DEI is Dead?

I’m online this morning when I see the heading “DEI is dead.” I’m wondering who killed DEI? Who thinks it’s dead? And why is DEI the enemy?

DEI is evidently dead because Virginia’s chief diversity officer says it is (I’m going to leave all of that alone. Too much for this post).

There is no doubt that DEI work is under attack. This is the worst I’ve seen in my 20 years in the field. DEI programming in colleges is being dismantled (Texas, for example). Trans youth are under attack (Alabama, we see you). Ethnic studies is being challenged (Florida, Florida, Florida). Book bans limit representation in literature, omitting Black and Brown children, queer youth and trans folks (in so many states). So yes, we are unquestionably living in a moment where people who do DEI work are seeing their jobs evaporate, and students are seeing their worlds shrink as history and literature are narrowed. It is indeed soul-crushing and infuriating and stunning that this is still where we are. But we’ve been here before. Ignorance has a long lineage. Racism continues, but so too does resistance. DEI is still alive. Don’t let them say otherwise. Good people are doing good work. Check out this and this and this.

As I am getting this blog up and running, I want to lay out the building blocks that are central to my thinking, my approach to this work and how we will spend our time together. This DEI-is-dead-nonsense allows me to get at one of them.

DEI is currently being framed as the enemy. I’m going to literally spell it out: diversity, equity, and inclusion are perceived as the enemy. Enemy enough that entire districts and states are crafting laws to dismantle it. In doing so, governments and/or school people imply that homogeneity, inequity and exclusion are their actual goals. This normalization of injustice is breathtaking.

DEI work is not the enemy. To do DEI work is to bring attention to the gaps in how we treat each other, gaps that are built into our system and impact each of us. To do DEI work is to acknowledge racism is moral failure that harms our neighbors and ourselves. White children do.not.do.better because Brown and Black children are dis-included in the curriculum. This war against DEI is subterfuge that distracts folks from actual issues, like massive wealth inequality, global health disparities and a burning planet. So no, including people, respecting them, and aiming for fairness is not the enemy. The belief that equity and inclusion don’t matter is.