OPINION:
Do Americans want a functioning society or one that obsesses over being diverse, equitable and inclusive? You can only have one, not both.
Liberal Democrats clearly value DEI — that trendy trinity of diversity, equity and inclusion — above all else. They use the federal government to pressure private businesses to hire based on skin color or sexuality, and dangle incentives for schools to warn students against the treachery of “White privilege.” President Biden has signed multiple executive orders intended to “cultivate a workforce that draws from the full diversity of the nation.”
But far too many times in the pursuit of these DEI ideals, competence is lost and racism and bigotry are enhanced.
In 2013, for example, under the directive of then-President Barack Obama (who initiated the DEI craze), the Federal Aviation Administration was ordered to scrap a hiring list of more than 1,000 graduates of air traffic control schools so officials could add a new biological test that would “diversify” the workforce.
The move was in response to complaints from the National Black Coalition of Federal Aviation Employees, which argued that only 9.5% of FAA workers were Black, compared with 17.6% Black representation in the federal civilian workforce overall. The FAA was instructed to increase its number of Black workers by 8.1%.
But to do that, the agency lowered its standards and leaned into anti-Black stereotypes. An applicant was awarded 15 points — the highest possible for any question — if they said their lowest grades in high school were in science, and 10 points if the candidate had not been employed in the past three years, according to a lawsuit filed by the Mountain States Legal Foundation.
By contrast, applicants were awarded only 2 points if they had a pilot’s certificate and no points for having a control tower operator rating or experience with instrument flight rules.
Last month, after a series of close calls on runways across the U.S., aviation experts warned the Senate that the shortage of competent air traffic controllers was endangering the public.
The aviation safety system is “showing clear signs of strain that we cannot ignore,” said Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Safety Transportation Board, which is charged with investigating near collisions and other safety incidents, at the hearing.
In June, the Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General found that 77% of air traffic control facilities were short-staffed.
If only the FAA could hire based on competence, not on the need to meet DEI mandates.
The federal government is pushing its farcical DEI preferences on private businesses as well — suing them for hiring based on capability or suitability for the vacancy in question.
Mr. Biden’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued Fresno, California-based Meathead Movers for hiring a young, athletic workforce. The reason? Age discrimination.
“Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is over 50. I’m pretty sure he would be good at moving boxes,” Bill Alvarado Rivera, senior vice president for litigation at AARP, told The Wall Street Journal. “That kind of stereotype about who could be a good mover has no place in an economy that values individuals.”
Meathead Movers executives said they would be happy to hire ‘The Rock,’ it’s just that he — and lots of other 50-year-olds — have never applied.
“We are 100% open to hiring anyone at any age if they can do the job,” company owner Aaron Steed told the Journal. “People love working at Meathead, or they are turned off by how hard it is. You have to move furniture and run to get more.”
What is a moving company supposed to do? Recruit in an old folks’ home, where it would likely attract no applicants or applicants who aren’t up to the job? Significantly, the EEOC lawsuit was generated by the government agency, not by a specific complaint against Meathead Movers.
The federal government often uses grant programs to coerce private or local entities to take up the mantle of DEI. For example, Mr. Biden’s Department of Education has spent $244 million on DEI grants, and the State Department $12 million on advancing LGBTQ issues.
Merit is out, equality is in.
This obsession with DEI will only lead to a more discriminatory, more divisive, less talented and less productive society. Decisions will be based not on the quality of character, but on the ability to tick the right boxes on an inclusionary checklist.
And things won’t work as well as they should.
• Kelly Sadler is the commentary editor at The Washington Times.
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