Equity is Not a Crime
Since 2018, we at E4E have been pushing an ethos in all of our work that affirms “Equity is not a Crime.” This simple statement challenges the rhetoric of the current administration, Republican autocrats, and Democratic moderates who have decided to turn against bedrock principles of democracy. Webster Dictionary defines the word in three ways, further confusing right-wing opposition to the concept.
Equity - Noun
1 the quality of being fair and impartial: equity of treatment.
• Law a branch of law that developed alongside common law in order to remedy some of its defects in fairness and justice, formerly administered in special courts: if there is any conflict between the principles of common law and equity, equity prevails.
2 the value of the shares issued by a company: he owns 62% of the group's equity.
• (equities) stocks and shares that carry no fixed interest: trading in equities is governed by market rules.
3 the value of a mortgaged property after deduction of charges against it: people who have built up a significant amount of equity in their homes.
I assume the vitriol against the word rests in the first definition, only because we know Republicans to be deeply committed to stocks and shares that carry no fixed interest, and the value of mortgaged property. The drive to criminalize equity lies in conservative resistance to the idea of the quality of being fair, and impartial. Behind the criminalization of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) is a deep desire to institutionalize discrimination, and be legally justified in doing so.
Diversity is the result of integration—in this case, government-mandated inclusion. According to Webster, diversity is the practice or quality of including or involving people from a range of different social and ethnic backgrounds and of different genders, sexual orientations, etc. The United States is fundamentally a country that has valued diversity and institutionalized the diversification of the general population. By slaughtering and imprisoning Indigenous people, abducting and trafficking African people, and conquering the lands of other people, the country has been diversifying since before its inception. The notion that diversity is a crime simply positions the United States as a criminal state, founded on illegal and ill-founded principles like anti-discrimination and by extension anti-racism.
Government officials have taken positions against inclusion, which is the action or state of including or of being included within a group or structure. Inclusion is the practice or policy of providing equal access to opportunities and resources for people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized, especially those who have physical or intellectual disabilities and members of minority groups. Scientifically, mainly in geology, inclusion refers to a body or particle recognizably distinct from the substance in which it is embedded. As a lifelong American citizen and student of the constitution I was taught inclusion was also a bedrock principle of the United States. Those who are against inclusion want a different future for the country, and hope to reinstate or reaffirm discriminatory policies that result in social, political, financial, and cultural homogeneity.
This is what the Immigration Customs and Enforcement assaults on immigrant communities affirm. They begin by saying anyone without citizenship does not deserve the rights of Americans, because these rights are reserved for a homogeneous group called citizens. Then they say anyone who does not agree with their definition deserves to be criminalized because they are standing in the way of the enforcement of Federal law. This slope gets even more slippery when elected officials and their appointees suggest that anyone who promotes or values DEI should be criminalized.
Many of the same people who seek to criminalize DEI refuse to acknowledge institutional racism, white supremacist organizations, or state violence against marginalized communities. They see inclusion and accessibility as threats to freedom. They see equity as a grab for their exclusivity, and an assault on their privileges. They see diversity as a socialist idea that promotes equality for all people. They cannot say what they are for, so they position this entire argument on what they are against, and attempt to redefine the words to justify their own arguments. In the end, they are clear. They see Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as crimes, and seek to purge the nation from its efforts to make the country more inclusive for anyone that does not look like them.
This assault on DEI is not new. It is the same forces that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood up to. The same thing that the US Office of Civil Rights was attempting to disrupt. We could call them pro-segregation forces, or anti-integration. We could call them traditional white nationalists, or conservative exclusionists. We could refer to them as heroes of homogeneity, and champions of institutional prejudice. They are all these things, but mostly they are a danger to the foundation of this country. They pose as patriots, but they are anti-constitution, and pro-racism. Anti-Bill of Rights and pro-constitutional revisionism. Anti-Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and pro-Discrimination, Exclusion and ICE.