DEI isn't new, and it isn't 'nonsense' to marginalized people

Harvard-educated Sen. Charles Scott opposes DEI programs because he falsely claims they emphasize race over merit. “We want everybody standing on their own merits,” he smugly proclaimed.

For 250 of the 400 years since the Mayflower landed, Blacks were enslaved. Thereafter, Black, Indigenous and other people of color were then subjected to brutal discrimination in education, employment, housing, health care, the legal system and more to this very day.

Now white, privileged power brokers like Scott suddenly want “everybody standing on their own merits.”

Sen. Troy McKeown, R-Gillette, advises colleagues that Wyoming should ignore “modern ideas” like DEI, explaining, “I had a hat once that said, ‘Welcome to Wyoming, set your clock back 10 years,’” McKeown said. “I really like it.”

Indeed.

Legislators aren’t bound by the truth. They can make stuff up. The Legislature’s debate teemed with misinformation designed to make constituents believe they were saving malleable adult students at UW from something “woke” going bump in the night.

MAGA Megan Degenfelder, superintendent of public instruction, said she’s “heard concerns” about DEI. That’s like whenever Trump has no honest evidence about something he claims and says disingenuously, “People are saying.”

The vice chair of the University of Wyoming Board of Trustees responded to those like Degenfelder who believe a lack of factual information is no barrier. Former lawmaker Kermit Brown said, “I think we’re a victim of labels, we’re a victim of misunderstandings, and we’re a victim of broad brush, generalistic statements.”

Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, hit the mark. “It’s regrettable that a national narrative has come to Wyoming.” Even Governor Gordon could not avoid regurgitating that national right-wing narrative, even as he vetoed a portion of the anti-DEI language adopted by the legislature. “Clearly,” he said, “Wyoming need not pursue any ‘woke’ agenda, and I have encouraged the university to drop such nonsense.”

Sorry, Governor. DEI isn’t “nonsense” to marginalized people.

Politicians like Gordon wouldn’t understand. They toss around the word “woke” without explaining what it means in their privileged world. So, what is actually meant by the words our governor labels “nonsense,” words that frighten the extremists you elected to represent what was once considered “the Equality State”?

Diversity is an understanding of the world around us that acknowledges and embraces the differences everyone brings to the table, whether it’s race, age, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, physical ability or other aspects of social identity.

Equity is a process that encourages treating everyone fairly and providing equal opportunities, not guaranteeing equal results.

Inclusion is respecting everyone’s voice and creating a culture where people from all backgrounds feel encouraged to express their ideas and perspectives.

The crackpots of the Freedom Caucus act like frightened children who are convinced there’s a monster under their bed. But DEI is something new only to the woefully uninformed or the willfully misinformed who learn all they need to know watching Fox.

DEI teachings were introduced to corporate America, academia and state and local governments before many of these right-wingers were born, emerging from an executive order signed by President John F. Kennedy in the early 1960s.

Fast forward 60 years. Leave behind the New Frontier, when the “torch has been passed to a new generation,” to these days when some want the torch passed to the Freedom Caucus so they can extinguish the flame.

Remember the line from Erich Segal’s “Love Story,” i.e., “Love means never having to say you’re sorry”? “Make America Great Again” means never having to say you’ve evolved.

In 1893, Wyoming adopted the motto “Equal Rights,” securing the nickname “the Equality State” for granting women the right to vote. One-hundred-thirty-one years later, some prefer the motto to read, “Welcome to Wyoming, set your clock back 75 years.”