Back in the last century, before right-wing activist Christopher Rufo turned the phrase “diversity, equity and inclusion” into the enemy of all that is right and good about America, “affirmative action” was the reigning bogeyman on the racially aggrieved right.
I remember when affirmative action was the go-to excuse for every white student who failed to gain entry to the college of his or her choice, for every white job applicant who failed to get the position, for every white worker who failed to get a desired promotion.
America is now in the Trump era, a second post-Reconstruction period that has brought explicit racism back into prominence. Among Rufo’s allies, DEI is described as having an overarching power and authority that its predecessor, affirmative action, lacked. Apparently, any problem — trivial or world-shaking — can be blamed on practices designed to promote racial equity in the workplace.
The practice of affirmative action, a phrase coined during the Kennedy administration, was meant to ensure that government contractors made “affirmative” efforts (beyond their usual malign neglect) to ensure that some people of color and women were hired. By the 1970s, many private corporations and nongovernment institutions had adopted some semblance of the practice to help Black, brown and female Americans gain a foothold in the mainstream American economy.
Affirmative action immediately attracted critics on the right, of course. President Ronald Reagan, who had opened his campaign with a Mississippi speech defending “state’s rights,” intended to gut Kennedy’s executive order.
Corporate leaders resisted, as did several members of Reagan’s cabinet, according to the Washington Post. John Huck, then chairman of pharmaceutical giant Merck, said his company would continue using “goals and timetables” to increase diversity. “They are a part of our culture and corporate procedures,” he said. Reagan backed down.
There remain corporate and institutional leaders working to instill the value of diversity in their workplaces and trying to protect the modest gains they have made toward hiring and promoting people of color, but they are overmatched by vicious campaigns of dishonesty designed to banish DEI by associating it with any failure in any sector.
Billionaire Elon Musk, for example, used his social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to insist that diversity efforts are to blame for the dangerous mishaps afflicting Boeing airplanes: “Do you want to fly in an airplane where they prioritized DEI hiring over your safety? That is actually happening.” Musk cited a corporate filing from Boeing that added DEI and climate to its long-range business plan, which already included “product safety, employee safety and quality.”
Notably, Musk did not blame “climate” for Boeing’s failures. Nor has he discussed the spectacular shortcomings of his Teslas, which are the subject of investigations and lawsuits because of deaths and injuries. In December, Tesla recalled two million vehicles. I don’t suppose DEI caused Teslas to crash.
Nor is DEI responsible for Boeing’s problems, though Musk’s lies have been repeated throughout the right-wing mediascape. Donald Trump Jr. chimed in with a post on X: “I’m sure this has nothing to do with mandated Diversity Equity and Inclusion practices in the airline industry!!!”
Trump meant that remark sarcastically, but it was literally true. Aviation experts always study airline accidents, including those in Boeing aircraft, and they have never cited DEI practices. Boeing’s troubles stem from its decision to cut costs, a corporate practice that often leads to problems with safety.
Furthermore, no matter what Boeing says in its corporate filings, the aviation industry has always been dominated by white men, and it continues to be. According to Vox, racial and ethnic minorities make up 35% of engineers for commercial airlines, up from 32% in 2020.
Back when affirmative action was the bogeyman, a few Black intellectuals made the argument that the practice hurt them because any advances they notched in overwhelmingly white institutions — whether corporations or government offices or universities — would be credited to affirmative action. I always believed that was a naive argument. The truth is that their racist critics would always find a way to use their Blackness against them, with or without affirmative action.
And that remains true. Affirmative action wasn’t to blame for this lack of respect, and neither is DEI. The real problem is racism.
Cynthia Tucker won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 2007. She can be reached at cynthia@cynthiatucker.com.
