Rev. Martin Luther King’s vision for the future, where everyone is judged by the content of his character and not the color of his skin, will never be realized by following the dictates of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies. In fact, if a colorblind society is the goal, then adopting DEI as a means to achieving it is doomed to fail.
Race consciousness is at a fever pitch in America today. There is not a single corporation or college that is not infused with DEI policies, the holy trinity of social justice.
All of these DEI policies are integrally tied to Critical Race Theory (CRT), an ideology promoted by Ibram X. Kendi. He insists that white people are inherently racist and that discrimination on the basis of race today—against whites—is the best way to remedy past discrimination against blacks.
Dr. Jonathan Pidluzny is the Director of the Higher Education Reform Initiative at the American First Policy Institute. His research on this issue led him to conclude that “DEI is a direct offshoot of CRT.” Indeed, as he shows, the most prominent champions of DEI programs readily admit this is true.
This situation takes on even greater sociological significance when we consider that some of the same companies that are dedicated to DEI race-conscious policies in the workplace nonetheless seem to prefer a color-free world. Take, for example, the movies that Hallmark and Lifetime—home of the “chick flicks” (or films that cater to women)—like to air.
There is hardly a movie in recent years that these two cable stations offer that doesn’t feature a racially mixed cast—mostly white, black and Asian. What is striking about these movies is that none of the characters ever seem to notice racial and ethnic differences. In fact, they are the most colorblind people on earth. But they sure are inclusive: When eating Chinese food, none of the non-Asians ever uses a fork—they love their chopsticks. Score one for multiculturalism.
Hallmark is owned by Hallmark Cards and last year it was named one of America’s Greatest Workplaces for Diversity by Newsweek. It was also picked by Forbes last year as one of America’s Best Employees for Diversity.
Lifetime is owned by A&E, which is jointly owned by Hearst Communications and Disney. A&E’s commitment to diversity extends to hiring people who call themselves “non-binary.” Hearst has all kinds of reports and graphs showing how much it loves DEI. Ditto for Disney.
If the goal is a colorblind society how are we supposed to get there when workers are being indoctrinated with race-conscious propaganda? The disconnect is glaring.
Martin Luther King envisioned the kind of colorblind society that Hallmark and Lifetime present. But the means that he endorsed to achieve this end had nothing to do with having race on the brain 24/7. Nor did it have anything to do with promoting a racist ideology.
King was consistent. The corporate elite who own these channels are anything but, and much the same could be said about the big corporations in general.
Long live King’s vision. Say goodbye to Kendi’s.
