Why does DEI work matter?

Why is the labor performed in service to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) important? What about DEI has found such resonance in our culture? 

In a sentence, diversity, equity, and inclusion work matters because it is the present-day term for the continuation of the struggle for freedom, liberty, and justice for all. 

DEI: A Legacy of American Ideals

Let’s put the “work” aspect to the side for a second to talk about the history of the concept of DEI more generally to prove the point that it is in fact, a direct descendant of previous thought in American discourse. Slogans from the late 1700’s like “No Taxation Without Representation,” “Liberty or Death,” “All men are created equal,” and “We the People” serve as parts of a core of the thought of what it means to be American. 

Over the last couple hundred years of American history, you’d be hard pressed to find a time in which an analogous movement to DEI did not exist. From the abolition movement, to radical reconstruction, to the suffrage movement, to the civil rights era, some Americans have always argued and fought for a more just America. These efforts have had differing demographic populations as the focal point, and different levels of sociopolitical power to enact their vision, but all are rooted in the radical idea of an America that delivers on its promise of freedom, liberty, and justice for all.

The Work Behind DEI

Now let's bring the “work” aspect back. All of these movements, all of these policies, bills, acts, etc required one key ingredient: labor. People had to do the work of generating these ideas, increasing support for these ideas, and delivering on the promise of these ideas once policies were enacted purporting to further these ideas. Each of these three categories of work are equally important and nothing can be advanced without all of them being performed.

Where do the ideas that DEI use come from?

By and large, the grounding ideas of DEI are decades, and in some cases hundreds to thousands of years old. The base of the ideas aren’t as new as the situations we find ourselves in now in which we must find new ways to apply old ideas.

Why do people need to build support for DEI?

In the long arc of the struggle for increasing freedom, liberty and justice, there has been a continuous dance between four parties. There are people in positions of authority who, with the stroke of a pen, can grant or revoke access to those core 3 ideals. The largest group of people are the swayable masses of people who can be called upon by either of the next two parties to join their ranks or perform labor on their behalf. The last two groups are the DEI workers who aim to increase those core 3 ideals for all people and their nemeses, the people who, for whatever reason, do not want an expansion of access to freedom, liberty, and justice for all. 

In the environment just described, it becomes clear that the expansion of freedom, liberty, and justice happens due to the forces of DEI workers supplanting the efforts of those who would restrict, constrict, or generally gatekeep rights from others AND the ignorance or apathy from the masses.That is why people need to build support for DEI. Simply, it doesn’t happen through osmosis or the benevolent good will of others.

Protecting the Progress of DEI

What good is a policy if it cannot be enacted? How can people be certain that the freedoms they enjoy today won’t be rolled back? These are the sorts of questions that pertain to the third and least appreciated aspect of DEI work, that of administration. 

Administration of DEI pertains to the vast majority of work that most of us who consider ourselves DEI career professionals perform. Things like officers for the various titles of the Civil Rights Act (like Equal Employment Officers, Title VI Officers, Title IX Officers, etc), civil rights lawyers, those who adjudicate these matters, HR staff when working on these matters for organizations, staff of public institutions, and all the other labor performed in service of laws or statutes passed to advance the freedom, liberty, and justice for all.

This type of work is especially important because it is how and where the communities that experience a lack of liberty interact with the rules and regulations that treat it as a right for those individuals. This work is also the laboratory where future ideas and support or detractment are incubated. One particularly important aspect here that I’ll mention but save the exposition for another time is about fair processes and how the administration of a fair process turns detractors into supporters of DEI.

The Naysayers

The mattering of DEI work can also be viewed in the contentious nature of attention it receives when done poorly. Like any other industry, there are practitioners who may be more efficacious than others. But unlike many other industries, there is an expectation of fidelity to the cause to such an extent as to when it is done poorly, it calls into question the necessity of the work and the needs of the communities in which the practitioner represents. When done poorly, DEI work serves as confirmation bias and ammunition for that group of people who wish to limit the freedom, liberty, and justice of others.

DEI’s Unsung Heroes

We live in a time where sanitized versions of our civil rights icons and martyrs of decades and centuries past are memorialized and celebrated in school books and dedicated holidays. A conversation for another time is how deeply tragic it is that our sanitization of these figures prevents us from more fully appreciating how similar they were to all of us as flawed individuals who managed to transcend their faults in order to do something worthy of recognition in the annals of history. 

For now, our focus must remain not just on the names we know, the Martin Luther King’s, the Susan B. Anthony's, and the Elizabeth Peratrovich’s, but on the innumerable names and figures lost to history who organized neighbors, taught people to read, opened the first storefronts in their communities, and countless other actions, whether small or large, that created the conditions in which rights were fought for, won, defended, and expressed. It’s the one in a billion that we immortalize, but it’s the behind-the-scenes millions that make the moral arc of the universe bend towards justice.

Reflecting on DEI Work

DEI work matters because it is what will lead to an America that fully realizes the potential of its people. By embracing the wealth of diversity of our people, our nation stands to benefit from a bounty of perspectives, ideas, and innovations that can only emerge from an authentically manifested inclusive society. This work stands as both a dedication and proof of America’s essential principles, striving for a vision where each individual has the chance to both contribute to and reap the rewards of the nation’s wealth.

What do you think?

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