And just like that, DEI, gone with the stroke of a pen. I never looked at diversity, equity, and inclusion as an agenda but a set of values rooted in the promise of America. E pluribus unum, out of many one. But to become one we first must understand the many.
Maybe walking into a room and telling all White folks they are racist is not the best way to start a conversation. Personally, I evolved to focusing on how we were divided, going back into the late 1600s. And that history is important, with many of my participants declaring I never knew that! Why didn’t we learn that in school!?
My education set me out on a path to understand how laws, policies, and social practices related to race created inequities, stereotypes, and misrepresentations, particularly for anyone considered a minority. It got me increasingly curious about how despite progressive laws and court decisions we can still see clear inequities in school and society, across identities, and why hard work is a necessary but insufficient explanation for success.
Some argue that merit should be our guiding principle, which is noble, but merit is always in a context and how one is judged in relation to another is laden with assumptions and half-truths.
DEI initiatives were never intended to marginalize anyone. I have spoken about this in previous Perspectives.
The current presidential administration says it wants to do away with DEI programming and professional development and that the focus will be on merit. Sounds fine on the surface, but merit alone does not address how people experience a school, business, or community. And that is why DEI is important. Without understanding our collective and unique histories, experiences, assumptions, and biases, and where they come from, we can never get to unum.
I am Joseph Flynn and that is my perspective.
