Few three-letter words have polarized our country more than DEI (formerly known as diversity, equity, and inclusion). DEI has plunged America into a devastating verbal civil war that is tearing our country apart. Both sides of the debate are eager to defend their positions, willing to sacrifice time and energy to preserve or suppress the DEI cause, which many see as encouraging representation for black Americans.
Since the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, some phrases related to helping black people have come under fire, such as: “Woke” and “Black Lives Matter.” “DEI” is no exception, although statistics in many areas show that non-black people benefit more from DEI programs than black people. Sometimes, facts don’t matter. Studies show that the U.S. economy would be much better off if racial barriers against black people were abolished. Sometimes, even money doesn’t matter.
But words matter. Words trigger emotional meaning based on their associations. Think of those who hate Obamacare but love the Affordable Care Act, or those who tell the government to keep its hands off their money but accept their monthly Social Security checks.
It’s been said that if you want people to listen, you have to speak their language. The language of American business leadership and national prosperity is capitalism. DEI is a capitalist tool that increases income and wealth through equity. Increased fairness increases employee engagement. Increased employee engagement leads to greater innovation, productivity and profitability.
Sadly for America, DEI attackers have fallen prey to the paradoxical allure and anxious power of an oppression mentality, a tactic designed to build and sustain race-based opportunity through false assumptions about a zero-sum world Barriers to protect superiority. Dehumanization was one of the first race-based tactics to be effectively used for this purpose.
The inherent dehumanization of chattel slavery was necessary for the oppression and brutality of those who profited from it. Although slavery was abolished, the goal of dehumanizing black people persisted through Jim Crow laws and government-sponsored domestic terrorism.
Dehumanization is a cunning, persuasive, and polarizing tool because it imparts a sense of racial pride that can powerfully enhance self-esteem, even for non-elite members of a racial group. At the same time, as research by Nobel laureate Gary Becker shows, non-elite whites tend to internalize this advantage, meaning they become defensive if that advantage is threatened. This defensiveness creates resentment and hatred so intense that people are willing to give up their own financial interests in support of race-based oppression of black people.
Paradoxically, non-elite whites and blacks have more in common than non-elite whites and elites. Aside from race, they face many of the same socioeconomic challenges.
The idea that Black people might benefit from DEI programs has caused anxiety, controversy, conflict, fear, and resentment. When one is used to and feels one deserves the whole pie, even a small crumb given to a hungry person can feel the pain of loss.
The word “equity” has never been associated with black Americans. Corporate America has an opportunity to achieve self-interested redemption by moving away from the demonization of “DEI” and toward basic fairness for all of humanity, not just an isolated group. Rather than dismantling DEI departments based on false claims that DEI only helps black people, corporate America should demonstrate leadership and fiduciary responsibility to stakeholders by explaining that DEI is a framework designed to help advance the often elusive concept of equity. Increase business engagement, productivity, profitability, and U.S. economic prosperity.
Since 1990, race-based barriers to opportunity have cost the U.S. economy more than $50 trillion. Improving employee engagement unlocks innovation and productivity, generating $550 billion in profits for businesses every year. The benefits that fairness can bring to corporate profits and U.S. GDP should receive the full attention of corporate boards of directors, CEOs, treasurers, elected officials, and policymakers.
Fairness is related to wealth and national security and cannot and should not be ignored. It is the most patriotic form of capitalism, but it is obscured by semantic and linguistic nuances. If we can speak the same language and reach a consensus, the path forward lies ahead.
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