DEI

Diversity. Equity. Inclusion. It took nearly 250 years for these three words to become real in American policy, public discussion and action. 250 years in spite of the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution, law of the land. 250 years. Disgraceful.

Women have been discriminated against. Ask them today. Do they feel discrimination in their lives. You bet they do. And for good reason. Discrimination is still a real concern for them in their own lives.

The same with African Americans. Ask them if they feel discrimination in their lives. Their answer is a certainty; yes. And the same goes for most immigrants if not all. And for those who do not mark current discrimination, their immigrant group most likely did feel the horrendous pressure of discrimination at one time in our nation’s history.

Difference is the cause. Being different from the main group of people populating our land; they are the discriminators in the main. Difference. That’s all it takes. Like being a woman who loves a woman, or a man loves a man. Sexual orientation is an easy difference to deal with. So many against so few. And yet, the victims here are not self-selected. They are what they are without any personal choice. Only to live as themselves. I speak of personal knowledge on this one; I am gay, male. I grew up in a straight white world where subtle messages of heterosexuality were not just the norm, it was the right orientation. Of course, they lived as themselves. No one taught them to be straight or how to act as such. Neither did the gay guy down the street. He didn’t know what the right way of behavior was, only that somehow it was wrong. And he would pay. Pay for being himself. Same for lesbians, of course, and any other form of orientation behavior like transexual and more.

Difference. It is the cause. Just difference. Power belongs to the normal people, however that was defined. And it was always defined to favor themselves.

But today the law has been changed to define people who are different as to be themselves. They are part of the diversity that makes America what it is and always has been. An amalgam of different people living different lives in different manners and producing amazing products, services, arts and creative people. Diversity is the root of this success. Equity is the equal access to all society has to offer in spite of personal differences. Inclusion is the celebration of counting all of us as one social order.

We have all legislated diversity, equity and inclusion standards into American life. It is not one person or a group who has the power or right to erase DEI. Should they try, they separate themselves from the whole and are now the probable victim of discrimination. The rest of us need only retain our resolve. It is the others who have the problem of their own making. Let’s be certain they feel the pressure. The onus. The unfairness.

August 25, 2025

 

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