The future of DEI

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In practice, DEI training effectively tells whites, Latinos, Asians, Middle Easterners, Pacific Islanders and the gazillions of people who are mixed-race that they are "part of the problem." It's effectively a black supremacy movement. For years everyone kept their mouths shut lest they be accused of racism. Instead, DEI training has been met with eye-rolling and resentment for the colossal waste of time that performative virtue signaling always is. Companies are rightfully scrambling to finally get rid of the DEI nonsense. And any company or organization that remains tethered to the DEI time-suck and discriminatory hiring/promotions that goes with it is going to have a hard time attracting talent going forward.

What a wildly inaccurate depiction of the facts. Typical white fragility.

Say goodbye to your beloved DEI programs. They are on their way out.

Say goodbye to your buddy just giving you a job because “you have potential “.

Get qualified 1st welcome to the real world.

Says the person who needs to be considered a diversity candidate to get a job.

Nope. I’m just great at my job and am happy because we don’t give jobs away to our bosses cousins son anymore. Glory be!

The only reason you haven't been fired is because they know you will cry racism.

Wrong again Chad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In practice, DEI training effectively tells whites, Latinos, Asians, Middle Easterners, Pacific Islanders and the gazillions of people who are mixed-race that they are "part of the problem." It's effectively a black supremacy movement. For years everyone kept their mouths shut lest they be accused of racism. Instead, DEI training has been met with eye-rolling and resentment for the colossal waste of time that performative virtue signaling always is. Companies are rightfully scrambling to finally get rid of the DEI nonsense. And any company or organization that remains tethered to the DEI time-suck and discriminatory hiring/promotions that goes with it is going to have a hard time attracting talent going forward.

I think a lot of DEI efforts really, really depend on the facilitators. My org switched to a different company for DEI training and I cannot overstate the difference. With the first company, it turned into this awful sharing of past traumas many felt compelled to share but did not really want to revisit. And then the conversation was strong-armed by (white) staff who turned it into a discussion about how our industry is underpaid, so therefore we are ALL victims being denied equity. The second company my org hired was incredible and gave us so much structure and different ways of discussing the issues in our organization. They got leadership to listen, and I have already seen some impact since.

Also the way management decides to implement DEI makes a big difference as well. For example, at my org none of it is mandatory. And so the people who are showing up are the ones who have already been “doing the work” or are interested in understanding where their blind spots are and how we can challenge our deep-seated assumptions about people different from us, whichever “side” you’re on. And the men who have actually said racist things to me never attend.

Sharing past trauma at work is just a terrible idea for anyone. I thought everyone knew to make up a fake, innocuous story so the DEI consultant could move on. That's how people survived the last inquisition anyways.

Yeah - it was the first one we did, implemented quickly over Zoom during the pandemic. People learned and/or quit

[Anonymous]

Had an interview for an internal position at State within the past year. I made it through three panel interviews and I’d say forty percent of all questions asked were regarding DEI and if I’d be a DEI ally.

All this is gone if a new administration comes in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s alarmingly hard for white guys to get hired for openings right now. Many people will say not hiring white men is progress.

No but it’s good they finally have to compete for jobs. Raise your game to get a job.

Lol raise my game by becoming a minority?

You could be better than the minority candidate

Clearly that doesn’t matter for many jobs. Being both white and male is disqualifying.

That’s the goal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of you will not believe me, but I served in a very high level detail in the federal gov't during 2022-23. As the detail was ending, I had a private exit conversation with a senate-confirmed agency head. When they asked what I was doing next, I replied that I had applied several times over the last few years for an SES role in their agency (and others) and this person said that although I was highly qualified, well known and liked etc., it was "highly likely" that I wasn't invited to interview because I am a white male. I couldn't believe they would actually say this aloud.

FWIW - I was literally abandoned as a teenager, finished high school while living on my own, and put myself through 5 years of undergrad (because I worked full time) and 6 years to get a PhD, also while working outside jobs. Sometimes, there were months on end where I didn't have a day off, but it's because of my skin color and the associated privilege that I was successful. Whatevs.

The response to your story from someone in the DEI field would be that throughout this you still benefitted from white privilege, which you did.

I get it though. I'm a similar story of low-income white person who improved myself, etc.

You’ve been brainwashed. No one is immune from privilege. If you are an American. Can walk. Are healthy. Have food. A family who loves you, you have something someone else does not. It is NOT limited to race, but these stupid programs aren’t nuanced enough for that kind of reflection.

