Black History Month and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion programs

Ignoring contributions by African Americans has been part of nation's legacy of discrimination and marginalization

February is Black History Month, an opportunity to focus on the many achievements and accomplishments made by African Americans as well as recognize the struggles and challenges that have long existed and still exist for this segment of our citizenry.

There are those who are critical of the observance and the reasons for it, pointing out that black history is American history and injecting a racial component only serves to further divide us. Identity politics, if you will.

It’s a disingenuous argument, given that many of the achievements and accomplishments by blacks were deliberately ignored or went unreported in the popular history books of yesteryear and that many noteworthy men and women of color never got the recognition and accolades they deserved.

They, like other African Americans, were victims of an environment of discrimination and marginalization that began with slavery and then continued during the Jim Crow Era of legalized segregation in the South and de facto segregation elsewhere. It could be argued, and has been, that not giving them their just dues in the historical record is part of this practice.

The telling of black history also helps shine a brighter light on the inequities that have long existed because of this legacy—ones baked into various American institutions over the decades—including the availability of decent affordable housing, education, job opportunities, wage scales, and treatment by law enforcement and the courts. These are disparities that continue to plague us despite efforts to end them or at least temper their ill effects—and not just for African Americans, but for other minority populations.

Of late there have been efforts by government, higher education, and large corporations as well as by other organizations to offset this longstanding, ‘baked in’ situation that has hindered African Americans, but also those with various disabilities, by promoting the fair treatment and full participation of all people. This effort has come to be known as ‘Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’ or DEI.

At face value such an initiative would be seen as virtuous and beyond reproach, not to mention long overdue. Also, the effort corresponds with the economic and social notion that a ‘rising tide carries all ships.’ But, of course, what you or I might think is not necessarily the same notion that the neighbor embraces.

DEI, as I’m sure many of you already know, has become a target for those on the right side of our political spectrum, derided as a WOKE program fostered by out-of-touch progressives foisting their radical agenda on the citizenry. The observance of Black History Month has gotten lumped into the mix.

President Trump, amongst many other campaign promises, vowed to abolish DEI programs within the federal government, signing an executive order to that effect soon after taking his oath of office on January 20th. His administration is also taking aim at any such initiatives at K-12 schools, colleges, and corporations which receive some measure of federal funding. Yet, while this may be the stated goal, the attack (as we can see) reaches beyond this narrower scope to include the private business sector, non-profits, and even churches.

The landmark federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin. Here in Michigan, Act 453 of 1976—also known as the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act—has a more encompassing definition in that it prohibits discriminatory practices, policies, and customs in the exercise of those rights based upon religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, height, weight, familial status, or marital status.

Martin Luther King, the champion of civil rights for blacks, famously said, “I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

Ironically, those words are being used to attack DEI as well as the legal basis for the civil rights laws, the opponents of both stating that talent rather than a physical characteristic like skin color or gender should be the measuring stick.

It’s hard to argue with the ideal of a colorblind society. And I won’t try, other than to say we don’t live in a perfect world, the ‘seven deadly sins’ are still in full vigor, and the practicality of this ideal is predicated to some extent on there being a level playing field, the same set of circumstances, and an identical starting point.

Of course, nothing in life provides this sort of common denominator. Nor should we expect there to be one. Each of us starts from where we’re at and moves forward.

However, the historical record is that segregation, discrimination, and violence were a common form of suppression and intimation utilized by those in power and, as a result, created in our current times an unequal playing field and a different set of circumstances for many in our nation. The list includes blacks, Native Americans, Latinos, immigrants (past and present), women of color, women lacking income or who are single mothers, homosexuals, those belonging to certain religions, and others deemed different or out of the mainstream. DEI is an attempt to recognize their value and to integrate them into those various social and economic institutions rather than to keep them marginalized.

Counterbalancing this has been a resentment felt by many people at what’s seen as preferential treatment, reverse discrimination, and a perception that these gains have come at their expense. They believe government and elite institutions are placing a finger on the scales.

The hard reality, as history shows, is that human nature can’t be legislated. People believe what they believe. And it’s easy enough to find support among like-minded compadres and politicians who will champion this belief.

I can’t say that every social equity program, including DEI, is the best option and accept that resentment might be an understandable reaction in certain cases or scenarios. There’s truth to the old adage that “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions,” but also in Lincoln’s words “With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right” and his wish for his fellow countrymen “to bind up the nation’s wounds.”

The matters of this world are never as cut-and-dried as we might wish. Still, I’ve been around long enough to know the difference between empathy and malice, between a helping hand and a boot on the neck, and between a genuine expression of idealism and the corrupt use of language to disguise actual intent.

When it comes to making a choice, both of where and when to take a stand and whose cause to champion, history has been instructive. But so too has the mystery and metaphor of poetry. Like these lines from ‘There Was a Saviour’ by the Welsh writer Dylan Thomas.

Two proud, blacked brothers cry
Winter-locked side by side,
To this inhospitable hollow year,
O we who could not stir
One lean sigh when we heard
Greed on man beating near and fire neighbour
But wailed and nested in the sky-blue wall
Now break a giant tear for the little known fall

Let’s not harden our hearts.

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Steve Horton is a mid-Michigan journalist.