Editorial Note: Opinions and thoughts are the author’s own and not those of AFROTECH™.
Corporate companies have gutted and targeted diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs throughout 2024. As we head into 2025, efforts to reverse these changes will only increase.
DEI programs have been the center of several political battles since Republicans wrongfully came to attack critical race theory. Just as conservatives have a woeful misunderstanding of critical race theory and where it applies, DEI has become a buzzword associated with the aforementioned cultural wars.
What Is DEI?
DEI initiatives are implemented in schools, businesses, and government agencies to address inequities within historically marginalized groups. According to Erica Foldy, a professor at NYU’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, initiatives could include training, organizational policies and practices, and organizational culture.
DEI isn’t just a rule or legislation created for organizations to pat themselves on the back or to give one group an advantage over the other. These policies level the playing field by addressing discriminatory hiring practices, pay inequity, lack of accessibility, and bias. While implementing these policies doesn’t abolish discrimination, it provides protections for the marginalized.
Back in 2020, when the George Floyd protests shook America, DEI initiatives weren’t a novel concept. But the aftermath of George Floyd’s execution sparked a lot of guilt and yet another conversation about what it meant to be Black living in America. From police brutality to the lack of diversity in Hollywood, conversations surrounding race infiltrated all areas of life. Companies like Target, Walmart, and Microsoft have declared their support for diversity efforts by implementing corporate DEI programs. Hollywood studios like Disney and Warner Brothers appointed DEI officers to address the lack of diversity in media. Now, almost five years later, most of these companies have reversed their DEI efforts or laid off the people of color who held those positions. In June 2023, the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action. According toNBC News, Texas and Florida are leading the ban against DEI initiatives, striking down DEI policies in public universities, with other states like Utah, Alabama, and Iowa following suit.
In the latest corporate DEI backlash, AP News reports the US appeals court struck down a Nasdaq policy requiring publically listed companies to have women and minority directors on their boards.
Republicans, President-elect Donald Trump, along with other CEOs and business leaders, have waged a war against DEI initiatives in the workplace. Even Elon Musk’s appointment as part of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) task force — which has no actual government authority — has stated its intention to cut government spending by eliminating any and all DEI-related programs. Even amid the 2024 presidential election, phrases like “DEI hire” were used as an insult to refer to Vice President Kamala Harris when she announced her candidacy.
Anti-DEI lawmakers and business leaders view the initiatives as a form of racism against white people. On the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), Musk stated, “DEI is just another word for racism.” Just this past June, Vice President-elect JD Vance co-introduced the Dismantle DEI Act, calling DEI “a destructive ideology that breeds hatred and racial division.” But it doesn’t matter how helpful and necessary DEI has proven to be; detractors’ obsession with eliminating these programs is rooted in anti-blackness, which, ironically, DEI initiatives would protect workers from.
In June 2021, President Joe Biden signed executive orders expanding the government’s definition of DEI workplace protections to include a broader net of Americans, such as pregnant people, formerly incarcerated people, military spouses, caregivers, and more. There is a chance that when Trump takes office after January 20th, he’ll revoke the executive order, as he did in his first term.
Corporate DEI programs may not be dead on arrival as we enter 2025. Yet, Trump has boldly threatened to punish schools and accredited universities by rescinding federal funding if they comply with continued DEI efforts. Mark Cuban, “Shark Tank” host and former owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, has claimed that a diverse workforce is good for business. JPMorgan Chase Bank CEO Jamie Dimon has cemented his unwavering support for DEI programs. Just recently, CNN reported that Costco’s board of directors urged their shareholders to vote against a proposal to eliminate the wholesale retailers’ DEI program.
To combat conservative backlash, some companies have altered the names of these programs to exclude the words “diversity” or “equity” and use broader terms like “inclusion.” 2025 could see a host of legal challenges from both sides of the political spectrum to protect and eliminate these programs.