Stop expecting people to feel bad. Society should not be encouraged to mope around full of guilt and whipping themselves all day. Probably explains the growing number of people offing themselves.

Just try to be nice and decent. And no, not as a mandate.

Ha. I'm not brainwashed. I am smart enough to know this country was built on the backs of free black labor and for generations the systems were set up to hoard wealth and opportunity with white people and the impacts of that are still in place all around us. Why is that hard to understand. Basic history. Implying all Americans have the same level of privilege makes you sound super dumb.

However, I do not think people should mope around full of guilt and whipping themselves all day. I'm a white person with a great life and let's see... zero of the white people I know are doing that so you seem to be worrying about something that's not actually happening.

Life is more complex than you're making it out to be.

It's a funny claim and historically wrong because for much of American history blacks were predominately concentrated in the South and in agriculture. They didn't build the railroads, work in the coal mines, staff the factories of the north until well into the 20th century, clear the vast forests of the midwest, break the sod on the prairies, etc cetera.

Black labor definitely played a role in helping create American prosperity but blacks did not "build" the country. If anything, how could they build the country when they effectively weren't allowed to be anything more than the most basic field hand and housemaid for much of American history? Ultimately, America really was built by white people for white people, which ironically is also what a lot of CRT people like to say too without realizing the full extent of their message when they focus about the hostility towards black people (which is also true, white Americans have historically not wanted black people around and resented their presence).

As it is, life is definitely way more complicated than DEI proponents like you want to believe in your delusional woe is me mindset. I'm a historical realist. Not a cherry picker of facts to explain away your personal failures.

But I'll tell you who the real privileged people are these days. The young urban black men who get to run red lights while the police do nothing.

The average black slave lived a similar life as a poor white sharecropper. Many people focus on a slave owner versus a slave, and don’t consider that slave owners were in the minority. There are numerous studies and papers about average calories, work hours etc and slaves truly had a very similar lifestyle as a poor white sharecropper. Of course slaves were owned and didn’t have their freedom but did the average poor white person in the south have a lot of freedom? But you’re not allowed to say any of this.

I think DEI has done more harm than good which is a shame.

You are “allowed” to say this. And we are allowed to ridicule you mercilessly for making the comparison.

It’s almost like you think these were the same thing. And that your opinion is valid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of you will not believe me, but I served in a very high level detail in the federal gov't during 2022-23. As the detail was ending, I had a private exit conversation with a senate-confirmed agency head. When they asked what I was doing next, I replied that I had applied several times over the last few years for an SES role in their agency (and others) and this person said that although I was highly qualified, well known and liked etc., it was "highly likely" that I wasn't invited to interview because I am a white male. I couldn't believe they would actually say this aloud.

FWIW - I was literally abandoned as a teenager, finished high school while living on my own, and put myself through 5 years of undergrad (because I worked full time) and 6 years to get a PhD, also while working outside jobs. Sometimes, there were months on end where I didn't have a day off, but it's because of my skin color and the associated privilege that I was successful. Whatevs.

The response to your story from someone in the DEI field would be that throughout this you still benefitted from white privilege, which you did.

I get it though. I'm a similar story of low-income white person who improved myself, etc.

You’ve been brainwashed. No one is immune from privilege. If you are an American. Can walk. Are healthy. Have food. A family who loves you, you have something someone else does not. It is NOT limited to race, but these stupid programs aren’t nuanced enough for that kind of reflection.

Stop expecting people to feel bad. Society should not be encouraged to mope around full of guilt and whipping themselves all day. Probably explains the growing number of people offing themselves.

Just try to be nice and decent. And no, not as a mandate.

Ha. I'm not brainwashed. I am smart enough to know this country was built on the backs of free black labor and for generations the systems were set up to hoard wealth and opportunity with white people and the impacts of that are still in place all around us. Why is that hard to understand. Basic history. Implying all Americans have the same level of privilege makes you sound super dumb.

However, I do not think people should mope around full of guilt and whipping themselves all day. I'm a white person with a great life and let's see... zero of the white people I know are doing that so you seem to be worrying about something that's not actually happening.

Life is more complex than you're making it out to be.

It's a funny claim and historically wrong because for much of American history blacks were predominately concentrated in the South and in agriculture. They didn't build the railroads, work in the coal mines, staff the factories of the north until well into the 20th century, clear the vast forests of the midwest, break the sod on the prairies, etc cetera.

