DEI hire? Women like Kamala Harris definitely earn their success. | Opinion
As a child, my mom told me a lesson that she had learned and that remains a reality for my kids today: “You’re going to have to be twice as good to get half the credit.”
It’s a problematic, but accurate message that many Black parents teach their children to prepare them for our society. Many of us who learned it used it as fuel to become successful.
As a student at UNC-Chapel Hill, I could have paid my tuition in cash had I gotten a dollar for every time I was asked “what sport I played.” I typically used comments like that as fuel to run intellectual circles around those peers during classroom discussions and to write papers professors singled out for strength.
As I watch Kamala Harris, the only candidate in the 2024 presidential race who has served in local government, state government, as a U.S. senator and as vice president be called a “DEI hire” and unqualified, I am completely — not surprised.
As I watch Harris critics say she “slept her way to the top,” as Megyn Kelly and others did, I see what happens to many successful women, especially when they are competent, confident, attractive and seen as a threat to the “good ole boys club.”
Despite being used as a slur by some, DEI, or diversity, equity and inclusion, simply recognizes that there is a value in having: a variety of people and perspectives to maximize awareness and ability to solve problems (diversity); targeted interventions to address gaps that have been missed or overlooked (equity); and working to ensure that the various perspectives are at the table and intentionally uplifted (inclusion).
Former Republican strategist Lee Atwater, an adviser to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, helped deploy the “Southern strategy,” which promotes racist stereotypes to court white voters by capitalizing on their racial anxiety. Atwater was caught on mic explaining how conservative politicians had to pivot from directly using the “N-word” in 1954 to more coded ways of saying it — state’s rights, forced busing, etc. — to not be hurt politically while having the same impact.
Similarly, “DEI hire” is a way of saying “not one of us.”
As Harris shows, being qualified is not tied to your actual professional accomplishments, but to your demographic qualities. If you are a woman of any race, or if you are LGBTQ, immigrant, poor, have a disability, aren’t Christian, you’re at risk of being called a “DEI hire.”
It’s notable that for all the talk of Harris being a DEI hire, the universal perspective is that her running mate should be a white man because the hope is that white voters may see themselves and feel included. And that former President Trump wasn’t pressed to pick someone demographically different, or even someone with more than Vance’s 18 months a U.S. senator.
The movement to include others is not a movement to exclude or harm white men. Ironically, Jonathan Metzl’s book “Dying of Whiteness” illuminates how the vengeful platform to decimate public education, social services and health care while promoting pro-gun laws has proven to be lethal to white men.
Conversely, Harris’ proposed expansion of health care, investment in education, support for workers, environmental protections and her push to expand opportunity will increase the pie, allowing more new people to thrive alongside those who traditionally have.
No one knows what will happen in November, but if Kamala Harris lands America’s top job, like most successful women she will definitely earn it.
This story was originally published July 27, 2024 at 6:00 AM with the headline "DEI hire? Women like Kamala Harris definitely earn their success. | Opinion."