Long before the president banned Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and fired his African American chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff – four star General Charles Q. Brown, Jr. along with Admiral Lisa M. Franchetti, chief of naval operations, there was ample evidence
of a downward trend in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. It lay in the wholesale rollback of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion across the nation. The trend escalated further in 2024 when the governor of Texas mandated that government departments and state colleges and universities could no longer conduct diversity, equity and inclusion training or programs. Since then, the governor of Utah signed similar prohibitions into law.
As of March 2025, companies that had scaled back or completely abandoned their DEI commitments included
- Ford Motor Company
- John Deer
- Target
- Harley-Davidson
- Molson Coors
- Caterpillar
- Boeing
- Nissan
- META, and the country’s two largest employers,
- Walmart and the Federal Government.
Why is this happening? Conservative pressure, especially from a troll named Robby Starbuck, and fear of the repercussions from those in the new administration who are against Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are motivating this rush from DEI.
Donald Trump, Pete Hegseth and many conservatives consider Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion divisive and even “racist,” but why?
What, exactly, is divisive about workplace and educational diversity, universally equitable practices, and inviting everyone to the table? That is all diversity, equity, and inclusion is. Let’s face it, the United States is not and never was a monoculture; it is a multiculture. We aren’t all the same, but we must learn to work with and live near each other. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is the road to that learning, so what is everyone so afraid of? We would do well to remember FDR’s famous warning, “We have nothing to fear, but fear itself.”
And let’s face it, those who have and would block Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are afraid. They are afraid that people who don’t look like them will get the best jobs, they are afraid that inclusion is a zero-sum proposition and when the “others” gain something, they will lose out. They are afraid that Blacks and other “others” are equally as, if not more, accomplished than whites. The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion blockers are afraid their children will learn the true history of our country which includes First Americans (aka Indians), Blacks, and many immigrants and realize that white people are not paragons of virtue as they like to portray themselves.
Here’s the thing: the children can take it! They are resilient and will not be damaged by truth.
White elementary school students are no more injured by learning that some of their forbears enslaved black people than Black students are injured by knowing that some of their ancestors were enslaved. These are the realities of our history. This very fact – slavery – is why we are so tied into knots about what our children are allowed to learn, to what they are exposed. As everyone who has ever been a child knows, parents and teachers can’t hide the facts from children. If they don’t tell the kids the truth, the kids will learn it from someone else, maybe in some twisted, and possibly dangerous, way on the playground, a bathroom wall, or worse.
Besides, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are more-or-less the norm in today’s United States. That is why Donald Trump and governors Ron Disantis, and Greg Abbott, to name a few, are so anxious to dismantle it. But they can’t.
Just as Black History Month can’t be deleted by an executive order; Black people and our allies — the rest of the Resistance — will not go along with that executive order. Ever. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion will never die because we, the people, will not let it die.
Speaking freely 