Black labor definitely played a role in helping create American prosperity but blacks did not "build" the country. If anything, how could they build the country when they effectively weren't allowed to be anything more than the most basic field hand and housemaid for much of American history? Ultimately, America really was built by white people for white people, which ironically is also what a lot of CRT people like to say too without realizing the full extent of their message when they focus about the hostility towards black people (which is also true, white Americans have historically not wanted black people around and resented their presence).

As it is, life is definitely way more complicated than DEI proponents like you want to believe in your delusional woe is me mindset. I'm a historical realist. Not a cherry picker of facts to explain away your personal failures.

But I'll tell you who the real privileged people are these days. The young urban black men who get to run red lights while the police do nothing.

The average black slave lived a similar life as a poor white sharecropper. Many people focus on a slave owner versus a slave, and don’t consider that slave owners were in the minority. There are numerous studies and papers about average calories, work hours etc and slaves truly had a very similar lifestyle as a poor white sharecropper. Of course slaves were owned and didn’t have their freedom but did the average poor white person in the south have a lot of freedom? But you’re not allowed to say any of this.

I think DEI has done more harm than good which is a shame.

Are you serious? Was the average white a slave? Yes the average white person in the south had a lot of freedom. They weren’t in chains. They could move west, north if they didn’t find opportunities south.
Maybe you don’t know what freedom is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DEI in large corporations can be misguided and suck AND systemic and structural racism can be real. Individuals definitely get negatively caught up in crappy DEI-led decisions just like individuals get negatively caught up in the downstream impacts of structural and systemic racism. And it feels not fair to all those people.

All the things can be true.

+1 OP here. I completely agree.

Is me as a White person being offended by a DEI training, or being passed over for a job because another candidate was similarly qualified and Black, the worst thing in the world? Of course not. The problems DEI is trying to address that mainly impact BIPOC people are much worse than that

But significant amounts of money and time, including taxpayer dollars, are being devoted to these initiatives, and it's all being made up on the fly and often alienating the people that need to buy into it while often putting BIPOC people in positions that become untenable because they are viewed as diversity hires and part of the DEI "stuff" that everyone already rolls their eyes at.

a white person being passed over for multiple jobs based purely on the fact that they are not diverse IS the worst thing in the world for that person, who may have a family to support, aside from dying or having a terminal illness.

I'm a staunch democrat but this is what the dems (and DEI initiatives) often get wrong. They assume a level of altruism that's wholly unrealistic and ridiculous to expect from any normal individual human. People are already struggling to handle their lives. You expect that if someone unemployed doesn't get a job they really want bc it went to a poc BECAUSE that person is a poc, they should just be ok with it? of course they aren't! They are devastated. They worked their whole lives to get to this point. they have kids maybe. And hence is born anger and resentment.
No matter what preceded today, today is today and individuals are alive and they deserve to be judged on merit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s alarmingly hard for white guys to get hired for openings right now. Many people will say not hiring white men is progress.

yes they are totally open about it. in my (large) company we are very open about this internally.
we also have to go through twice as many hurdles to fire someone who is OC. And on the occasions where I have let go a person OC (I have let got a lot of people overall in various downsizings) they have 100% of the time accused the decision of being race related. And each time they have been one of many let go on the same day of many races. Each time I hear the assumption I roll my eyes. Just bc some suboptimal things are racially motivated doesn't mean they all are. you will know when something is racist like the pp who was told - we dont want diversity. there was no ambiguity.
This kind of bs has given DEI a deservedly poor rep

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In practice, DEI training effectively tells whites, Latinos, Asians, Middle Easterners, Pacific Islanders and the gazillions of people who are mixed-race that they are "part of the problem." It's effectively a black supremacy movement. For years everyone kept their mouths shut lest they be accused of racism. Instead, DEI training has been met with eye-rolling and resentment for the colossal waste of time that performative virtue signaling always is. Companies are rightfully scrambling to finally get rid of the DEI nonsense. And any company or organization that remains tethered to the DEI time-suck and discriminatory hiring/promotions that goes with it is going to have a hard time attracting talent going forward.

What a wildly inaccurate depiction of the facts. Typical white fragility.

Say goodbye to your beloved DEI programs. They are on their way out.

Say goodbye to your buddy just giving you a job because “you have potential “.

