By the power vested in me by no one, I hereby present the official understanding of DEI.
The epigraph to my new book on DEI practice reads, “Whoever you are, however you are, you are safe here.” It’s the DEI vision statement for those who understand that everyone deserves to be safe in their communities and society in general. It’s the DEI For All vision statement.
But DEI For All (shall we call it DEIFA just to have some acronym fun?) is just one form of DEI.
I see, as I take in the discourse on DEI, that people don’t seem to get that. If they did, they’d see through the puffed up and preposterous posturing of those who claim to be “anti-DEI” while churning out brick after brick of a particular kind of DEI and hurling them at the most vulnerable people in society. You see, there is also a DEIFU form of DEI. DEIFU stands for DEI For Us (as in only for us, not for them). And it is most certainly an FU to many many people.
Instead of being expansively inclusive (the DEIFA way), DEIFU is restrictive about what counts as the acceptable range of ways to be human (diversity), giving folks unearned privileges just because they are part of us (equity), and pushing everyone who isn’t us far away from the table where important things get discussed and decided (inclusion).
From the most inclusive DEIFA to the most severely restrictive DEIFU, it’s all DEI because DEI is a continuum of feelings, beliefs, and behavior related to human diversity and how people are treated. Whenever at least two humans share space and time, questions related to who counts as us (diversity), should everyone be treated fairly (equity), and who gets to decide (inclusion) are inescapably activated and must be answered.
Your clubhouse, the sports you play, the sleepover you’re planning, who gets to decide what movie we’ll go to, the neighborhood you live in, the folks you worship with, the people you consider for employment, the peeps you like to chill with, the seating arrangements and food accommodations at your wedding, the makeup of your Cabinet. Do you see? It’s all DEI all the time.
The question is not: Are you pro- or anti-DEI? Please, for the sake of very simple critical thinking, stop behaving as if that’s the question. That’s not a question; it’s a misunderstanding. It’s like asking are you pro- or anti-water. You can’t be against water. You can’t get rid of water. You can’t outlaw or destroy water. It’s literally part of your make-up. We can and do make all kinds of decisions about how we interact with water but it would be silly to spend any time talking about being against water. That’s how it is with DEI; it’s as elemental as H2O. Do you see?
The valid and urgently important question when it comes to DEI is: Are you pro DEIFA or are you maybe a high priest of DEIFU?
This clarification is especially important for folks in the media. You have a critical role in shaping public understanding. When you repeat phrases like ‘anti-DEI,’ you normalize and legitimize misleading narratives. Let’s call things what they are: The policies and practices gushing forth from the new administration aren’t anti-DEI. They are DEIFU in the brutal extreme - policies that privilege some while excluding many others. Responsible journalism means reporting the facts, not parroting harmful rhetoric. Holding the high priests of DEIFU accountable for excluding and erasing great swaths of the human family requires refusing to let them hide behind the pretense of simply being against DEI.
I’m told by dear friends and good editors that I write too long and too academicy. Guilty. I’m trying to do better. For example, I’m going to end this post here, let you take this much in, and write some more later.
While we're at it, before closing, a bit more about me. I’m also having a devil of a time getting my unorthodox correctives about the current discourse on DEI into media outlets (Perhaps I shouldn’t have criticized the media here? But then again, truth to power and all that.) Anyway, if you, dear reader, have a key to a gate at one of the media castles or are in a position to slide this post under the nose of a gatekeeper, please go for it because, by the power vested in me by no one, I declare that we’ve got to correct the messed up and lethally harmful way we’re talking about DEI.
Peace and all it requires,
Carlos
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