September 25, 2023

A backlash to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion was inevitable, much like the backlash to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and ’60s. Indeed, the Civil Rights Movement utilized that backlash to prove its point: the non-violent exercise of constitutional rights of speech, assembly, and petition met by violent repression from officials, paramilitaries, and mobs pricked the conscience of decent Americans and demonstrated the urgent need for civil rights legislation. The key elements of non-violence and the ability of Americans to see the truth for themselves on television won the day. DEI, however, doesn’t have the kind of rock-solid leadership that could control a mass movement of thousands of disparate elements. Also, the delivery isn’t live on television for all to see, but in classrooms and meeting halls, and the reporting is done by anyone with access to the internet rather than by professional journalists. Thus, real flaws in delivery are combined with skillful propaganda in a shockingly successful reversal of the Civil Rights Movement.

Thirty years ago I was a newly minted college lecturer teaching Ethnic Studies, Race and Ethnic Relations, and Psychology of Prejudice. I was also going on the road with an older…