What is Wrong With DEI?

The MAGA Cult’s opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion, DEI for short, used to be baffling. Well, not anymore. When we break it down people who oppose diversity, equity and inclusion are racist, misogynistic, xenophobic and all too often violent with their speech and occasionally their actions.

Take Diversity. Isn’t that what these United States of America were founded upon, at least in word? Sure, we had to fight a monumental civil war to rid the nation of slavery, only to fight for civil rights — including voting rights —  for more than a century. And we’re still fighting for that. To make it worse, the racists and bigots have a U.S. Supreme Court that is very compliant with anti-civil liberties sentiments.

Still, many do believe all of us are welcome in this nation, but there is a sizable part of this country that wants no part of diversity. For then this nation is for English-speaking white people and white people only. All the rest exist in this country to support the white upper class, the top 10% and especially the top 1% of society.

The MAGA Cult believe we should stop immigration from south of the border — completely. Don’t allow more black and brown people into our country. We have enough, or more accurately, too many black and brown people. Sending Native Americans back where they came from sounds like such a great idea …

The U.S. Supreme Court is, finally, doing the bidding of the far right, racist, misogynistic, anti-LGBTQ+ and xenophobic citizens. Affirmative action, as any aggrieved white person will tell you, discriminates against white people, in particular white men. Despite the higher education and employment statistics that show white men have far more opportunities and favorable outcomes than women and people of color.

They believe Black and brown people are discriminating against white people, plain and simple. For the right seeing the U.S. Supreme Court gut the Civil Rights Bill of 1964 and the Voting Rights Bill of 1965 brought great satisfaction to the MAGA Cult. We finally have Jim Crow 2.0.

Then there is Equity. Who is against all of us being treated as equals? Really. Why would anyone be against equality? Yet roughly 40% of this nation’s citizens are opposed to equity. Why? Because they believe white men, and white men only, should rule the U.S. of A. and have no other equals. On top of that, to be considered equal the white men should adhere to a peculiar style of Christianity that believes Jesus wants white men to hoard their wealth, not helping the poor put clothes on their backs, get enough food and definitely not have adequate housing.

They don’t want to see young poor children, especially the black and brown kids, get fed at school. Hell, if they have to have public schools make the buildings as crappy as possible and spend as little as possible staffing those public schools so each classroom is overcrowded and teaching is a soul-crushing challenge. Oh, and make the custodial staff almost nonexistent so teachers have to be their own janitors. And don’t even think of paying the public school staff decent wages.

The anti-Christ Christians don’t want the parents of these poor kids to get food stamps, i.e. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or other forms of welfare because, good grief, taking care of the less fortunate could breed a culture of dependency. Plus, they think we could use all that saved money to fund the next Wall Street or big business bailout.  The poor and middle class can fund all those bailouts just fine.

For the anti-equity crowd keeping poor people under their boot, especially the brown and black ones, is their indecent Christian view of equity. Indeed, it is the Gospels of Prosperity. Think Kenneth Copeland and Joel Osteen who preach the Gospel of Greed. They are worth hundreds of millions of dollars, mostly picked from the pockets of followers that cannot afford to buy the preachers’ European super sports cars.

Then there is that pernicious idea of inclusion. “Oh man, we have to include that guy with palsy in out gym class? It’s just embarrassing to us healthy white people.”

According to former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley Trump told him that nobody wants to see the men and women that were wounded fighting our wars and that he (Milley) could not bring wounded service members and veterans to patriotic events.

Donald Trump’s father, Fred Trump, was arrested at a Ku Klux Klan parade in 1927. The rotted apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Donald Trump doesn’t want to include anyone that isn’t white or anyone Trump feels are beneath him — like Captain Luis Avila, the wounded soldier that offended Trump in 2019 when General Milley invited the severely wounded soldier to sing at Milley’s welcome ceremony. Trump should have been on his knees, kissing the shoes Avila was wearing that day.

Of course the Heritage Foundation is against DEI and the recent confirmation of Air Force General Charles “C.Q.” Brown, Jr. as the new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. General Brown had the audacity to support and promote Diversity! Equity! And Inclusion! Eleven Republican senators voted against Brown’s nomination: Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Mike Braun of Indiana; Ted Cruz of Texas; Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt of Missouri; Mike Lee of Utah; Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming; Marco Rubio of Florida; Tommy Tuberville of Alabama; and JD Vance of Ohio.

Why on Earth would an African American general be a proponent of diversity, equity and inclusion? Makes me think he also supports freedom and the right to vote for everyone. No doubt something that is heard at far right wing cookouts and men-only enclaves, “This is what happens when we start treating not-white people as equals … ”

Recently I spent a day at the VAMC in La Jolla, CA, surrounded by wounded vets of all ages from the most recent to old farts like me. Nothing makes me feel more patriotic than walking through that hospital with my fellow vets, be they physically whole or wounded. Douchebags like Trump deeply offense me.

Anyone who is against Diversity, Equity and Inclusion— and doesn’t want to see wounded warriors — is a racist, xenophobic, misogynistic and unpatriotic A-Hole.