(Todd A. Smith)
The term DEI, which stands for diversity, equity and inclusion is the new N-word.
Whenever someone thinks a person is not qualified for a job because of their race, bigots can substitute the term DEI for the N-word and not get immediately canceled for using a racial slur.
However, the term DEI should be the new N-word for a different reason.
The new N-word should mean necessary, as in it is absolutely necessary to have diversity in boardrooms and the halls of Congress as the country becomes more diverse and less White and male.
With calls for President Joe Biden to exit the 2024 presidential race and pass the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris, conservative politicians and right-wing tabloids like the New York Post have begun anticipating Vice President Harris as the first DEI president.
Racists are saying that the only reason that Harris is the vice president is because she is a biracial woman.
To them, the only reason that President Biden picked her as his running mate was to show how diverse or “woke” he is.
As a result, if Biden steps down and makes Harris the 47th president of the United States, the Howard University alumna would not have earned it like a White man in a similar situation like former Presidents Andrew Johnson, Harry Truman and Lyndon B. Johnson who all ascended to the highest office in the land when their predecessor could not finish his term.
While Biden’s motives for choosing Harris might have been to appease a certain voting bloc, who could blame him for using common sense?
As the country becomes browner by the year, any sane businessperson or politician would want to have diverse voices in the room so that they can appeal to a diverse population or consumer base.
For a politician, the more people they can appeal to means more votes.
For a businessperson, the more people they can appeal to means more money.
Who in their right mind would want to just appeal to one particular group and forego potential money from other audiences?
Furthermore, diversity does not just mean race or even gender.
Diversity means reaching different age groups, members of different religious groups, different socioeconomic groups and people from different regions or locations.
Annually, RegalMag.com profiles that most beautiful Black women of the year.
Often that lists skews to the younger demographic.
However, a true fan of Regal has told me for at least a couple of years that he does not know any of those young gals on the list.
So, while it is great to aim for a younger demographic, a good businessperson would not ignore their more mature supporters in the process.
A good businessperson would try their best to reach readers from all age groups because young and old money spends the same.
In fact, often the older demographic has more money than the youngsters anyway.
Therefore, advertisers might want to reach the more financially stable demographic more than people fresh out of school with not much income to spend on their products or services.
But for some reason, bigots from the Grand Ole Party (GOP) are still stuck in their old ways of doing business.
Instead of having true representatives from within the Black community, the GOP often implores token Black politicians to use offensive gimmicks to attract more Black voters.
While the Democratic Party is not perfect in addressing Black issues, they definitely seem more interested in implementing policies that benefit the Black community than their Republican counterparts.
Instead of supporting affirmative action, DEI efforts, police reform and reparations, the GOP falsely believes that if they can put a few rappers on stage with Trump than the N-words will just line up to vote for them, as if we cannot just stream their music and still vote Democrat.
If Republicans supported diversity, equity and inclusion, they would not have former Trump administrators working on Project 2025.
If Republicans supported diversity, equity and inclusion, Trump might have known that saying that a mugshot would connect him more to Black voters was extremely racist.
And although Trump deserves credit for prison reform, if he had diverse voices in the room, he would have realized that all Black people cannot relate to having a loved-one in prison.
Therefore, he should not have expected to attract significantly more Black voters in 2020 because he succeeded in making changes to an unjust prison system.
But because people like Trump and others only want old White men at the table, they are starting to look like children at the kid’s table while the grown folks talk real business at the big boy table.
Bigots must realize that the country is changing and there is nothing that they can do to stop it.
Having a country that is majority minority should cause more unity and harmony.
However, trying to stop it will only lead to chaos and division.
People must know that someone doing something for another group does not mean that people will stop doing things for them.
It just means that more people will have an opportunity than in the past.
If the Republican Party is to remain viable into the new future, they must embrace diversity, equity and inclusion and stop insulting the very people they need to remain relevant in America’s political future.