Get qualified 1st welcome to the real world.

i think pretty much all non diverse candidates would agree this criteria would be a fair and welcome approach. it's not the burn you think it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:it's so hard.

when dh lost his job just before the pandemic, it coincided with the apex of all this and he had multiple interviews for over a year where people said look - you are not a diverse candidate and that counts against you. I think the issue is that DEI has too often been either presented as or misconstrued as an 'at the expense of' situation. which actually runs counter to the entire premise. I dont know the answer but it sucked at the time.

Or it just meant he had to compete evenly instead of just skating and getting a job a buddy gives him.

DP. Kudos on the victim mindset. Actually, it's the opposite of fair competition and your racist comment openly suggests that bosses cannot be POC. Therapy could go a long way for you.

You’re the only one who mentioned race.

Sadly you can’t just be given jobs by your buddies. It’s hard when you have to compete isn’t it.

Your the one with victim mindset.

How is it competing if you hamstring the competition?

Bootstraps baby

No hamstringing just get better

If you need DEI to be considered for a job, it is you who needs to raise your game and pull yourself up by your bootstraps. The bar gets lowered as low as it can go to find the "right" candidate. And then people like you think you won by being "best". Lol.

No they find a DEI candidate who is qualified. You think you are more qualified than every single person on this earth? Lol.

No, it is who is best among the people who applied for a position. And there are clearly instances of diversity being the reason to hire someone even though they are otherwise not the best candidate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DEI in large corporations can be misguided and suck AND systemic and structural racism can be real. Individuals definitely get negatively caught up in crappy DEI-led decisions just like individuals get negatively caught up in the downstream impacts of structural and systemic racism. And it feels not fair to all those people.

All the things can be true.

+1 OP here. I completely agree.

Is me as a White person being offended by a DEI training, or being passed over for a job because another candidate was similarly qualified and Black, the worst thing in the world? Of course not. The problems DEI is trying to address that mainly impact BIPOC people are much worse than that

But significant amounts of money and time, including taxpayer dollars, are being devoted to these initiatives, and it's all being made up on the fly and often alienating the people that need to buy into it while often putting BIPOC people in positions that become untenable because they are viewed as diversity hires and part of the DEI "stuff" that everyone already rolls their eyes at.

a white person being passed over for multiple jobs based purely on the fact that they are not diverse IS the worst thing in the world for that person, who may have a family to support, aside from dying or having a terminal illness.

I'm a staunch democrat but this is what the dems (and DEI initiatives) often get wrong. They assume a level of altruism that's wholly unrealistic and ridiculous to expect from any normal individual human. People are already struggling to handle their lives. You expect that if someone unemployed doesn't get a job they really want bc it went to a poc BECAUSE that person is a poc, they should just be ok with it? of course they aren't! They are devastated. They worked their whole lives to get to this point. they have kids maybe. And hence is born anger and resentment.
No matter what preceded today, today is today and individuals are alive and they deserve to be judged on merit.

It's not realistic to assume you are going to get offered every job you apply for. Getting jobs is hard. Lots of people have to spend a lot of time searching. No, it is not the worst thing in the world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In practice, DEI training effectively tells whites, Latinos, Asians, Middle Easterners, Pacific Islanders and the gazillions of people who are mixed-race that they are "part of the problem." It's effectively a black supremacy movement. For years everyone kept their mouths shut lest they be accused of racism. Instead, DEI training has been met with eye-rolling and resentment for the colossal waste of time that performative virtue signaling always is. Companies are rightfully scrambling to finally get rid of the DEI nonsense. And any company or organization that remains tethered to the DEI time-suck and discriminatory hiring/promotions that goes with it is going to have a hard time attracting talent going forward.

What a wildly inaccurate depiction of the facts. Typical white fragility.

Say goodbye to your beloved DEI programs. They are on their way out.

Say goodbye to your buddy just giving you a job because “you have potential “.

Get qualified 1st welcome to the real world.

i think pretty much all non diverse candidates would agree this criteria would be a fair and welcome approach. it's not the burn you think it is.

This hiring approach is not unique for any race. ALL races hire people they, know, and trust. The hire usually works out, too.

Another example of ‘“It’s alright for me, but not for thee.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of you will not believe me, but I served in a very high level detail in the federal gov't during 2022-23. As the detail was ending, I had a private exit conversation with a senate-confirmed agency head. When they asked what I was doing next, I replied that I had applied several times over the last few years for an SES role in their agency (and others) and this person said that although I was highly qualified, well known and liked etc., it was "highly likely" that I wasn't invited to interview because I am a white male. I couldn't believe they would actually say this aloud.

