OPINION:
The “diversity, equity and inclusion” movement has begun to lose ground in some corners of society. According to a recent report, the percentage of companies budgeting for DEI initiatives has dropped four points to 54% since 2022.
Words matter, and our culture has taken this combination of good words and twisted them into something very different from their original meaning. Proponents of DEI are seeking to solve a genuine problem, but they are going about it the wrong way.
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Looking at the current definition of DEI from an AI search, you wouldn’t even realize how this has been hijacked. For example, ChatGPT 3.5 defines DEI as a “framework where all individuals are treated fairly, respectfully, and have equal access to opportunities.” Who could argue with that?
It is in the actualization of this ideal where everything gets tripped up. For starters, “all individuals” actually means only those that self-appointed liberal elites deem eligible for such treatment. That is, those with the right characteristics in the ever-morphing categories of chosen ethnicity, gender identity, and political leaning. If you don’t have those select characteristics, which could change on any given day, you will be shut out and canceled. This is, of course, exactly the opposite of what this supposedly generous “framework” states.
Moving target: Built-in relativism
The phrase “equal access to opportunities” is also misleading and misapplied. America is still the land of opportunity, and the millions of undocumented immigrants flooding into the country provide good evidence of that. However, while everyone can strive for the opportunities open to them, there can never truly be equal access because everyone starts from different places.
Further, not everyone wants the same thing. If you offered the exact same opportunity to everyone, the whole system would crash. Some want to be farmers, some want to be lawyers or small business owners. We need occupational variety for our society to function. Supposed “equal access” is a concept held out there to keep people discontented, never to be realized. It also can be an excuse for not taking ownership of a future that could be possible, and the result is victimhood. There’s unfairness in our world, true, but not taking responsibility for one’s future is a wholly different type of problem.
An entire system of social and political shaming in corporate and government policies, rules, and laws, is built upon forcing this warped understanding of DEI into being. But it is a farce.
DEI initiatives are a subset of governance, that is, rules for operating. However, here, everyone can create their own “truth,” and each must be affirmed and supported – even if that “truth” changes with the politically-correct winds.
Again, someone must monitor all this, and it quickly turns into a trial with some vague societal judge and jury that can also change on a whim.
Is there a solution to this madness?
Can we reclaim the house of cards that the current construct has built and apply them in a way that actually recognizes the beauty and richness of diversity, the equity of opportunities for everyone to take charge of their lives to create a vision and work towards that goal, where everyone is indeed included in society despite their diverse thoughts and experiences?
How about this as a starter: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all [people] are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
All humans are prone to error, and the United States and its founding fathers have been accused of many sins, but this ideal peels back to the basics. This is an anchor, a framework where actual diversity, equity, and inclusion can flourish. While we are created as individuals each with their own unique abilities and circumstances, we are equal in possessing these unalienable rights.
So, let’s get back to those basics when defining DEI:
Diversity. Indeed, recognize and celebrate our differences, even those we might disagree with; live and let live and support one another in success and in potential failure. Failure builds character and is part of life. So is success. Let people be successful and build in that incentive. Remember that God is the one who convicts, and He convicts everyone despite race or ethnicity.
Equity. We are born into this world in debt from the very beginning. Individuals can build tangible and intangible equity as they go through life. Education, formal or informal, is one way to do that. Working and contributing to family and society is part of that as well. We all start in different places through no fault of our own, but we are not alone.
Inclusion. We rely on each other, and we are created equal with dignity and the right to live, to make decisions, to stand up for what we believe … but we’re made to also to respect others’ rights. This applies to all of us.
John F. Kennedy said, “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” I would add, “Ask not what your neighbor can do for you - ask what you can do for your neighbor.” A biblical attitude like that would solve many problems.
Successful individuals and organizations create and support programs that build true equity, recognizing everyone’s unique abilities through philanthropy, not charity or socialism. Let’s work for, celebrate, and support that type of effort.
Using these foundational truths would get to the core of the very real problem that DEI is trying to solve.
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Dr. Mellani Day, DBA, is dean of the School of Business and Technology in the College of Adult and Graduate Studies at Colorado Christian University.
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