Here goes nothing (a phrase I fundamentally do not understand but it felt like the right tone for this).
With its roots in the Civil Rights Movement, modern day Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (‘DEI’) includes organizational efforts to ensure that people of all backgrounds, identities, and experiences have fair access to opportunities and seeks to address systemic oppression like racism, sexism, ablism, and transphobia, amongst others.
There have always been efforts to halt social progress and attacks on those advocating for it. In terms of work to advance DEI, the current political and social backlash is nothing new. Yet, what I am finding makes this moment unique is the absurdity of the attacks themselves. In recent months, DEI has been blamed for:
The failure to protect Donald Trump from an assassination attempt
The collapse of the Francis Scott Key bridge in Baltimore (though I’m pretty sure the culprit was the large boat that crashed into it)
And my new favorite one, Presidential Candidate and current Vice President Kamala Harris.
What threads these instances together is that any time something goes wrong and the person in charge happens to not be white, cisgender, straight, able bodied, and Christian - then somehow DEI is part of the problem. This is particularly wild to me because each of the identities I just listed are part of DEI too and central to our collective responsibility for this work. Behind these misguided and deeply problematic claims is what I call ‘Basic Human Nonsense.’ And though I’m speaking tongue-in-cheekly, this trend is serious and something we must address if our democracy is going to survive.
My friend and colleague Minal Bopaiah (Founder of Brevity and Wit) shared some important guidance for dealing with Basic Human Nonsense on LinkedIn yesterday. In the context of Vice President Harris being named a ‘DEI Hire’ she writes:
“I understand people are upset with bad faith actors call her a “DEI Hire.” But in your speed to defend her from the misogynoir, please make sure you are not reinforcing their negative framing of DEI. By repeating their term, even to speak out against it, you are reinforcing their subliminal message that DEI is bad. Each time you repeat their term, they win, even if you’re speaking out against it.
When you say she’s not a “DEI Hire,” you are reinforcing the idea that DEI is bad in some way. It makes it easier for them months from now to say we should ban DEI because no one wants to be a “DEI Hire.”
Instead, our response should be: “Oh great! Because DEI casts a wide net to get the most qualified candidate, not just someone who looks like the person who held the position before them. So that’s great that we’re getting the most qualified candidate!!”
You can follow up with: “And she’s not hired. She’ll be elected by the majority of the people hands down. If anyone else “wins” it’s because they gamed the system to claim the job despite losing.”
Framing matters more than word choice, friends. And don’t ever argue with bad faith actors on their terms.”
As always, Minal’s advice is salient and implementable. We should all take a page out of her book.
To put it generously, DEI efforts haven’t always been successful or well thought out. As an emerging sector, the DEI profession desperately needs a whole lot more rigor and resources. And that’s why IDEAS Generation exists - to build a more effective, impactful, and sustainable DEI sector. And we partner with amazing leaders like Minal to do so.
What we are seeing reflected in these examples of Basic Human Nonsense is in fact a very intentional and politically savvy campaign to discredit any effort to democratize leadership and opportunity in our nation. Never mind that we never scrutinize straight white men for their identities as straight white men when sh*t hits the fan. For example, when the United States went to war in Iraq under the misguided notion that the country had weapons of mass destruction, we incurred trillions of dollars in debt, lost thousands of soldiers, unjustly took the lives of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and set back international relations in the region. At no point in that dumpster fire, whose residual impacts we are still dealing with today, was then President George Bush’s race or gender a factor in national discourse.
DEI or as we call it IDEAS work (DEI + Access and Social Justice) is here to stay. IDEAS Generation is here to make it better by cultivating the next generation of impactful leaders who innovate and advance how we make these values come to life for all. In the coming months, we will be sharing more tips, tools, and guidance about how to navigate the turbulence of this moment. In the meantime, join us later today from 6-7pm Eastern for a free community conversation on DEI and the upcoming election.
Your support can help us resource a better future for all, one where Basic Human Nonsense is a thing of the past.
In Partnership,
Dan Egol
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