By Jill Mari Embry: CEO/Founder, Balance Innovation Center, LLC
Diversity, Inclusion and Equity (DEI) are under attack. The Supreme Court ruling, striking down Affirmative Action in education has given conservative legal groups and activists the fuel they needed to continue their mission to role back the clock to the times following Reconstruction. They are not using torches or lynchings. They are using the courts and threats to the heads of corporations.
The conservative legal groups and shareholders have publicly gone after corporations that actively support DEI programs. Some firms have received public shareholder letters since 2021 saying their DEI programs constitute illegal discrimination and a breach of directors’ duties to investors.
The most recent corporation to join the ranks of the intimidated is Ford Motor Company. Ford reported that it would remove the program they had in place for LBGT support., adding to the minorities under attack. They will also be “modifying their DEI program. It is reported that this will impact hir Supplier Diversity Program. the companies that have “modified their DEI programs” due to pressure, recently , include:
Harley Davidson
nd Lowe’s
Tractor Supply
Google/Meta
John Deere
Although the conservatives pushing for the rollback of DEI programs claim that they are fighting for equality, I find this comical. Looking at the employee makeup of these companies, especially the C-suites and boards, equal is no where in site. If you review the salary distribution, based on demographics within a company, equality is not there. If you review their supplier portfolio, equality is not there. So, what the conservative groups attacking DEI programs want is the continued disparities, that have allowed for entitlement and control. This has been the dominant motivation since the end of slavery. It was the motivation as Reconstruction came under assault. Black Wall Street (Tulsa), Wilmington, Rosewood, the unethical taking of a large portion of Mexico, and the more modern, eminent domain used in the destruction of entire communities in the name of “progress”.
Using the buzzword woke, to describe company DEI programs, the conservative activist championing the latest push is Robby Starbuck. He was, previously, a music video director, tried to turn politician (failed) conservative activist from Tennessee. In an NPR piece I heard, he said, “you can not hide. I will find you.”. His presence is on social media, primarily X, where he has approximately 500,000 followers. He also supports his cause, which he claims to be self-funded, with $5 donations. In tweets and letters, he has been able to disrupt DEI programs in several major corporations. This begs the question of how committed these companies were/are to diversifying their workplace, especially higher paying positions past a spattering of white heterosexual, women. It also begs the question, is it fear or hate that is the issue, for those, going out of their way to attack diversity.
American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER) is a nonprofit membership organization with over 200 members. AAER’s mission is to challenge within the courts the use of race and ethnicity as factors in employment, contracting, elections, and other areas of our nation’s public policies.
Edward Blume, the president of AAER, professes to care about equality by stating that restrictions on applicants based on race are illegal and unfair. and has also stated, “Important programs like these that restrict participation to only certain races and ethnicities are unfair and illegal.” He also makes clear that their members’ names will never be shared and concludes, “Significant majorities of Americans of all races and ethnicities oppose these kinds of racial classifications and preferences in our public policies”.
After winning a landmark case in which AAER sued Harvard University over affirmative action admittance based on race in the Supreme Court, with a more recent winning in the 11th Circuit Appeals Court of a case in which they sued a Black woman-owned venture capital firm over $25K grants given to black female businesses.
AAER continues to remove any program that provides equality in white male-dominated institutions, whether in education, business, employment contracting, as well as elections, which may impact the privileged white males within this country, allowing no program to exist to uplift the underprivileged, under-represented race and ethnicity.
AAER may claim that they are interested in equality, but they do not acknowledge programs designated for women or non-race-related programs. Therefore, one must wonder if their goal is to make a country turn back the clock on the progress made by non-whites in the United States.
In the case of the Fearless Fund, the group has created false claims in which individuals were denied the ability to apply, recruiting individuals who were unprepared to be eligible, even if they were black.
In another case against the law firms, the group argues in the case of heterosexual males not being able to apply to the fellowship. Ignoring the LBTG and handicapped men and women aare also eligible. Thus, the fellowship does not exclude white applicants. Yet, they are still successful.
As reported in the 2020 US Census, 71% of the population identifies as white (https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2023/09/2020-census-dhc-a-race-overview.html), and yet, many white-collar professions and institutes of higher learning remain predominately white in employment and admittance. Since the Supreme Court case attacking Affirmative Action was won, several state universities and other universities dismantled programs to address disparities in the hiring and admittance of students. Law firms have been told to stop all programs directed at increasing racial diversity in their firms.
