Anti-DEI(B) Rhetoric = White on White Crime

 May 18, 2023

    I grew up as an incurable mediator. I'm the oldest child and only boy in my household. Eldest children often inherit the role of third adult and parental translator. I'm also the older brother to my younger sister and it has been my honor to be her protector and intimidator-in-residence. You can add my time as a team captain in football to the list as well as my professional training as a counselor, and I possess the chemical composition for a tragic superhero. Finally, I am the proud father of six beautiful children and I deeply believe that it's my personal responsibility to prepare them for and protect them from the world.

    DEI work in schools became the perfect trap for me. It fueled my Savior Complex from my childhood and perpetuated my personal pattern of solving other people's problems and carrying other people's weight. At 42 years old, I've grown pardonably tired of jumping in other people's fights and I feel like the "Anti-DEI" fight is one I'll sit out. Here's some insight on why.

As I've worked across diverse professional sectors I have observed the pathology of DEI work:

1. A traumatic national, local, or workplace event occurs that negatively impacts a historically marginalized community.

2. White people feel poorly(both that the incident happened AND that they are ill-equipped to deal with the issue).

3. Colleagues and professionals from historically marginalized communities educate White people in power.

4. SOMETIMES White people and institutions change their policies, attitudes and behavior.

5. Rinse and repeat at the next traumatic event.

    If this pattern makes sense, then it is logical to me that people from historically marginalized backgrounds are neither the cause of nor the beneficiaries of DEI work; White people are. To that end, I can positively report (from firsthand experience) how historically White spaces have improved their communities and workplaces through a sincere commitment to this work. Indeed genuine DEI work, with a focus on policies, practices, systems, and structures is effective. On behalf of folx from historically marginalized communities who've helped our White friends in this way - you're welcome.

    So then, what do I reasonably deduce from the DeSantis-fueled "Anti-DEI" movement? Am I, as a non-beneficiary and non-culprit, moved toward activism or action? NOPE! The "War on DEI" is actually White-on-White crime. The preponderance of my work as a DEIB consultant has been at the service of historically and predominantly White institutions where we have addressed structure, strategy, hearts, minds, and attitudes. It has been and will continue to be the greatest professional work that I am blessed to do. That said, any injunction that impedes that work doesn't hurt me; it hurts the institutions I partner with, especially schools. I work in schools across the country and while students of color resonate with my racial representation, it's White students who connect with me most deeply. In most cases, I'm the first Black male professional and educator they've met and the conversations we have are actually the conversations THEY initiate. Their worldviews are deeply connected, deeply hopeful, and deeply inclusive. As it always is - kids get it; it's the adults who don't.

Simply put, when you attack DEI work, you attack White kids.

DeSantis is actually inciting White-on-White crime by depriving communities and workplaces of the knitting classes they desperately need for the diverse fabrics they bring together. The next few months and years will be an interesting fight, but not a political one. It'll be a fight between ignorance and decency. Racially, it won't affect who the populous thinks it'll impact. It will ultimately be White people and their allies that oppose DEI versus White people and their allies who understands its value proposition for an evolving and increasingly diverse global society. 

It's definitely a fight, just not my fight. 

As an African in America, this will be an interesting turn of events. Usually, our country gets to ride the wave of social justice on the back of Black pain; this time will be different. I'm happy to ride this one in the passenger seat.

Hopefully we realize that inclusion is a TEAM sport, not a spectator sport. We SHOULD do this together, but you can decide.

It's not my fight, but I'm happy to coach.

- LA