“We respect the autonomy of the individual and believe that talent is distributed without regard to race, sex, religion, or sexual orientation. What matters is the skill, attitudes, and dedication of individuals to the mission and purpose of the organization.” – The Adversity of Diversity
In June 2023, a SCOTUS decision ruled that affirmative action in college admissions is unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, which forbids discrimination against anyone, including whites and Asians. Split along party lines, the ruling prohibits race-based admission programs and requires that such criteria be removed from college admittance. Although the ruling applies only to education, many believe the entire Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) industry is not for long. Many corporations including META, Google, Nike, and Goldman Sachs are already either dialing back their DEI departments or outright ending them, anticipating future backlash.
While modern Affirmative Action programs began in 1961, the spark that grew race-based preference into the obsession of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), and the Corporate Equity Index (CEI), was the death of George Floyd. Once violence began, and Black Lives Matter began receiving millions in donations from corporations, a unique opportunity for social engineering appeared. Using Floyd’s unfortunate death as a catalyst, agitators began to push structural racism and white supremacy as the cause of all inequality, and an excuse for the reemergence and evolution of DEI into a billion-dollar boondoggle. Seeing the writing on the wall, corporations quickly began to implement racial quotas to avoid obvious repercussions. The Human Rights Coalition (HRC), the largest LGBT advocacy group started a corporate report card measuring how fast companies were bypassing white males for minority candidates.
Yet, on April 25, 2021, during a 60 Minutes interview with Minnesota Attorney General, Keith Ellison, CBS reporter Scott Pelley asked why Minnesota police officer Derek Chauvin was not charged with a hate crime. Ellison’s response that there was no evidence that race was a factor in Floyd’s death, betrayed the scheme. Indeed, there were no witnesses or proof that Officer Chauvin factored in Floyd’s race during the incident. Instead, Floyd's death initiated the crafting of a new narrative to replace the previous false chant of “hands up, don’t shoot”, a claim assigned to the shooting of Michael Brown, that never actually happened.
In Carol Swain’s 2023 book, “The Adversity of Diversity”, Swain, a former academic, exposes the repackaging of affirmative action into the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs that we see today where governments, corporations, and higher education apply a special preference for certain groups. Aligning its purpose with the Marxist philosophy of equal outcomes, Swain warns of its malicious intent to upend society. In fact, Swain shows how DEI has not only failed to produce the much-desired outcome of racial healing and reconciliation but rather its opposite. By forcing workers into affinity groups that stall integration, DEI is also disruptive to the business’s mission. Instead, Swain calls for unity training to address workplace diversity and finally return social harmony to the workplace.
Yet, for all its hype, DEI is nothing more than reverse discrimination that looks to change the power dynamics in society. Using political correctness and compelled speech, DEI promotes division by focusing on immutable characteristics over merit, with the opposite effect of making minorities chronic victims who aren’t recognized for their individual achievements. It is, in fact, anti-assimilation, anti-integration, and anti-melting pot.
As Swain noted, a better option to make workplaces more diverse would be a return to the original policies of affirmative action with the goal of nondiscrimination and racial neutrality. By actively seeking qualified candidates from marginalized groups, no one is advantaged or disadvantaged, and the merit-based systems remain in place. The only training required is for human resource staff to understand the laws so that the organization can remain in compliance and avoid potential lawsuits. Since civil rights laws protect all Americans equally, no reverse discrimination is allowed.
Thankfully, DEI is already beginning to crumble. More than 30 states have introduced or are enacting laws that remove race from preferences with a return to the equity that requires the same rights for all, that is the same opportunity. A modern twist on strength through diversity would provide a melting pot of different kinds of people all with the same access to opportunities, but not with the manipulation of equal outcomes.
Nearly sixty years ago, in June 1967, popular R&B artists, The Temptations, released a new song, “You’ve Gotta Earn It”. Following on the heels of their first million-copy single, “My Girl”, earlier that same year, the lyrics included: “To get fire from a match you’ve got to strike it, to get butter from milk you’ve got to churn it, to get bread from dough you’ve got to bake it. If you desire it, you can get it.” While the song was ultimately about romance, their message was clear. Released just three years following the enactment of the Civil Rights Act, five young black men from Detroit, knew they had to earn it.
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