Is DEI the New Affirmative Action?
By: Dr. Britney Holmes and Roberta Holmes
In the year before my birth, an executive order was signed by President Kennedy that required federally funded projects take “affirmative action” regarding racial discrimination in hiring. Of course, other groups felt left out so women and religion were added a few years later. Unfortunately, the issue is still unresolved. Is DEI the newly named solution? Maybe, because in the 2020’s everything must have an acronym. Right?
As a 60-year-old Black woman, I vividly remember affirmative action being discussed in my family home. My grandmother, a Garveyite in her younger years, was also Chairwoman of the Seattle CORE (Congress of Racial Equity) Employment Committee so I saw firsthand what the fight for affirmative action was in the late 60s and early 70s. My Grannie was a force. I remember how confident and persuasive she was when explaining why it was so important to hire Black folx at all levels in organizations. She successfully engaged and negotiated with Nordstrom, Bank of America, The Bon Marche (now Macy’s), Safeway and other major employers in Seattle to hire Black candidates.
Thankfully I was raised in a family that was not easily intimidated nor shy to speak their minds. This proved to be beneficial because I grew up attending schools where I was almost always the only Black girl and most times the only Black person in the class. I vividly remember the more frequent microaggressions, questions about touching my hair or how often I washed it. And of course, I was called a nigger, described by many as uppity and told on more than a few occasions “you can’t be that smart”. I was a solid B student without much effort. My high school classmates were often amazed about the ease I had in Spanish class. After a required presentation to the entire student body, I specifically remember a childhood “friend” commenting “I didn’t know Black people could speak Spanish…You did a great job.” My “friend” honestly thought she was paying me a compliment. My response was typical when I would respond to these types of microaggressions, ( I unfortunately didn’t know what that meant at the time) “Thank you massa…so glad you approve.” She knew me well enough to know that I didn’t appreciate her comment. By the time we graduated from high school, we barely spoke.
Both my mother and grandmother worked to support us in developing our understanding of the world around us and encouraged us to think critically about it. At the dinner table we would unpack how affirmative action would change the stereotypes of how Black folx were perceived at the time. Unfortunately, it was assumed Black women were single mothers on welfare or worked as housekeepers and Black men were lazy, stupid and could not hold down a job. As a young person, I didn’t really understand how impactful my grandmother's work was until decades later when one of my in-laws told me her employment with a local bank was a direct result of my grandmother’s work at CORE.
As you can see, it was a fight!
This year we celebrated 50 years of Title IX, another law which is a more socially acceptable type of affirmative action in education that prohibits sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity) discrimination in any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance. Look at us 50 years later. Do you think there is equity? Follow the money…College football. Need I say more?
The 1990s saw the beginning of the end of affirmative action policies. A 2018 article in The New Yorker references Glynn Custred, an anthropologist at California State University, Hayward, who explained affirmative action was like “reversed Jim Crow”. Custred went on to further question who needs affirmative action because we elected Barack Hussein Obama, then Donald John Trump. Well, maybe affirmative action did need a rebranding. DEI sounds good to me!
DEI. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Such beautiful buzzwords that allow us to be so far from what actually needs to happen. DEI has become the thing we say we do to ensure folx feel a part of the same system that continues to uphold white normative culture. DEI is nothing more than the words, another training, another policy, another mandate, and all the necessary transactions that do nothing to support the transformational changes that need to happen to truly allow us, all of us, to BE. To be liberated. To be free. To be who we are.
In schools, DEI is often the token person of color who is tasked with creating changes that no one truly wants to see. It can also look like a team of white folx who are responsible for knowing what a wide range of people with a wide range of intersections need, despite their presence at the table. What does DEI look like in your schools? Whose voices are represented AND heard? Who holds the power? How are children a part of the decision-making process? All of these questions, and more, need to be considered if there is any intention of being a diverse, equitable, and inclusive schoolhouse. Then, we need the action behind the responses to transform our hearts, minds, systems, and organizations.
It would be beneficial on so many levels if the same transformational learning at school was happening at home. Imagine the possibilities when we are all learning and growing together. When adults model the challenges associated with growth. The permission we give ourselves and others to make mistakes AND learn AND grow. This would truly challenge how we are socialized and what it means to be an American, to be the knower of all things and have all of the answers. This is DEI, it is growth. Being ok with change. Sitting in discomfort, together.
I look forward to the time when we, as a society, have built the stamina necessary to challenge the pillars of our socialization. To engage in critical conversations as a normal part of our lives, and have the capacity to act upon our learning. What DEI comes down to is love, loving the other. Can you love those that are unknown to you? Do the systems which you uphold love those that have been historically and currently trampled upon? Do you believe things need to change? What are YOU going to do?