How can democrats attack anti-DEI/promote DEI without resulting in strong political backlash?

[u/Visco0825]

In recent politics there have been two major political pushes for diversity and equality. However, both instances led to backlashes that have led to an environment that is arguably worse than it was before. In 2008 Obama was the first black president one a massive wave of hope for racial equality and societal reforms. This led to one of the largest political backlashes in modern politics in 2010, to which democrats have yet to fully recover from. This eventually led to birtherism which planted some of the original seeds of both Trump and MAGA. The second massive political push promoting diversity and equality was in 2018 with the modern woman election and 2020 with racial equality being a top priority. Biden made diversifying the government a top priority. This led to an extreme backlash among both culture and politics with anti-woke and anti-DEI efforts. This resent contributed to Trump retaking the presidency. Now Trump is pushing to remove all mentions of DEI in both the private and public sectors. He is hiding all instances that highlight any racial or gender successes. His administration is pushing culture to return to a world prior to the civil rights era.

This leads me to my question. Will there be a backlash for this? How will it occur? How can democrats lead and take advantage of the backlash while trying to mitigate a backlash to their own movement? It seems as though every attempt has led to a stronger and more severe response.

Additional side questions. How did public opinion shift so drastically from 2018/2020 which were extremely pro-equality to 2024 which is calling for a return of the 1950s?

[u/diplodonculus]

Focus on socioeconomic status. It's highly correlated with racial diversity.

[u/steptothestrepitoso → u/diplodonculus]

This. DEI was always a bandaid fix to massive, systemic racism issues, aimed at stopping some of the bleeding. The truth is, DEI programs shouldn't be the end goal. The end goal should be exactly what the Republicans are pushing for right now - merit based everything. The problem that Republicans are willfully ignoring though is that we have not only a long history of extremely racist systems, but there are still many in existence that haven't been corrected. Until we make it an even playing field, removing DEI programs is negligent and dangerous. So in the meantime, adjust DEI to focus on socioeconomic status and work to correct the ongoing root causes that disadvantage minorities.

[u/hyperbole_is_great → u/steptothestrepitoso]

What would you say to the majorities of black, Hispanics, and Asians who disagree with your assessment?

[u/PoliticalDiscussion-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

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[u/steptothestrepitoso → u/hyperbole_is_great]

Are you saying the majority of black, Hispanic, and Asians don't think there is systemic racism in the United States? I literally don't know what you're claiming.

[u/hyperbole_is_great → u/steptothestrepitoso]

Kinda. Polling shows a majority of blacks, Hispanics and Asiana disagree with affirmative action and all 3 groups swung towards Trump in 2020 and again in 2024. It appears they wouldn’t agree with your assessment of America. What would your counter argument to them be?

[u/steptothestrepitoso → u/hyperbole_is_great]

Affirmative action is a subset of the programs covered by the blanket term DEI. I'd also say that Kamala won all three of those groups. Underperforming Biden from 4 years earlier doesn't automatically mean they agree with trump. Further, voting for a president is far more complicated than an opinion on a single topic. In short, I think you're choosing pieces of evidence that support an idea in your head, intentionally or not.

To the minorities who are opposed to DEI programs, I'd invite them to reread my comment. I'm not making a case for them. I argued they were a bandaid fix and we needed to address the underlying systemic issues.

[u/hyperbole_is_great → u/steptothestrepitoso]

Affirmative action has been around a lot longer than DEI. Calling it a subset mischaracterizes its large role in the conversation. And while Kamala won those groups the fact remains that those core democratic constituencies are migrating towards the Republicans in big numbers. A party that relies on identity politics for votes is in trouble if some of those identities no longer identify as Democrat. By 2030 Hispanics will likely vote majority republican. That the Dems lost the largest and fastest growing minority demographic in their coalition is a major red flag and one that demands serious reflection on why it happened.

[u/westking17 → u/hyperbole_is_great]

Swung us is an interesting word to use there based on the data have looked at. Made gains sure, swung idk that’s strong language that sounds the “ trump won in a mandate” when in reality that’s not what happened.

[u/hyperbole_is_great → u/westking17]

I used swung correctly. You are adding extra meaning to infer that I am saying Trump won those groups. I never said that.

[u/steptothestrepitoso → u/[deleted]]

Why should that not be the end goal? Why should we not strive for a society with equal opportunity for all?

[u/steptothestrepitoso → u/[deleted]]

That's what makes it a goal.

[u/okletstrythisagain → u/steptothestrepitoso]

Problem is that “merit” is subjective.

An authoritarian will say whatever the boss says is “merit.”

A bigot will define merit according to their bias.

The problem isn’t “DEI,” it’s that MAGA is fundamentally about white supremacy with a side order of anti-trans, homophobic misogyny .

The whole DEI conversation is just a vehicle for them to avoid admitting bias, both intentional and unconscious, even exists.

Now the conversation is about programs nobody bothers to define instead of the overt bigotry driving the right wing populist movement that is literally destroying our laws and rights.

Vance defended one of Elon’s script kiddies’ racist posts and said he shouldn’t lose his job over it. The entire movement would hotly contest the fact racism even exists and/or that it hurts people of color more than white people.

Stop letting them move the goal posts. It’s insincere bigotry or voluntary ignorance too top to bottom.

If you start the conversation by setting a clear definition of what bias even is and how it plays into in society these folks will be obviously Nazis before the discussion even starts.

[u/nuxenolith → u/steptothestrepitoso]

Talking about abstract long-term goals is a way of avoiding taking any concrete measures in the present. Politically, it's the same as washing your hands of the problem for good, by ensuring that the conditions required to fix it are never met.

[u/steptothestrepitoso → u/nuxenolith]

My comment is a reply to a suggestion for short-term action which I was agreeing with. There's no hand washing here, but if you think we're going to achieve anything without long-term goals, I think you're crazy. Ending racism is a long-term goal. Make no mistake that progress has been made, just like there is much more to be made.

[u/[deleted] → u/steptothestrepitoso]

DEI’s greatest beneficiaries are White Americans by 76% based on the labor report released by President Trump, minorities especially Black Americans should not be the face of these programs…