Even though diversity, equity and inclusion jobs increased by 55% following the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, a recent study has showed that the vast majority of them have dried up. Across the country, DEI layoffs have been fast and unrelenting.
A study conducted by LinkedIn showed that chief diversity and inclusion officer positions expanded by 168.9% from 2019 to 2022.
Companies like X/Twitter, Amazon and Applebees have experienced significant layoffs since July 2022, according to New York-based data company Revelio Labs. A different survey revealed that Black employees account for only 3.8% of chief diversity officers in all, while white people make up 76.1% of the positions.
In addition, those with Hispanic and Latino heritage account for 7.8% and those who identify as Asian make up 7.7% Revelio Labs’s senior economist Reyhan Ayas stated that calls for equality in the workplace back in 2020 were promising but never taken seriously.
“I always say that it is so easy to make public statements and commitments because no one will eventually check if you’re committed to the things that you committed to,” she explained. “I can say: ‘I will be fully vegan by 2025’ because no one will ever call me in 2025 and ask me if I’m actually fully vegan.
“And that’s really what is going on here. In 2020, a lot of companies made big commitments, big statements around the DEI roles and goals. And as we are observing a turning of that tide, I think it’s very timely that we actually look into companies to see if they have kept up with those big statements they made.”
The fact that the Supreme Court banned affirmative action in college admissions has only exacerbated the problem.
On the one side, it’s nice if the demographics match society at large, which these do.
On the other, we white people are on the whole underqualified to understand the needs of minority communities and how we can be more inclusive. Lived experience is an important part of being effective in these roles.
Given that, it’s surprising that so many white people qualify. Perhaps they went above and beyond to study and dedicate themselves to overcoming the lack of experience. If so, good for them! Is amazing they care so much about this cause. But is that really the most likely scenario?
This is complete false. If these type of positions even try to pretend to be anything other than a token gesture by the marketing department have some kind of training and certification and possibly even a degree behind them that quantifies whatever they are trying to teach. That means exams and reports and presentations. That means reading textbooks and doing research. So someone saying that the color of one’s skin makes them innately better at taking a DEI-related exam and being a better DEI worker is about as racist as you can get.
If someone said that the color of one’s skin would dictate if they could solve a partial differential equation, or the sex organs they have between their legs determined whether they could design a 5 story building, then they’d be called sexists or racist. Claiming that a white person automagically can’t be disadvantaged and/or can’t be as good in a DEI curriculum or work position is incredibly racist.