D.E.I. programs explicitly treat people differently based on race. Such programs have no place in modern society.
That only makes sense if we aren’t already treating people differently based on race, which we do all the time.
“We can’t stop doing X as long as we’re still doing X” doesn’t exactly make much sense either.
“We can’t stop doing un-X as long as we’re still doing X” FTFY
X, in this case, is “treating people differently based on race.”
I would love if we were to do un-X.
I’d say X is more like “disproportionately and systematically disadvantaging people of color.”
So now DEI programs are only for people of colour?
Why not just “disadvantaged people”? That takes race out of the equation entirely, and everyone is satisfied. Unless excluding disadvantaged people of specific races or genders or whatever is actually the point.
Extend to gender, ethnicity, LGBTQ, whatever…the key is the “systematically.” We can’t assess relative (dis)advantage at an individual level, but we can recognize it at a systemic level and develop programs that counter it systemically.