FWIW - I was literally abandoned as a teenager, finished high school while living on my own, and put myself through 5 years of undergrad (because I worked full time) and 6 years to get a PhD, also while working outside jobs. Sometimes, there were months on end where I didn't have a day off, but it's because of my skin color and the associated privilege that I was successful. Whatevs.

The response to your story from someone in the DEI field would be that throughout this you still benefitted from white privilege, which you did.

I get it though. I'm a similar story of low-income white person who improved myself, etc.

You’ve been brainwashed. No one is immune from privilege. If you are an American. Can walk. Are healthy. Have food. A family who loves you, you have something someone else does not. It is NOT limited to race, but these stupid programs aren’t nuanced enough for that kind of reflection.

Stop expecting people to feel bad. Society should not be encouraged to mope around full of guilt and whipping themselves all day. Probably explains the growing number of people offing themselves.

Just try to be nice and decent. And no, not as a mandate.

Ha. I'm not brainwashed. I am smart enough to know this country was built on the backs of free black labor and for generations the systems were set up to hoard wealth and opportunity with white people and the impacts of that are still in place all around us. Why is that hard to understand. Basic history. Implying all Americans have the same level of privilege makes you sound super dumb.

However, I do not think people should mope around full of guilt and whipping themselves all day. I'm a white person with a great life and let's see... zero of the white people I know are doing that so you seem to be worrying about something that's not actually happening.

Life is more complex than you're making it out to be.

It's a funny claim and historically wrong because for much of American history blacks were predominately concentrated in the South and in agriculture. They didn't build the railroads, work in the coal mines, staff the factories of the north until well into the 20th century, clear the vast forests of the midwest, break the sod on the prairies, etc cetera.

Black labor definitely played a role in helping create American prosperity but blacks did not "build" the country. If anything, how could they build the country when they effectively weren't allowed to be anything more than the most basic field hand and housemaid for much of American history? Ultimately, America really was built by white people for white people, which ironically is also what a lot of CRT people like to say too without realizing the full extent of their message when they focus about the hostility towards black people (which is also true, white Americans have historically not wanted black people around and resented their presence).

As it is, life is definitely way more complicated than DEI proponents like you want to believe in your delusional woe is me mindset. I'm a historical realist. Not a cherry picker of facts to explain away your personal failures.

But I'll tell you who the real privileged people are these days. The young urban black men who get to run red lights while the police do nothing.

The average black slave lived a similar life as a poor white sharecropper. Many people focus on a slave owner versus a slave, and don’t consider that slave owners were in the minority. There are numerous studies and papers about average calories, work hours etc and slaves truly had a very similar lifestyle as a poor white sharecropper. Of course slaves were owned and didn’t have their freedom but did the average poor white person in the south have a lot of freedom? But you’re not allowed to say any of this.

I think DEI has done more harm than good which is a shame.

Are you serious? Was the average white a slave? Yes the average white person in the south had a lot of freedom. They weren’t in chains. They could move west, north if they didn’t find opportunities south.
Maybe you don’t know what freedom is.

DP and but don’t people nowadays claim that the poor have no options but to stay in areas with poor or no job opportunities? Or that women don’t have the option to move to an anti-abortion state? Is it somehow more difficult now for people with no money to pull up stakes and move from everything and everyone they know than it was 150 or 200 years ago?

Personally I agree that one always has the freedom to move on to better opportunities, but I do wish liberals would be consistent with their argument in this matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DEI in large corporations can be misguided and suck AND systemic and structural racism can be real. Individuals definitely get negatively caught up in crappy DEI-led decisions just like individuals get negatively caught up in the downstream impacts of structural and systemic racism. And it feels not fair to all those people.

All the things can be true.

+1 OP here. I completely agree.

Is me as a White person being offended by a DEI training, or being passed over for a job because another candidate was similarly qualified and Black, the worst thing in the world? Of course not. The problems DEI is trying to address that mainly impact BIPOC people are much worse than that

But significant amounts of money and time, including taxpayer dollars, are being devoted to these initiatives, and it's all being made up on the fly and often alienating the people that need to buy into it while often putting BIPOC people in positions that become untenable because they are viewed as diversity hires and part of the DEI "stuff" that everyone already rolls their eyes at.

a white person being passed over for multiple jobs based purely on the fact that they are not diverse IS the worst thing in the world for that person, who may have a family to support, aside from dying or having a terminal illness.

