Pearl River There’s no good way to say this: diversity, equity, and inclusion for Americans is broadly under attack politically, economically, and academically. Unless something blocks this assault, the tremendous gains from Black Lives Matter to #MeToo, and decades of work may be wiped out. So-called DEI efforts are not eroding with steady drops here and there, but with floods sweeping such initiatives and protections away.
Certainly, the US Supreme Court’s latest and repeated attacks on educational affirmative action have been devastating. Reports from colleges and universities throughout the country are almost unanimous in charting declines in the current academic year’s entry classes for Black and Hispanic students. Women far outpace men in colleges and graduation numbers, but these are also white women. The University of Michigan which has been both a bellwether of advocacy for diversity and the target of constant legal attack for doing so, has now announced they will no longer require diversity statements as part of faculty hiring, promotion and tenure decisions.
Walmart, still the largest US private sector employer, is pulling back on its DEI initiatives. The company has announced that it will stop sharing data with the Human Rights Campaign. Third-party merchants will no longer be able to sell some L.G.B.T.Q.-themed items. It will no longer use the terms D.E.I. and Latinx in official communications. The company has 1.6 million workers in the US. Walmart has 255 million customers per week. A huge percentage of Americas shop at Walmart’s over 4000 stores. Don’t try to tell me that their decision to drop this initiative won’t have an impact.
Some companies who see their customer base as narrower politically and racially have been targeted by outside groups and politicians to abandon DEI policies and many have dropped them like a hot potato. Tractor Supply, Harley Davidson, John Deere, Ford, Black & Decker, Coors, Black Daniel and Caterpillar are just some of the big-name firms to run for cover. Microsoft laid off its entire DEI team. Meta-Facebook has cut down its team, too. JPMorgan Chase the largest US bank has also indicated its cutting back.
The incoming Trump administration is likely to be an accelerant in this direction, but they are almost late to the game. More than 30 states have introduced or enacted laws curtailing or eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in higher education and often in their own agencies and employment policies.
I could go on, but like I said, this is a cascade of rejections with no sign of stopping anytime soon. Part of the conservative rationale is its declared fight against the so-called left and “woke” policies and programs. If there was a left behind all of this, it’s hard to find them on the battlefield now, making such a claim more a strawman than something real. Much of the adoption of these initiatives was not based on an organized progressive program, but was the reaction to movement moments, like the George Floyd killing, that prompted introspection on corporate and other policies and forced a pivot towards DEI. As the pendulum swings back, and in the absence of a more organized and sustained campaign to hold DEI policies in force, it has become too easy for companies and institutions to retreat.
The bottom line is that millions will suffer and find their life’s ambitions and trajectory permanently thwarted now. Without such efforts to either stop or remediate racism, it will arise again and flourish, especially in areas where it was barely, if at all, contained. Equity had worsened as the divide continues to widen between rich and poor regardless of these policies, and inclusion was harder to measure easily. Nonetheless, the abandonment of even the pretense of improving diversity, equity, and inclusion damages the entire American society and our people as a whole. That’s not business or politics. That’s a tragedy for us all.