Few three-letter words have polarized our country more than DEI, formerly known as diversity, equity and inclusion. DEI has plunged America into a destructive rhetorical civil war, and it is tearing our nation apart. Fiercely dedicated warriors on both sides of the debate passionately defend their views, willing to sacrifice time and effort to preserve or suppress the DEI cause, which many believe is about promoting the representation of Black Americans.
Since the killing of George Floyd in May 2020, several phrases related to helping black people have come under fire, such as “woke” and “black lives matter.” “DEI” is no different, although statistics in many areas show that non-black people benefited more from DEI programs than from blacks. Sometimes facts don’t matter. Research shows that America would be in a much better economic situation if racial barriers against blacks were abolished. Sometimes even money doesn’t matter.
But words matter. Words evoke emotional meaning based on their associations. Imagine a person who hates Obamacare but loves the Affordable Care Act or urges the government to keep their hands off their money but accepts monthly Social Security checks.
They say if you want people to listen to you, you must speak their language. The language of American business leadership and national prosperity is capitalism. DEI is a capitalist tool for increasing income and wealth through equity. Increased equity leads to increased employee engagement. Increased employee engagement leads to increased innovation, productivity and profitability.
Unfortunately for America, DEI attackers have fallen prey to the paradoxically seductive and alarming power of the psychology of oppression—tactics designed to protect supremacy by erecting and maintaining racial barriers to opportunity under the false assumption of a zero-sum world. Dehumanization is one of the first race-based tactics used effectively for this purpose.
The dehumanization inherent in chattel slavery was necessary to justify its oppression and cruelty to those who profited from it. Although slavery was abolished, the goals of dehumanizing blacks continued through Jim Crow laws and government-sponsored domestic terrorism.
Dehumanization is a subtle, persuasive, and polarizing tool because it generates racial pride, which can provide a powerful boost to self-esteem even for non-elite members of a racial group. At the same time as research As Nobel Prize-winning economist Gary Becker suggests, the tendency of non-elite white people to internalize this superiority means that they will become defensive if it is threatened. This defensive posture creates so much resentment and hatred that people are willing to sacrifice their economic interests to support the racial oppression of blacks.
Paradoxically, non-elite whites and blacks have more in common with each other than non-elite whites have with their elites. They face many of the same socioeconomic challenges, with the exception of race.
The idea that Black people could benefit from DEI programs has generated anxiety, controversy, conflict, fear, and resentment. When a person is used to and feels worthy of the whole pie, even a crumb given to a hungry person can cause pain of loss.
The word “justice” has never been associated with black people in America. Corporate America has a chance at self-serving redemption by moving beyond demonized “DEI” to fundamental justice for all humanity, not just one isolated group. Instead of killing off DEI departments due to the false notion that DEI only helps black people, corporate America must demonstrate leadership and a fiduciary duty to stakeholders by explaining that DEI is a framework designed to help advance the all-too-often elusive concept justice that will improve America’s business interactions, productivity, profitability, and economic prosperity.
Racial Barriers to Opportunity since 1990, it has cost the US economy more than $50 trillion.. Their demolition could generate $5 trillion in just a few years. Increasing employee engagement drives innovation and productivity, which could generate $550 billion in corporate profits annually. The benefits that fairness can bring to corporations and the U.S. GDP should be the focus of corporate boards, CEOs, CFOs, elected officials, and policymakers.
Justice is a matter of wealth and national security that cannot and should not be ignored. This is the most patriotic form of capitalism, but it is obscured by semantics and linguistic nuances. If we can speak the same language and understand the same page, the path forward lies right in front of us.
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