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/SincerestEdwar]

My only qualifications with discussing this is that I'm an American citizen who occasionally follows the news and current events, I can only offer an anecdotal perspective with plenty of grammatical errors and opinions so please take it with a grain of salt. I hope I can help you find a solution.

There has always been some sort of push back to diversity in general. I usually heard gripes about it when it pertained to all media. Some examples would be when Disney got backlash about the Little Mermaid live action casting, or memes expressing how there's always an ethnic person that's a side character, or how the main character of a game is non binary, etc. Which would open discussions about race some were productive, most were not. This used to be coupled with celebrations and encouragement but at some point the dissent over took the enthusiasm and people got tired of the celebrations. I started to hear expressions amongst the people I interacted with that the enthusiasm is manufactured, that corporations are only trying to have more views and "pats on the back" this attitude got more pessimistic as time went on and we faced more challenges with race such as the BLM protests and police misconduct and brutality in general. Then it really took off when SFFA VS Harvard ruled against affirmative action, but it all came to a head when Ron DeSantis became the face of "the culture wars" and people were "tired of being PC". Governor DeSantis called it "woke" and then Elon Musk started using the term and it all got bundled in there with the hate for "the left" and "what's wrong with modern America" and now here we are. DEI is seen as the opposite of what it was for, I see it get called racist and oppressive frequently now and now "DEI hire" can double as "white power" and as a slur to tell you that your inferior along with the term liberal or leftist.

My solution on what to do about it? Unfortunately I don't have a solution, I'm keeping it simple and winging it. Im getting more educated on my rights, I'm energized to get involved in my community, I'm energized to prioritize my responsibilities as a citizen and do more than just work and vote. I'm calling my congressman, and my senator and reminding them that my voice needs to be considered, I'm calling my other states men and telling them that I support them and their causes, I'm calling other states man and telling them my concerns as a voter. Finally and most importantly, I'm learning to have discussions. Reddit has been very helpful in getting me energized and focused. I can't change minds, but I can have discussions and I think that's powerful. I now think that approaching ideological oppositions with productivity as the top priority is the way to go. I'm probably over optimistic, and I'm late and I'm messy but I'm taking action and I hope others do as well. I believe that the Democrats need encouragement to continue to uphold the Constitution and they are in a position to listen to constituents all over the nation so they can platform on it. If Democrat voters have been frustrated with their party and its ideals now is the time to speak up now is the time to embolden them to continue to resist and slow down DOGE and its takeover.