DEI Hasn't Gone Out of Style: Courage Has

 November 27, 2024

"You can't change what you don't challenge."

    It's taken me some time to put my thoughts into words, primarily because I wanted to be pensive, not defensive. For years prior to the 2024 election, there have been covert and overt efforts to stymie racial equity and social justice work. For centuries before the masses called it DEI, it was called freedom fighting, abolitionism, civil rights activism, and all other forms of insisting on an erect spine instead of a bent-back. Beyond the methods of suppression, fear-mongering has risen as well as a belief that somehow, governmental, political, and societal forces would halt DEI work. As much as I pride myself on empathy, I have failed to share that fear. I spent a lot of time in reflection. Am I that delusional? Am I so committed to this work that I refuse to concede a loss? WHAT am I missing!? 

Then it hit me: I'm an unapologetic Black man; I never learned to be afraid. Don't misunderstand me; this is NOT a flex. Rather, being Black in America means leading while bleeding and I don't come from a scared people. It's not my family's way; it's not my way. It's for sure not the way I'm choosing to raise my children. I don't need the moniker of "DEI" to codify the fact that I'm courageous, articulate, and artful enough to make progress sound like a party everyone should attend.

But the question persists: Why are DEI efforts stalling in American educational, non-profit, and corporate institutions? I'm one of the fortunate thought leaders and consultants still working at a high level. I know that it's not because I'm smarter or more educated or more prepared. So, WHAT is it!? I think I understand: 

    Cowards can't lead you to a place they haven't been and aren't willing to go to. 

DEI hasn't gone out of style; courage has.

 As a matter of clarity, when I speak about DEI work, I'm talking about ensuring the efficacy of equitable policies, practices, and systems to ensure that the barriers of access are removed so that the "best and brightest" and "most diverse" are not antithetical to one another. Several spaces have settled for the book clubs, listening sessions, celebration months and other sippy cups and called it DEI, but that's not the way I intend to define it. That said, the most vociferous "pushback" I've witnessed is when the work requires systemic change, not a temporary high. If there is a "slow down" in the work, it is far more a commentary on organizational and missional rectitude than it is the ineffectiveness of DEI work. Simply, it's a matter of courage. I heard an Episcopal priest talk about it(social action) best. He called it a "downward mobility" in that one needed to close the distance between their "mind and their behind". Get moving or move on.

 If you find yourself dragging your heels, it's understandable and there's a place for you: ON THE BENCH. Let those of us who don't have the luxury of running scared to CONTINUE the work you visited for a season. Ever since I became a consultant, I've been on every anti-DEI watchlist imaginable. I open the door to risk for my livelihood and the safety of my children every time I open my mouth or  publish a post; but that's always been the case. I've been experiencing the world this way since I was born, not since I went into business. I do know fear, but I fear cowardice even worse. 

To my colleagues in the good work: keep pushing. To all of the tourists visiting DEI Island for the fair weather: winter is coming. It's ok if you have to go. We'll be here. We LIVE here.

Signed,

The Big Bro coming to get my sister's ball back from over the fence.