There is a backlash to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. All around us, we see the dismantlement of various DEI initiatives including in academia. Institutions and corporations that once rushed to put out statements in support of Black Lives Matter, Landback, and other social movements for justice, now seem all too ready to abandon their initiatives now that DEI is no longer trendy.
It seems that those who felt that they had to pay lip service to DEI and thus instituted hollow and toothless statements and programs in support of diversity, are now thrilled that they don’t have to pretend anymore - they can continue, unchallenged, with their desire to amass power and wealth.
In this episode, we welcome Professor Angie Beeman, Professor in the Marxe School of Public and International Affairs and Affiliate Faculty with Black and Latino Studies at Baruch College-CUNY, to address DEI head-on. We criticize DEI when it is used as a superficial tool used by institutions, namely neoliberal academic institutions, to performatively show that they care about diversity without actually making steps towards structural transformation. We address the question of why and how targeted racist harassment still takes place in universities and colleges that have DEI policies - weren’t DEI policies meant to protect us? And we also talk about the importance of having an understanding of diversity that isn’t superficial.
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