Closed captions is DEI.
Wheelchair ramps are DEI.
Your kid’s IEP at school? That’s DEI.
Parental leave at work? DEI.
The levers that adjust the driver’s seat in your car? DEI.
Online church services – DEI.
Protections for pregnant women in the workplace – DEI.
Published salary bands and mandatory salary ranges in job descriptions? You guessed it.
Because of the history of explicit, legal oppression of indigenous people, Black people, and other people of color in this country, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion would be morally right and valuable even if all it did was benefit indigenous people, Black people, and other people of color. But just as the Civil Rights Movement, vilified in its time, ushered in rights and protections for everyone, so too does DEI work seek to protect and offer opportunities to everyone.
The way we learn and talk about the history of what we now call DEI erases the successes of it, or recategorizes those successes as something else, so that many see only its shortcomings and failures. Rosa Parks becomes just a tired lady on a bus, instead of an experienced activist kicking off a carefully thought out plan to bring about equal access to Montgomery’s bus system. The Americans with Disabilities Act becomes an inevitable correction of the law, instead of the result of decades of education, protest, and advocacy.
The success of disability activists in getting the ADA passed, the success of the suffragettes in winning (white) women the vote, the success of unions in ushering in a 40-hour work week and work safety protections, the success of Black activists in leading the fight to pass the Voting Rights Act, the success of indigenous activists in passing ICWA and in getting residential schools shut down – all these successes and more are rooted in the same values that we call DEI now: all people deserve dignity and an equal opportunity to pursue life, liberty, and happiness. Where the law or common practice has impeded that pursuit, it is our duty as a country to remove those barriers.
All these successes and more are rooted in the same values that we call DEI now: all people deserve dignity and an equal opportunity to pursue life, liberty, and happiness.
DEI is not a program or a law. It is a set of principles and values. It’s like saying parental leave is a program – no, it’s not. It’s a concept that gets implemented (or not) in different ways at different places to different effects. If you’re disappointed in the way DEI is implemented in some places, join the club! A lot of us feel the same way. True diversity, equity, and inclusion cannot coexist with the strict hierarchies and dehumanizing policies that exist in many workplaces and communities, and as a result, DEI gets watered down and made palatable to the people in power who refuse to share it.
But even watered down, as evidenced by my list above and the many circulating social media right now, when we act on our values of diversity, equity, and inclusion, we still arrive at changes, innovations, policies, and habits that can change all our lives for the better. DEI is worth engaging in, even and maybe especially when we aren’t happy with how it’s being implemented. It gives us a chance to really dive deep into exploring what our values are, and how to live them more authentically.
Ultimately, what we call DEI today expresses a centuries-old desire to ensure the promise of America applies to us all. Those who have a problem with that may need to ask themselves why that is.
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