Dan Lennington writes for National Review Online about a key problem for those who push diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
Whom is DEI supposed to help and why? This shouldn’t be a trick question, but those responsible for pushing “diversity, equity, and inclusion” haven’t thought much about the answer. And, as it turns out, this may be a fatal legal flaw for DEI programs nationwide.
Since 2020, DEI-inspired programs have exploded. Policy-makers have redistributed billions to minorities in the name of “equity”; schools have launched race-based discipline policies, academic reforms, and scholarships; and woke corporations have spent billions in grants, loans, contracts, and even jobs reserved for members of minorities. These policies rely on one central dogma: Racial minorities are all “disadvantaged,” “marginalized,” or “underrepresented,” and, through special treatment and preferences, historical wrongs can be righted.
But that’s a pesky term, “minority,” and it’s starting to cause legal problems for the purveyors of DEI.
The work of defining “minority” raises more questions than answers. Since the 1970s, the United States government has identified four minority categories: “Asian,” “American Indian,” “African American/Black,” and “Hispanic.” DEI programs have largely followed suit and, for the most part, still use these antiquated racial categories. But in the world of racial taxonomy, for example, Asians are apparently not people who come from Asia. The Middle East, while obviously in Asia, is almost never considered part of Asia under DEI’s racial calculus. And northern Asia, from Afghanistan to Mongolia, is similarly not “Asian” enough to be included.
What about “Hispanic”? That term only applies to individuals from Spanish-speaking countries, so individuals from Brazil, Belize, and Guyana are left out. To fix this, DEI programs sometimes use the term “Latino,” yet not all individuals from Central America, South America, or the Caribbean countries embrace that Eurocentric term.
Even the term “African American” is a misnomer: Individuals from North Africa — from Egypt to Morocco — are never considered African American and, in fact, are labeled “white” by the federal government. …
… At bottom, all these categories are arbitrary at best and bigoted at worst.