legal challenges to workplace diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives (1 Viewer)

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Seems like in recent times, workplace diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives have come under attack from right-wing sources.
Some have even claimed it is racist to have these policies

one example (headed by Stephen Miller):

America First Legal Blasts the NFL’s Illegal and Racist “Rooney Rule,” Files Federal Civil Rights Complaint

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, America First Legal (AFL) filed a federal civil rights complaint against the National Football League (NFL) for violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and engaging in race and sex discrimination. America First Legal also sent a letter to the NFL...

aflegal.org

The Rooney Rule interview policy is in clear violation of civil rights law which prohibits hiring practices that limit, segregate, or classify applicants for employment because of race, color, and/or sex. America First Legal is unrelenting in its fight to dismantle the DEI industrial complex that cuts at the heart of equality.

 

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Being opposed to Stephen Miller is always a good thing

 

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JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Diversity initiatives would be defunded or banned from universities and other public institutions under a slate of bills pending in Republican-led legislatures, with some lawmakers counting on the issue resonating with voters in this election year.

Already this year, Republican lawmakers have proposed about 50 bills in 20 states that would restrict initiatives on diversity, equity and inclusion — known as DEI — or require their public disclosure, according to an Associated Press analysis using the bill-tracking software Plural.

This is the second year Republican-led state governments have targeted DEI. This year’s bills, as well as executive orders and internal agency directives, again focus heavily on higher education. But the legislation also would limit DEI in K-12 schools, state government, contracting and pension investments. Some bills would bar financial institutions from discriminating against those who refuse to participate in DEI programs.

Meanwhile, Democrats have filed about two dozen bills in 11 states that would require or promote DEI initiatives. The bills cover a broad spectrum, including measures to reverse Florida’s recent ban on DEI in higher education and measures to require DEI considerations in K-12 school curricula in Washington state.

The Supreme Court’s June decision ending affirmative action at universities has created a new legal landscape around diversity programs in the workplace and civil society.

But DEI’s emergence as a political rallying cry has its roots on campus, with Republican opponents saying the programs are discriminatory and promote left-wing ideology. Democratic supporters say the programs are necessary for ensuring institutions meet the needs of increasingly diverse student populations.……

Republican lawmakers are backing dozens of bills targeting diversity efforts on campus and elsewhere

Diversity initiatives would be defunded or banned from universities and other public institutions under a slate of bills pending in Republican-led legislatures, with some lawmakers counting on the issue resonating with voters in this election year.

apnews.com

 

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This is the second year Republican-led state governments have targeted DEI. This year’s bills, as well as executive orders and internal agency directives, again focus heavily on higher education. But the legislation also would limit DEI in K-12 schools, state government, contracting and pension investments. Some bills would bar financial institutions from discriminating against those who refuse to participate in DEI programs.

when your party is led by a racist this is somehow not racist?

 

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spoiler alert: It is Utah, maybe the whitest state in America

The State That’s Trying to Rein in DEI Without Becoming Florida

How should public institutions in a diverse society treat identity?

www.theatlantic.com

 

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As all Black folk have quickly come to learn, ”DEI” has become not only a euphemism for the favorite slur of racists near and far, but a target of GOP legislators nationwide.

The latest example of this is The University of Texas at Austin laying off about 60 people who used to work in diversity, equity and inclusion programs, as first reported bythe Austin American-Statesmanand later confirmed by UT Austin President Jay Hartzell in an email.

“I recognize that strong feelings have surrounded SB 17 from the beginning and will shape many Longhorns’ perceptions of these measures,” Hartzell wrote, referring to state legislation that led to the layoffs. “It is also important that this continues to be a welcoming, supportive community for all.”

Senate Bill 17, which bans DEI initiatives at Texas’ public colleges and universities, was passed last year and went into effect in January. State Sen. Brandon Creighton (R) had warned institutions that they could see their funding frozen if they did not comply.

As a Texan, I am disturbed by the legislation but not shocked that the open hostility toward Black people has been codified into law. However, when it comes to the matter of “what now,” I hope that Texans and others being placed into this predicament by Republicans look to Alabama on how to respond.

During this most recent Black History Month, in what can only be classified as a very 2024 move, a white lawmaker introduced a bill to ban taxpayer-funded diversity, equity and inclusion departments in Alabama. Speaking to reporters about his legislation, state Sen. Will Barfoot (R) said: “We shouldn’t be forcing or teaching to children that one race or sex or religion is better than the other. Those are just some of the divisive concepts that are listed in there.”

Based on my recollection of Republican complaints about Black people in recent years, Barfoot seems to be repurposing political talking points about critical race theory, which was not designed to make white children cry and is not typically taught in their K-12 public schools.

What does that have to do with DEI?

Negroes are involved in both!

Barfoot won’t just flat-out say it that way, but close enough.

The bill would prohibit “state agencies, local boards of education, and public institutions of higher education, from maintaining a diversity, equity, and inclusion office or department or sponsoring any diversity, equity, and inclusion program or program that advocates for a divisive concept.”

It would also prohibit public entities from “promoting, endorsing, or requiring affirmation of ... certain divisive concepts relating to race, sex, or religion.”

So it sounds like no Black graduations at predominately white schools. No Pride celebrations on any campuses. Insert everything else not straight and white gone too. In spite of the wording, Barfoot maintains that the bill would not lead to the sanitizing of his state’s history with racism.

“There is specific language in there that encourages and authorizes, continues to authorize the teaching of historically-accurate history, and certainly, I think that is a fabric of what has made Alabama from a history standpoint...the good, bad and the ugly,” he explained.

“I don’t think we need to gloss over that.”

The phrase “historically-accurate history” explains everything about what that “specific language” means.

After all, who better to trust with accurate depictions of U.S. history — especially when it comes to racism and slavery — than one of the Confederacy’s VIP members, the state of Alabama?

Understandably, Black lawmakers are tired of the stunts from their neo-Confederate colleagues.

Speaking on the Senate floor after the legislation was filed, Alabama state Sen. Rodger Smitherman (D) said: “You’re trying to destroy every black person in this state. You’re trying to destroy them. That’s what you’re doing. If you don’t think that this critical race theory bill doesn’t wipe us out as a race…it wipes us out. It wipes everything that has been accomplished by African-Americans or the avenues and the valleys that are open for them to have an opportunity in this state is wiped out.”

Separately, state Sen. Kirk Hatcher (D) suggested that he might resign over the legislation.

“I’m just tired,” he said in committee. “I’m praying about a letter that I penned to resign from the Senate. I can’t do things like this.”

Democrats are expected to filibuster the legislation, but given the state of the GOP, the decimation of all DEI-related programs will remain a top priority. So it may be only a matter of time.

As many college students across universities in Texas are learning, the absence of those programs and the communities they benefit will be felt the second they’re deemed illegal............

MSN