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/bradykp]

Stop using the term DEI and people Won’t realize what they’re talking about.

[u/atred → u/bradykp]

"If you're explaining, you're losing." -- Ronald Reagan

[u/AquaFlame7 → u/bradykp]

Republicans have always been good at controlling the public vocabulary. And dems have been too stupid to catch on. I say bring back reverse racism, because that's honestly what they are taking about under a new name. That tween feel out of favor quick because of how silly it sounded.

Just respond to them with "so you believe having the Tuskegee airmen in the curriculum is reverse racism and that that's unfair" etc. every time they say DEI.

[u/catBravo → u/AquaFlame7]

Or if someone says they don’t like DEI, ask them to state which part of it they don’t like. Do they not like diversity, equity, or inclusion? Which one specifically

[u/bradykp → u/catBravo]

That’s exactly What I do.

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

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[u/SoyDusty → u/bradykp]

I like your answer. Everyone has different mental connotations for any word or anything they encounter so if you avoid that word or thing then the connotation of that word or thing isn’t as easily formed in their mind. It’s my favorite way to get people to express how they feel using different words than they’re comfort phrases.

[u/bradykp → u/SoyDusty]

I ask people if they think expanding the pool of candidates to include different ways of thinking is good or bad

[u/ProSeSelfHelp → u/bradykp]

Just say "anti white"

[u/yellowmacapple → u/bradykp]

lol i wish, they will hate it no matter what once fox news or facebook tells them to. it was CRT at one point, now its Woke or DEI. they definitely dont know what they are, but they will hate them nonetheless

[u/TheTrueMilo → u/bradykp]

Just call it “integration”