I'm a staunch democrat but this is what the dems (and DEI initiatives) often get wrong. They assume a level of altruism that's wholly unrealistic and ridiculous to expect from any normal individual human. People are already struggling to handle their lives. You expect that if someone unemployed doesn't get a job they really want bc it went to a poc BECAUSE that person is a poc, they should just be ok with it? of course they aren't! They are devastated. They worked their whole lives to get to this point. they have kids maybe. And hence is born anger and resentment.
No matter what preceded today, today is today and individuals are alive and they deserve to be judged on merit.

It's not realistic to assume you are going to get offered every job you apply for. Getting jobs is hard. Lots of people have to spend a lot of time searching. No, it is not the worst thing in the world.

Look—another candidate for brain de-worming. The PP didn’t say they expect applicants to get every job. Also, you are wrong if you think that racial discrimination is okay in any form.

Beating down on the majority of a nation is a mathematically fraught approach. It’s the kind of behavior that WILL get Trump elected, and then what happens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of you will not believe me, but I served in a very high level detail in the federal gov't during 2022-23. As the detail was ending, I had a private exit conversation with a senate-confirmed agency head. When they asked what I was doing next, I replied that I had applied several times over the last few years for an SES role in their agency (and others) and this person said that although I was highly qualified, well known and liked etc., it was "highly likely" that I wasn't invited to interview because I am a white male. I couldn't believe they would actually say this aloud.

FWIW - I was literally abandoned as a teenager, finished high school while living on my own, and put myself through 5 years of undergrad (because I worked full time) and 6 years to get a PhD, also while working outside jobs. Sometimes, there were months on end where I didn't have a day off, but it's because of my skin color and the associated privilege that I was successful. Whatevs.

The response to your story from someone in the DEI field would be that throughout this you still benefitted from white privilege, which you did.

I get it though. I'm a similar story of low-income white person who improved myself, etc.

You’ve been brainwashed. No one is immune from privilege. If you are an American. Can walk. Are healthy. Have food. A family who loves you, you have something someone else does not. It is NOT limited to race, but these stupid programs aren’t nuanced enough for that kind of reflection.

Stop expecting people to feel bad. Society should not be encouraged to mope around full of guilt and whipping themselves all day. Probably explains the growing number of people offing themselves.

Just try to be nice and decent. And no, not as a mandate.

Ha. I'm not brainwashed. I am smart enough to know this country was built on the backs of free black labor and for generations the systems were set up to hoard wealth and opportunity with white people and the impacts of that are still in place all around us. Why is that hard to understand. Basic history. Implying all Americans have the same level of privilege makes you sound super dumb.

However, I do not think people should mope around full of guilt and whipping themselves all day. I'm a white person with a great life and let's see... zero of the white people I know are doing that so you seem to be worrying about something that's not actually happening.

Life is more complex than you're making it out to be.

It's a funny claim and historically wrong because for much of American history blacks were predominately concentrated in the South and in agriculture. They didn't build the railroads, work in the coal mines, staff the factories of the north until well into the 20th century, clear the vast forests of the midwest, break the sod on the prairies, etc cetera.

Black labor definitely played a role in helping create American prosperity but blacks did not "build" the country. If anything, how could they build the country when they effectively weren't allowed to be anything more than the most basic field hand and housemaid for much of American history? Ultimately, America really was built by white people for white people, which ironically is also what a lot of CRT people like to say too without realizing the full extent of their message when they focus about the hostility towards black people (which is also true, white Americans have historically not wanted black people around and resented their presence).

As it is, life is definitely way more complicated than DEI proponents like you want to believe in your delusional woe is me mindset. I'm a historical realist. Not a cherry picker of facts to explain away your personal failures.

But I'll tell you who the real privileged people are these days. The young urban black men who get to run red lights while the police do nothing.

The average black slave lived a similar life as a poor white sharecropper. Many people focus on a slave owner versus a slave, and don’t consider that slave owners were in the minority. There are numerous studies and papers about average calories, work hours etc and slaves truly had a very similar lifestyle as a poor white sharecropper. Of course slaves were owned and didn’t have their freedom but did the average poor white person in the south have a lot of freedom? But you’re not allowed to say any of this.

I think DEI has done more harm than good which is a shame.

Are you serious? Was the average white a slave? Yes the average white person in the south had a lot of freedom. They weren’t in chains. They could move west, north if they didn’t find opportunities south.
Maybe you don’t know what freedom is.

No, the average white sharecropper didn’t have any money or the means to relocate to another part of the country. They didn’t have access to transportation of any kind - even a horse.