Recently, Jerusalem Demsas and Matthew Yglesias debated the merits of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs on a new podcast for the liberal magazine the Argument. Demsas took the view that these programs are, on the whole, fine. Yglesias argues that they are rotten and politically dangerous.
He gives an eye-popping example featuring billionaire former NBA star Magic Johnson, whose company, Magic Johnson Enterprises, has a subsidiary that’s 51 percent owned by Johnson and 49 percent owned by Sodexo, a French-based multinational corporation with $32.9 billion in revenue. The subsidiary only exists, however, to spin Sodexo’s cafeteria services as “a minority-owned business” — billionaire Johnson is, of course, black — so that they qualify for lucrative contracts with District of Columbia Public Schools.
Yglesias’s frustration is clear. “And it’s like, what is being achieved here right now?
Demsas interrupts:
Who cares, man? Like there are other situations where I’m like, “Yeah, like someone’s really missing out here.” Like who cares? Like, this is like, “Yeah, this seems sub-optimal and like it shouldn’t happen. It’d be better if it didn’t happen.” But I’m like, this is not like. . .
It goes on like this.
This is a dodge. And Demsas knows it’s a dodge. She knows exactly “who cares.” Demsas herself cares, seeing as she is debating the question publicly — if anything, she seems exasperated. And she knows that lots of people care, specifically, about the kind of abuse Yglesias highlights.
The problem with so many of these diversity programs is exactly this: they benefit those who need no help to begin with. They are programs designed by the elite, for the elite. Even the acronym gives it away. DEI is about “diversifying” the elite. The corporate boardroom might be free to buy back their own companies’ stocks, in order to pay for laying off thousands of workers, but that boardroom better be…
Auteur: Dustin Guastella
