The War on DEI: Regression or Progression? | Sumayyah Ali

Recent attacks on DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) policies have been spearheaded by President Trump, following the growing movement which attempts to form a ‘colour-blind society’ – a thinly-veiled attack on affirmative action, and other federal civil rights measures, implemented in the aftermath of the Civil Rights Era. Opponents of DEI state that they are advocating for meritocracy, though most are a part of the broader campaign of xenophobic and racist rhetoric and policies. These attacks fail to consider the systemic inequalities which pervade American society, and play into a harmful narrative which disregards the significance of these policies in even in attempting to begin address these disparities.

The American Airlines crash, which occurred on the 30th January 2025, was the deadliest on US soil in over 20 years, immediately killing all 67 passengers. Before investigators could begin their work, Trump immediately sought to blame DEI policies, accusing Democrats of prioritising diversity quotas over qualifications. Without evidence, Trump continued to claim that allegedly underqualified aviation workers were at fault for this tragedy. This blatant attempt to scapegoat DEI initiatives, without even considering the actual causes of the crash, were tactless and dangerous, threatening to have very real consequences for minorities.

Trump's remarks began with a moment of silence for the victims but quickly devolved into a diatribe against diversity hiring practices. He stated, "I put safety first. Obama, Biden, and the Democrats put policy first," further claiming, "We have to have our smartest people. It doesn’t matter what they look like, how they speak, who they are. It matters intellect, talent."

Trump’s administration, in his first term, moved to freeze hiring in the aviation sector as well as to dismantle key regulatory bodies, which allowed companies to place profit above public safety, resulting in the tragic consequences we see today. This led to the complete firing of the head of the TSA, the entire Aviation Security Advisory Committee, as well as the unanimously confirmed Head of the Federal Aviation Committee Mike Whittaker. There have been reports that this was over his clashes with Musk’s company SpaceX. This highlights that Trump’s policy places loyalty over ‘intellect’, demonstrating a complete disregard for qualifications and competence, which he enjoys claiming is his true priority.

These comments reflect a growing movement which seeks to create a ‘colour-blind society’, though fails to address the deep-rooted inequalities which have unfairly discriminated against minorities for generations. This mindset also fails to recognise the value of affirmative action policies, which are essential to even begin to address the historical underrepresentation of marginalised groups in various sectors.

In the words of former President Lyndon B. Johnson, “Freedom is not enough. You do not wipe away the scars of centuries by saying: Now you are free to go where you want, and do as you desire, and choose the leaders you please. You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say, ‘You are free to compete with all the others,’ and still justly believe that you have been completely fair.” Johnson delivered this speech at an address at Howard University after the first Civil Rights Act, re-affirming how much work there was to be done within the Civil Rights Movement before Black Americans had equal rights and access to education.

Edward Blum has been a prominent figure in the crusade against affirmative action within higher education, and has brought multiple cases to the Supreme Court with the intent of destroying racial equity policies, claiming that the real goal is race blindness. Again, what this approach fails to consider is that as a society, America is not ready for this. The purpose of racial equity policies is to place underrepresented groups on the same level as their white counterparts, and attempting to remove them under this guise fails to consider that there are still far too many statistics concerning minorities in the work place for this to be an issue. This is also a product of America's 'national amnesia', a term coined by Toni Morrison, in which America refuses to address deep-rooted issues of racism and instead opt for race blindness, where they do not have to contend with their own inherent bias. Not discussing race will not erase discrimination; it reinforces the privileges of white applicants by ignoring the ways in which deep-seeded structural racial inequality impacts individuals from minority backgrounds who seek to enter these spaces.

Blum’s victory in 2023 led to the dismantling of race-conscious admissions programs in both the University of Harvard and the University of North Carolina. This success was likely due to a shift in the makeup of the Supreme Court, with Trump’s appointees now meaning that there was a domination of Conservative judges. He claimed that these schools had unfairly discriminated against white and Asian-American students by utilising policies which benefitted students from underrepresented backgrounds. This rollback in policy has already had devastating effects – the number of Black students starting at Harvard has plummeted to a sixty year low – placing the percentage of Black students at around the same level as when the first Civil Rights Act was passed.

“Blum’s cynical attempt to use members of the Asian American community in his crusade seeks to pit people of colour against one another, acting in a direct antithesis of race-conscious admissions programs, which endeavour to create richly diverse college campuses. Contemporary events continue to demonstrate all too clearly that racial divides and racial discrimination persist in America. In this context, efforts to promote diversity cannot be viewed as mere niceties, and attacks on those efforts cannot be treated as benign. There are real consequences for democracy at stake if Blum succeeds.”

When Blum was confronted with statistics which identify the class and wealth gap within race, he rejected it, insisting ‘What your question implies is that in the American DNA there is racism. It was founded upon racism. It is part of what this country is. I reject that.’ This complete denial that America literally was founded upon the racism, enslavement and subjugation of multiple races truly exemplifies his ideological commitment to denying racism and perpetuating racist systems – after all, what would he seek to change about a society which suits him so perfectly?

To face the uncomfortable truth, race blindness is impossible in a society which is still plagued by racism. The civil rights movement is still well within a lifetime, and slavery, in rare cases, continued to linger as late as the 1960s despite being abolished in 1850, and its effects are still being felt today. As long as figures like Blum are allowed to continue to deny the existence of systemic racism, America will never be able to achieve this colour blindness.