The wrongheaded and false notion that cultural differences have little to no impact on how people learn, work or play is one of the more specious ploys those who seek to dismantle DEI initiatives use to press their argument.
This tactic was on display during a congressional subcommittee hearing on Wednesday when Cato Institute expert Erec Smith testified that DEI principles fuel the notion that colorblindness is racist.
“If you tell people that color blindness is a bad thing, you’re telling them what to think of me without my say. If you tell somebody to look at a Black person and say, ‘Well, they’’re Black, you need to look at them differently,’ you’re telling them to look at me differently without my say. You cannot erase individuality, individual sovereignty from this. Yes, we are parts of groups, but we are also, and perhaps primarily, individuals,” Smith told lawmakers during a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee hearing dubbed “Sacrificing Excellence for Ideology: The Real Cost of DEI.”
However, a mountain of research ranging from data from the National Library of Medicine to the Institute of Education Sciences and experts from a wide range of fields have found that culturally competent approaches to education and hiring result in diverse schools and workforces. And diverse schools and workforces benefit society more broadly by ensuring a more robust, reflective, and varied set of ideals.
Yet, Erec Smith, a research fellow on anti-racism activism with the Cato Institute, argued that cultural differences are largely irrelevant in educational spaces.
“The idea that Black kids learn math differently from White kids, and therefore we need Black math, that’s stupid. … The idea that getting the right answer is somehow inherently White is stupid.” Smith said. “You write differently if you’re Black. All these things are there to divide us in certain ways.”
Similarly, Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Arizona, argued “DEI might as well be renamed D-I-E, because that’s where all good things go to die. Under DEI, no longer are skills valued because it forces people to judge a man based on the color of his skin rather than the content of his character,”
“Promoting DEI in schools? You’re teaching students to see color in their classmates before virtues. Now, I am not denying that discrimination doesn’t exist in this world. It does. But DEI and affirmative action have historically failed to protect Americans.”
Beyond the snappy sound bites, such positions are perilous, experts in inclusion caution. Health care and education experts have warned that the Trump administration’s crackdown on DEI and affirmative action policies could have a devastating impact on college enrollment and patient care, particularly for people of color who have long faced disparities in treatment.
And the notion that DEI hinders one’s access to quality education, health care treatment, economic advancement, and career opportunities has been debunked by research, which shows that White women have most benefited from DEI policies and programs.
“There’s insufficient evidence to confirm that highly qualified White professionals, especially men, are being systematically passed over for leadership roles on the basis of their race,” Shaun Harper, provost professor of public policy, business, and education at the University of Southern California, testified. “There’s even less evidence that DEI policies and programs are responsible for racial discrimination against them or anyone else.”
Further, Harper countered that DEI aims to remedy longstanding injustices against marginalized groups and women.
“People should receive the services and the support and the remedies that are owed to them. They should receive the remedies that are owed to them because of systemic racism.”
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