself in decisions of policy is that all through history, we’ve done just the opposite. Over the span of history, we’ve excluded people for being different, manipulated them, tortured them, committed grave atrocities as humans, and we’ve still not learned our lesson that everyone is valuable. That everyone’s thoughts, insight, beliefs, and more MATTER.
Unconscious Bias
Scientists talk about unconscious bias being the reason that we still have issues, but I don’t agree with this, at least not entirely. I look at areas of the world where hate has led to genocide, and it never starts with hate… it starts with mistreatment, usually of children. Our worst cases in world history of genocide, revolution, and war came out of someone so disconnected because of massive amounts of trauma and abuse. What’s more is that we’re creating that right now. As I write this, war continues in Gaza, where thousands have been slaughtered for no reason other than their faith, cultural heritage, and chosen place of living. Blaming the acts of a few on the existence of the others.
And yet, for some reason, there is a debate on whether or not this is the right thing. The persons committing these atrocities have a long history of trauma and conditioning – beliefs as to what other people are thinking or will do, simply based on perception. We all do this, and it’s a survival mechanism. Am I excusing the behavior – NEVER. We’re all adults now – you don’t have to believe the same things when you can seek out information that opposes your viewpoint.
It is important, however, to understand that every one of us has a different brain, regardless of what we look like or where we share commonalities with others. Our brains are different, period. Which is why we need to include people. The way we think is unique, and while I know that in some situations hearing the voices of all others isn’t possible, there does need to be representation. That’s inclusion!
Democracy
We the people, by the people, for the people… that was the principle we stood on in the US when we formed our own country. We believed that every person mattered, and yet… we struggled to create a system that put that value into law… because at the time, the definition of every person, and we the people… was “white men.” And that’s been the greatest injustice of not having DEI be a practice we embraced from the start.
Imagine what the United States would be today if we’d treated everyone with respect to begin with… if we had embraced the call to try to understand, if we’d embraced our own calls to justice and sought the truth?
In a country that claims democracy, we don’t have a democracy – we have a representative government with representatives who represent parties, not people. And I believe that this is the single most enormous obstacle to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. We cannot have a system that truly embraces its people, that’s created by its people, and works for the people if everyone doesn’t have a voice.
There is a lot of fear in this philosophy, for some people, so I will pause this here so that we can reflect, but wouldn’t DEI in government, a place where we all get a voice, be powerful?
Want to have discussions about bringing DEI practices into your workplace?
Let’s chat! Book a consultation call here so we can discuss.
Sources: https://www.aauw.org/resources/article/fast-facts-woc-higher-ed/
https://www.aauw.org/resources/article/fast-facts-woc-higher-ed
https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=TU013
0 Comments