DEI Is Special Treatment For ‘Wokes’ Only (Op-Ed)

“We do not seek to liberate blacks at the price of the humiliation of the whites.” -Martin Luther King

Image Credit: Hatschii / Pixabay / Public Domain

By William Haupt III [Tennessee Watchdog Journalist, Columnist, Author, and Citizen Legislator via The Center Square] –

Unbiased civil liberties and rights is the most fundamental value for Americans. Yet sixty years ago, American citizens of all races, ages, sexes, colors, and religions were not entitled to harvest these benefits equally. In a republican nation where the majority could not disenfranchise the minority, it took average white and Black citizens to mitigate and rectify these heretical societal incongruities.

Martin Luther King united people of all colors to crusade against the Democrats’ segregation in the South, which powered the Civil Rights Act of 1964. While the evils of segregation died with the Civil Rights Movement, The Civil Rights Act outlawed all discrimination against Americans based upon gender, race, color, age, nationality, religion and political beliefs. Unfortunately, too few realize this.

Former segregationist Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law. But by the end of his first term in office, riots had broken out around our nation. His efforts to compensate for years of segregation and discrimination failed miserably.

“A leopard cannot change his stripes.” – Al Gore

Woke history does not reveal that Richard Nixon shaped the civil-rights landscape of today. He desegregated schools and nationalized the Voting Rights Act. He gave billions to Black colleges. He created affirmative action hiring and education goals for government colleges and business.

From Nixon’s friendship with Martin Luther King, to his last days in office shadowed by Watergate, Nixon made time to meet with Black college presidents to see how he could best execute the Civil Rights Act. Black business leader Robert Brown, Nixon’s head of the civil rights commission, said, “Richard Nixon did more for middle class Black America than any president in American history.”

Since Richard Nixon left office, we’ve had affirmative action programs and federal mandates to “fill quotas” for corporations, college admissions and hiring. Although The Civil Rights Act protects the rights of all Americans equally, progressives tell identity groups it did nothing for them. If you dare to challenge a progressive about their lies, deception and disinformation, they claim you are racist.

Wokes purposely wrote Richard Nixon’s civil rights accomplishments out of history. If they didn’t, they could never accuse white people and the GOP of racism against Blacks: Yet they benefited most from them.

“A good job and a good education are important civil rights.” – Richard Nixon

Progressives say the Civil Rights Act is racist since it protects everyone equally. Their new social formula is “DEI.” Since “quotas” are unconstitutional, to appeal to identity groups, they call quotas “diversity.” They equate “equality” as more “ethnic groups” than whites. The newest twist in their portfolio is “inclusion.” All identity groups should feel happy and cared for in school and on the job.

Since most colleges are breeding grounds for new progressives, they have no problems with DEI requirements. Although DEI provisions are unconstitutional, they flaunt them proudly. And it’s also contagious. Since the election of Barack Obama, corporations now have DEI requirements also.

You can’t force a job applicant to say they will engage in social engineering. Yet DEI testaments are part of applications for college admission and for academic jobs. DEI testaments say you will cohere to the tenets of DEI. You are judged on how you will adhere to a companies enforcement of Critical Race Theory. They are read and judged before work experience and academic credentials are ever assessed.

“We hire the best people for the job and never think of their race.” – Steve Jobs.

If you don’t meet the companies social philosophy for DEI, your job application will be trashed. No applicant who says they “will treat all people equally” will be hired. You dare not repeat what Dr. King said: “People should be judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin.”

Companies designate specific jobs for ethnic applicants, which is against the law. They know it is illegal but do it to appease wokes and not fall in disfavor with government and liberal media.

“We seek to liberate American society and to help all people liberate themselves.” – Martin Luther King

It isn’t surprising that most diversity programs aren’t increasing diversity. Despite a few new bells whistles and buzz words used by big tech data firms, companies are basically doubling down on the same approaches they’ve used since the 1960s. DEI testaments are just for widow dressing.

Harvard business school analyzed three decades of data from over 800 U.S. firms and consulted with hundreds of HR managers. The majority said DEI doesn’t work. They believe they get better results without control tactics. It’s more effective for managers to solve problems with on-the-job contact with female and minority workers. This promotes fair and unbiased social accountability.

HR managers claimed that’s why interventions, such as targeted college recruitment, mentoring programs, self-managed teams, and task forces have boosted diversity in businesses. The most effective solutions aren’t designed with diversity in mind. They work because they don’t have to meet ethnic or gender quotas. Neither the interviewer nor applicant is intimidated or pressured.

Freethinker Robert Ingersoll once said, “An opportunity given to one is taken from another.” The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed to protect the rights of all Americans equally. Richard Nixon created programs to address concerns about enforcing it. The quota systems of the 60s and 70s worked for some and deprived others of opportunities and that is why they were declared illegal.

Major league sports is dominated by minority athletes, especially professional basketball. Should an owner of an NBA franchise be forced to have an equal number of white and Black players on his team? During the next NFL draft, will they make team owners choose players by race or ethnicity?

According to Census data, white men make up 31% of the population while Black men make up 8%. Since white males have all but disappeared from TV commercials, does DEI mean that we must reverse this lopsided trend and start giving acting jobs to more white male Americans again?

Employers should focus recruitment efforts on sources that are likely to provide a diverse pool of candidates. But they cannot legally state a preference for candidates of any race or gender. Ideally, targeted recruitment will increase the diversity of the candidate pools from which an employer is selecting. Through a neutral selection process, the workforce will naturally become more diverse. Besides being unconstitutional, there is no need to implement arbitrary hiring goals or use race in any way in the hiring process. Any hiring practice that looks like a quota is a quota.

“Please forgive me my nonsense, as I also forgive the nonsense of those that think they talk sense.” – Robert Frost

About the Author: William Haupt III is a retired professional journalist, author, and citizen legislator in California for over 40 years. He got his start working to approve California Proposition 13. His work also appears in The Center Square, The Western Journal, Neighbor Newspapers, KPXJ 21 (Shreveport, LA), Killeen Daily Herald, Aberdeen American News, InsideNova, Kankakee Daily Journal, Monterey County Weekly, Olean Times Herald, The Greeneville Sun and more. Follow William on Twitter @iii_haupt.