Is DEI the new "N-word?"
White supremacists are still active.
Issue #552 The Choice Monday, April 1, 2024
From before the beginning of the United States of America and throughout its history, white supremacy has been the unofficial law of the land. The first captured Africans arrived on these shores in 1619, and discrimination against Africans and their descendants started almost immediately.
Discrimination against Black people was included in the 1787 Constitution of the United States, starting with counting us as 3/5 of a person for the census count so that the Southern States would not have more Congressional representation than the Northern states because of the high numbers of slaves in the South.
The Constitution did not give citizenship and other basic rights until the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments were ratified after the Civil War. Then again, almost immediately, white supremacists passed laws and policies to restrict the freedoms and opportunities of Blacks and other non-white people.
Legal equality (on paper, at least) was not achieved until the mid-20th century with the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
In the more than 1/2 century since the mid-1960s, white supremacy did not disappear, it was just less covert. When the Supreme Court gained a right-wing majority, it started issuing decisions that decimated rights instead of enhancing them.
In 2013, the Supreme Court of the United States dealt its greatest blow to the Voting Rights Act, gutting the heart of the VRA. The Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder ruling immobilized the preclearance process Section 5 that had for decades protected Black voters and other voters of color from racial discrimination.
After Donald Trump won the Electoral College Vote (but lost the popular vote), he encouraged white supremacy to become popular again. Racism and discrimination are now disguised through “culture wars” that attempt to discourage or downright eliminate anything that stands for racial and gender equality and recognition.
First, in 2020, people completely and falsely conflated Critical Race Theory (CRT) with Black history. CRT is a graduate-level course that posits that for centuries there have been laws and policies restricting the rights of Black Americans. CRT is taught primarily in law schools, never in K-12 or even undergrad, and it is not “Black history” in general. White supremacists nevertheless have insisted that CRT is “reverse racism” and the teaching of true Black history is “un-American.” Books were banned from classrooms and libraries and Black history courses were eliminated.
Then in 2022, white supremacists deliberately hijacked the African American term “woke” which had been around at least since the 1940s, and its original meaning of being aware of racial animosity. Their new meaning of “woke” was again anything that had to do with Black people or with any kind of equality for non-whites and non-Christians. Their definition of “woke” also included anything and anyone who agreed with the “browning of America” and equal rights for all.
Now in 2024, all private and public programs related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, abbreviated “DEI,” are being demonized as the new “Affirmative Action,” meaning that all Black people are unqualified for any positions they may have and that they are only in those positions because of DEI.
Not only are white supremacists eliminating DEI programs nationwide, but they use the term “DEI” when they really want to say “n*gger.” Whenever there is a major failing of some kind, such as the doors coming off of Boeing planes or bridges collapsing, white supremacists immediately claim that DEI is at fault. These same people try to accuse the Black and brown prosecutors and judges involved in the Trump indictments are only there because of DEI.
The latest incidents of misleading attributions of DEI involve the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. White supremacists falsely claimed that the bridge collapsed because “minorities” designed it over 50 years ago when one of the actual causes is that the white Republican former governor of Maryland ignored the experts and allowed larger than necessary ships to attempt to go under the bridge.
Then when the Black Mayor of Baltimore, Brandon Scott, came to the scene of the accident at 3 am dressed in his City of Baltimore letter jacket, he was accused of “underdressing” and called a “DEI hire.” Of course, the mayor was not hired, he was elected with 70% of the votes when the Black population of Baltimore is about 60%. As Mayor Scott said, in his case “DEI” means “Duly Elected Incumbent,” and the racism against him is so very obvious. The sight of a Black governor and a Black mayor in charge of those governments was more than the racists could handle, so of course, the bridge collapsed only because Black people were in charge.
Mayor Scott said the true part out loud, “DEI” is now just another word for n*gger, and that racists are using that term because they can’t say n*gger.
As you watch the news and follow the politics, look at how “DEI” is used by white supremacists. Racial hatred, discrimination, and the attempted erasure of everything that is non-white started in America centuries ago, and continues to this day, no matter what terms are now substituted.
DEI is the new n-word.
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