(C) Daily Yonder - Keep it Rural This story was originally published by Daily Yonder - Keep it Rural and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . What is DEI and why is Trump opposed to it? [1] ['Ashifa Kassam'] Date: 2025-01-24 When American voters headed to the ballot box in November, polls suggested the cost of living, immigration and reproductive rights ranked among their biggest concerns. But tucked within this week’s barrage of executive orders was an attack on an initiative that had in recent years become increasingly weaponised around the world: measures that sought to tackle discrimination. Donald Trump signed two executive orders aimed at unwinding the federal government’s decades-long push to ensure an inclusive workplace that reflects American society. The directives also instruct federal agencies to develop plans to deter diversity, equity and inclusion measures – often referred to as DEI – in the private sector, a move viewed by some as an attempt to ward off companies from addressing discrimination in their workplaces. Here, we take a look at how the push for a more equal society became a flashpoint in the so-called culture wars, and what it could mean for a world still fraught with power imbalances. What is DEI? Put simply, it is a generic label given to the wide-ranging measures that aim to ensure people of all backgrounds – including from historically marginalised groups – can gain a foothold and thrive at organisations. The roots of the term trace back to the US in the 1960s, with the label used to describe programmes that tackled discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation, religion and disability. The measures have long acted as a counter to the biases that quietly endure in so-called colour-blind and merit-based societies, as Rev Al Sharpton, the president of the National Action Network, alluded to this week. “Why do we have DEI?” he asked a crowd gathered at a black church a few blocks from the White House on Monday. “We have DEI because you denied us diversity, you denied us equity, you denied us inclusion. DEI was a remedy to the racial institutional bigotry practised in academia and in these corporations.” Why has it come under fire? In 2023, the US supreme court ruled against race-conscious admission programmes at colleges and universities, reversing decades of precedent. The decision emboldened conservatives and unleashed a flood of lawsuits aimed at dismantling policies designed to foster diversity, equity and inclusion At the heart of these challenges was the argument that these anti-discrimination measures were in fact discriminatory towards the groups that had historically dominated workplaces, including white Americans. DEI soon became a talking point, at times acting as a sort of dog whistle and scapegoat, as the measures were falsely blamed for events such as the demise of Silicon Valley Bank, Boeing’s aircraft safety problems and the collapse of a bridge in Baltimore after it was struck by a cargo ship. The battle against DEI soon became another tool in conservatives’ assault on what they deemed as “woke”, epitomised by Florida’s attempt to pass a “Stop Woke” law that banned companies from requiring diversity training. An appeals court later deemed the law to be a violation of the first amendment. Those who fuelled the animosity towards DEI included the tech billionaire Elon Musk, who noted on social media: “DEI is just another word for racism. Shame on anyone who uses it.” The stance was later echoed by Trump during his presidential campaign as he claimed there was “a definite anti-white feeling in this country”. Who has backed these measures? Trump’s actions this week were swiftly countered by legislators from more than 30 states who, in a letter first reported on by USA Today, argued that the US had long been strengthened by efforts to include everyone, with initiatives such as the expansion of the right to vote and the decision to allow women the right to open bank accounts in their own names. “Anti-DEI rhetoric and policy goals are dangerous, destructive, and discriminatory,” the letter noted. “Ultimately, they erect barriers to our American dreams.” View image in fullscreen Mark Cuban speaking on stage at a Kamala Harris election campaign event in Wisconsin, in October. Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters Others, such as Mark Cuban, the billionaire businessman and minority owner of the Dallas Mavericks, have highlighted the logic that underpins these measures. “Good businesses look where others don’t, to find the employees that will put your business in the best possible position to succeed,” he wrote on social media. “Having a workforce that is diverse and representative of your stakeholders is good for business.” What evidence is there to back DEI measures? In 2022, McKinsey & Company noted that companies that are diverse, equitable and inclusive were better able to respond to challenges, win top talent and meet the needs of varied customer bases. The focus on diversity allowed them to find talent wherever it may be, while the expanding focus on equity and inclusion helped minimise employee turnover, reducing expenses such as hiring and training. The finding was backed by another report, published in 2020, that analysed 1,000 US firms. It found that companies with greater gender and ethnic diversity were more likely to outperform their peers. The difference was significant, with gender diversity leading to a 25% probability of higher profits, while ethnic diversity led to a 36% probability. Speaking to CNN in October, Ken Frazier, who as head of Merck between 2011 and 2021 was the first Black chief executive of a large pharmaceuticals company, summed it up: “At its best, DEI is about developing talent, measuring it in a fair way and finding hidden talent and disadvantaged talent in a world where not everybody has an equal chance to exhibit their abilities.” The experience of the US federal government – the largest employer in the US – also suggests these approaches benefit a wider range of employees. Decades of anti-discriminatory measures had yielded a truly merit-based federal workforce whose demographics reflect the country it sought to serve, said Everett Kelley, the national president of the American Federation of Government Employees. “The federal government has the lowest gender and racial pay gaps of all employers, precisely because employment decisions are made based on one’s ability to do the work and not on where they went to school or who they supported in the last election,” Kelley said this week. “Undoing these programmes is just another way for President Trump to undermine the merit-based civil service and turn federal hiring and firing decisions into loyalty tests.” [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/24/diversity-backlash-what-is-dei-and-why-is-trump-opposed-to-it Published and (C) by Daily Yonder - Keep it Rural Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-ND 4.0 International. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailyyonder/