DEI rollbacks affect more areas than race, says local NAACP

“I was privileged to work in a large corporate business structure; and having access to that taught me a lot about the need to understand differences in the workplace,” said local Butler County NAACP President Michele Webb. “I don’t think people understand just how much will be affected by these changes.”

The changes Webb is speaking of were instituted by President Donald Trump that roll back protections for different groups under the umbrella of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs.

Though it as held multiple names — affirmative action, equal opportunity employment, DEI ­— the policy has always been the same: to protect and provide equal representation for everyone under the law despite race, gender, or creed. Webb said she thinks some people will learn the hard way about what is being lost by stripping away those protections.

“Everyone hears ‘DEI’ and they automatically think it’s about race,” Webb noted. “And it is to a certain extent. But it also is about women’s rights and disability rights — making accommodations in the workplace.”

As a response to the civil rights movement in the 1960s, then-president Lyndon Johnson established the protections through Executive Order 11246 in 1965. Landmark cases such as Brown v. Board of Education and United Steelworkers v. Weber helped lay the national groundwork for DEI policies.

Kathern Harris, director of the Succeeding in School tutoring program, remembers the struggles of the civil rights movement and the different policies that were shaped and changed throughout the years in response to questions of equity.

“In 1936, President Franklin D Roosevelt signed the Randolph-Shepphard Act, which mandated the federal government to give preference to purchase of products made by the blind and established a committee for products made by the blind,” Harris noted. “In 1971, Javits-Wagner-O’Day expanded the committee to include the severely disabled.

“In 1965, when I was in college, President Lyndon Johnson issued Executive Order 11246, which required government employers to hire without regard to race — not hired without regard to qualifications.”

“I personally think that DEI is being used as a divisive political tool that keeps people separated when we should all be working together,” Webb remarked. “And I think Gov. (Mike) Kehoe is simply just following Trump’s lead. I don’t believe he has had enough time to look at the data to make an informed decision.”

Gov. Kehoe issued an executive order Feb. 18 that orders the elimination of DEI programs in Missouri state agencies. According to his order, there will be no public funds available for DEI-related positions, and there is now a prohibition on considering DEI in state hiring decisions.

“I think it’s terrible,” Webb said. “All DEI is doing is saying ‘let’s level the playing field.’ It’s because of DEI that we have things like pay equity, work accommodations for special needs, maternity leave, mental health programs... the list is pretty long.”

Understanding history

“I think that this causes people to overlook history,” Webb noted. “You can’t grow and build and overcome without understanding where you started from.”

“The legal term ‘affirmative action’ was first used in Executive Order 10925, signed by President John F. Kennedy in March 1961,” Harris explained. “It included a provision that the government hire qualified applicants without regard to race, color, gender, or religion.”

While race is widely considered to be the catalyst for DEI policies, Webb said the far-reaching impact of inclusion in the workplace cannot be ignored.

“We all need to have equal opportunity,” Webb said. “And that means all of us. I think our leadership should be focused on other important issues that need attention.”

Webb said she believes the resulting divisiveness that comes from controversy surrounding issues like DEI is by design.

“I think that when you get people of the same class together, something happens,” Webb remarked. “I think that when you get people of the same class together — regardless of their race or religion — you find that we all have much more in common than we thought. And I think that certain people don’t want us focusing on that.”

Webb said she believes this to be a crucial moment at both the state and federal level.

“I believe in the saying ‘knowledge is power,’” Webb stated. “And I think that’s what we’re missing with this controversy: knowledge. It’s helpful to spell out what DEI really is and just how it affects everyone from every category. It’s for protection.”

“The goal of DEI is to create a qualified, welcoming, and inclusive environment and strive to ensure that everyone is treated fairly,” Harris remarked.

“When it comes to situations like this, you have to stand for something. One thing that Martin Luther King Jr. stood for was love. He said that hate was too hard,” Webb noted. “And I think that if you stand for love, then you want to see diversity, equity, and inclusion. We need to focus on character.”