Time to say goodbye to DEI

Dec 20, 2024

Star Parker Founder & President, Center for Urban Renewal and Education

By Straight Arrow News

Even before Donald Trump won the presidential election and the GOP took control of Congress, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies had come under increasing scrutiny, facing efforts to dismantle them across college campuses, corporate America and the federal government. On Dec. 11, the U.S. House passed the National Defense Authorization Act, which includes GOP-backed measures to limit DEI programs in the military. This follows a June 2023 Supreme Court ruling that restricted the use of race in college admissions, prompting some companies to scale back their DEI initiatives. By 2024, American workers’ opinions on DEI had become more negative compared to the previous year.

In the video above, Straight Arrow News contributor Star Parker shares her view that DEI initiatives have undone decades of progress in racial equality. She predicts the incoming Trump administration will eliminate these programs and prioritize “equal opportunity as the gold standard.”

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The following is an excerpt from the above video

In his famous speech at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. articulated his dream of a society in which Americans would “not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

There have been major advancements in racial equality since 1963 — the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act, Fair Housing Act, and the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1967 Loving [v. Virginia] decision that struck down bans on interracial marriage. But many progressives have abandoned Dr. King’s dream and substituted a form of discrimination they call “equity,” and they have vastly expanded the size and reach of government.

President Biden has signed executive orders to embed “diversity, equity and inclusion” (DEI) policies into every federal agency. Instead of ensuring that all Americans have an equal opportunity to succeed, Biden has mobilized the federal bureaucracy to seek equal results based on race, ethnicity and gender.

Congress has taken an important step to restore a focus on equal opportunity by passing the fiscal year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act. That bill abolishes the DEI bureaucracy in the Department of Defense and requires promotions to be based on merit.

In his famous speech at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. articulated his dream of a society in which Americans would “not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

There have been major advancements in racial equality since 1963 — the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act, Fair Housing Act, and the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1967 Loving decision that struck down bans on interracial marriage. But many progressives have abandoned Dr. King’s dream and substituted a form of discrimination they call “equity,” and they have vastly expanded the size and reach of government.

President Biden has signed executive orders to embed “diversity, equity and inclusion” (DEI) policies into every federal agency. Instead of ensuring that all Americans have an equal opportunity to succeed, Biden has mobilized the federal bureaucracy to seek equal results based on race, ethnicity and gender.

Congress has taken an important step to restore a focus on equal opportunity by passing the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act. That bill abolishes the DEI bureaucracy in the Department of Defense and requires promotions to be based on merit.

Since a June 2023 Supreme Court decision that significantly limits the use of race status in college admissions, several American companies have begun rolling back their DEI policies. Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, confirmed such policy changes on November 25th, 2024.

In a July 2024 poll of likely voters, the Manhattan Institute found that 68 percent believe, “We should focus on creating a color-blind society where everyone is treated equally regardless of the color of their skin.”

In an open letter to President-elect Trump’s Cabinet officials, Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Christopher Rufo calls for Trump to rescind Obama and Biden executive orders that have advanced DEI and to “sign an order advancing the principle of colorblind equality, stating that the government shall treat all individuals equally according to their merit, rather than unequally according to their ancestry.”

In order to make the executive order a reality across the federal bureaucracy, Rufo urges Trump officials to “swiftly shut down all DEI programs and to terminate the employment of all policy officials responsible for those programs, effective immediately.” Rufo implemented such a policy as a trustee at New College of Florida, which became the first institution in America to abolish its DEI department.

I expect that President Trump will take the kind of action that Rufo recommends. It’s time to make equal opportunity the gold standard and to say goodbye to DEI.