“Put simply, differential treatment based on race and skin color, even for purportedly ‘benign’ purposes, is unlawful, divisive, and exposes your firm to serious legal consequences, including potential fines, damages, and injunctive relief,”
“We strongly advise you to immediately terminate any unlawful race-based quotas or preferences that your firm has adopted for its employment and contracting practices,” the letter reads. “If you choose not to do so, know that you will be held accountable — sooner rather than later — for treating individuals differently because of the color of their skin,” the letter went on.
In addition to Mr. Knudsen, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin, Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, and Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron signed the letter.( https://americanallianceforequalrights.org/republican-ags-warn-law-firms-on-race-based-hiring-practices-after-supreme-court-ruling-on-colleges/)
Through the reconstruction of our country becoming more diverse – a small and invisible group is dismantling programs put in place to break down the historical barriers to prevent non-whites from achieving.
While courts are correct in their rulings, the Constitution prohibits discrimination in hiring, etc. based on race. Courts are failing to acknowledge since the founding of this country, race has driven admittance to universities and colleges, hiring practices, and so much more. The difference is that it has been the white preference that has existed but remained unstated. This is apparent in the demographics of institutions and companies before affirmative action and the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs.
The solution to the issues surrounding the wording of the law would be to add a clause on equity. Equity is what all these programs strived to achieve and were put in place to correct the inequities of century-old bigotry in the United States. Bigotry and ignorance still exist in full force today. With the small group that is pushing back the clock, we must realize that millions of us know better. We can set things right if we band together to create laws allowing for equity, not just equality.
This should be a separate Article – Continuation.
under the terms of the grant program, official eligibility for the contest depends on an applicant’s race with only black females being eligible to participate in the process. The submission of an entry forms “a contract” between Fearless Fund and the applicant.
Fearless Fund’s explicit racial exclusion in making contracts clearly violates Section 1981. The American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAFER) has members who are being excluded from participating in the program because they are the wrong race.
The lawsuit requests the federal court enter a judgment against Fearless Fund for operating this racially discriminatory contract and issue a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction barring them from closing the fourth application period, selecting grant recipients, or enforcing its racially discriminatory eligibility criteria for the Fearless Strivers Grant Contest.
Despite commitments to support Black founders, venture funding to Black-led startups has been on a steady decline since 2021, indicating a loss of interest or focus from investors. In 2023, Black founders in the U.S. secured a mere 0.48% of all venture dollars, totaling around $661 million out of $136 billion. (https://foundersnetwork.com/blog/startup-funding-for-black-founders/)
AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 22, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Today, the American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAFER) filed two lawsuits challenging the awarding of diversity fellowships by the international law firms Perkins Coie LLP and Morrison & Foerster LLP.
Regarding Perkins Coie, AAFER alleges that the “diversity fellowships” for first year (1L) and second year (2L) law students exclude certain applicants based on their race. These fellowships offer recipients a six-figure job that include five-figure stipends. However, applicants do not qualify unless they are “students of color,” “students who identify as LGBTQ+,” or “students with disabilities.” This means that between two heterosexual, nondisabled applicants, one black or Hispanic, and the other one who white, the latter cannot apply based solely on his rac
For the record the percentage of white lawyers in 2023 was 79%. This is down from88.86% in 2010. What is important to note 5% of all lawyers are African American – the same percentage as 10 years earlier – but the U.S. population is 13.4% African American. Similarly, 5% of all lawyers are Hispanic – up from 4% a decade earlier – although the U.S. population is 18.5% Hispanic. And 2% of all lawyers are Asian – up slightly from 1.6% 10 years earlier – while the U.S. population is 5.9% Asian. (https://www.americanbar.org/groups/young_lawyers/about/initiatives/men-of-color/lawyer-demographics/)
As the complaint highlights, when considering applications and hiring interns, the National Museum of the American Latino has promised to “focus on … increasing the representation of Latina and Latino museum professionals in the field.”
I” In 2022, 82.6% of the Archivists, curators, & museum technicians workforce were White, of which 59.5% were women and 40.5% men. Other races that concentrated a significant number of workers were Two or More Races (6.46%) and Black (4.23%).” (https://datausa.io/profile/soc/archivists-curators-museum-technicians)
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