In his first two weeks as president, Donald Trump has signed a flurry of executive orders, some aimed at rolling back civil rights advancements and purging the federal government of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, more commonly known as DEI. “The Biden Administration forced illegal and immoral discrimination programs, going by the name ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEI), into virtually all aspects of the Federal Government, in areas ranging from airline safety to the military,” Trump’s Jan. 20 Executive Order states.
Trump and his supporters have thrown the three letters around pejoratively—from calling Kamala Harris a “DEI candidate,” to blaming the ship that crashed into the Baltimore Bridge and the Los Angeles wildfires on DEI hiring practices that somehow put unqualified individuals in places of authority. Just this week, he blamed DEI for a deadly plane crash in Washington, D.C. When asked how he could blame the crash on DEI without a full investigation being complete, Trump replied, “Because I have common sense.” As Black History Month begins, the onslaught of reversals to hard-won gains has some Black leaders in South Florida frustrated. Some consider that DEI has become a scapegoat and a way to insinuate that Black and brown people were given jobs based solely on their race, usurping a more qualified white person. Trump’s executive actions signal he is ready to dismantle civil rights policies put in place to ensure that workplaces were more reflective of the country’s diverse population.
“There’s no need to sugarcoat it: DEI is the new n-word, and they’re using it to discredit the qualifications of people who are more qualified than individuals who have no qualifications at all,” Florida State Senator Shevrin Jones told the Miami Herald. Jones said in many ways Florida was ground zero for what we’re seeing at the federal level. Shevrin Jones, Miami-Dade DEC Chair and State Senator, speaks during the Blue Gala hosted by the Miami-Dade Democratic Party at the Miami Beach Convention Center, Florida on Saturday, September 21, 2024. Pedro Portal [email protected] Diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI as it is more commonly called, is a framework created to treat all groups equitably. But its ideology in more recent years has been subject to scrutiny as it pertains to gender and racial groups. The effect has been seen statewide when in 2022, Florida enacted its “Stop Woke” Act, limiting how race-related issues are taught in public universities, colleges and in workplace training.
Roni Bennett, founder of nonprofit South Florida People of Color, which is dedicated to empowering diverse voices in the region through educational programming, explains DEI programs are all-encompassing, and can include providing opportunities and support to people with disabilities, people who are economically disenfranchised, people who practice different religions.
The irony, she says, is that white people, specifically white women, tended to benefit the most from DEI programs and often work in administrative positions in DEI programming.
Because Black people were at the forefront of the civil rights movement, there is a misconception that DEI and affirmative action was meant only for their benefit, Bennett says.
Miami-Dade County School Board member Steve Gallon III echoed Bennett’s sentiments and cautioned against equating the term “DEI” with “Black people,” noting that they are not the sole, or even the main, beneficiaries of DEI. “It is factually inaccurate if not maliciously misleading to suggest or even intimate that diversity, equity and inclusion is about Black people,” he said. “It is also both ignorant and ludicrous to assert that diversity and merit do not coexist.”
Like Gallon, Florida Rep. Frederica Wilson was quick to point out that Trump’s comments and executive orders are harmful to his base, which includes poor white Americans. “Every member of Congress has constituents who are affected by his words and his deeds,” she said, adding that some of the poorest districts are represented by Republicans. “So as he proceeds through his sickening announcements, he has to be aware that he is not hurting Democratic families as much as he’s hurting Republican families and he’s hurting white women more than he’s hurting Black people.”
Bennett noted Trump’s rhetoric around civil rights has taken many forms: the criticism of critical race theory, mocking the term “woke,” and now turning DEI into a pejorative. Like Jones, she called DEI “the new n-word.”
“It’s always something,” she said, adding that it’s important for Black people concerned about what’s happening at the federal level to lean into community. “We need to get together as a community,” she said, “So when it burns, we can probably put something else in place that works for everyone.” “There’s very little we can do with legislation,” Jones said, adding that Republicans have a majority in the state legislature. “But it doesn’t mean that there’s nothing we can do through advocacy and organizing. We’re at a point in history now where the gloves are off and the only way that we’re going to be able to fight this is with truth, no scapegoating.”
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