It's comical to read these racist remarks about the New Orleans police department. The driver of the Ford 150 truck Shamsud Din Jabbar rented the truck in Houston and drove it to New Orleans. The population of New Orleans is predominantly black by a large margin, so it is natural that they have a black mayor, police chief, and FBI agent. Also most of the restaurants and night clubs in New Orleans have black waiters, bartenders, musicians, and chefs. These are the people who give New Orleans its unique character and cannot be replaced by "white men."
Tragically, DEI is also attacked from the left as not being radical enough. As usual, the moderates who actually make progress possible are dumped on by everyone.
DEI initiatives were often a toothless office corporations created to pretend they were doing anything about diversity in the office. It was a PR gambit. They were the worst of both worlds: they annoyed everyone and accomplished very little. They usually created a lot of paperwork and required HR to jump through bureaucratic hoops but did not accomplish very much. It's a much deeper problem than just adding lines to forms and putting out a press release. It was window dressing. But hilariously, there still was a backlash.
The only success story I know of (and it was way before 2020 and the George Floyd protests) was FX increasing diversity in their TV directors. It was basically nearly 90% white men, and then they put an effort into changing it. At least for a while it had reached closer to parity. Maybe that has slipped now but once a TV director has episodes in their resume, it's easier for them to get another job. So that was successful. But it did not involve a DEI office. The CEO of FX decided it would be a goal. And recall they just won Emmys for Shogun and The Bear this year, so it clearly did not hurt quality unlike what Republicans say. Process is cheap. Let's see results.
I am reading Viola Davis's memoir "Finding Me". There is a moment where she sees Cecily Tyson on TV, and she starts to dream about doing that. Diversity is really important! People need to see themselves as successful which includes being an FBI Agent or Mayor of a City. Or an actor on TV. I would also argue diversity is good for the rest of us. It brings more perspectives, and it broadens our worlds. I agree with you that some DEI initiatives were pretty embarrassing. But instead of using it as a racist epithet, we should have learned from those mistakes and still kept the goals alive. I just think if we turn away from it it will mean more incompetent people being hired given a smaller pool. It will mean making everything smaller.
It's comical to read these racist remarks about the New Orleans police department. The driver of the Ford 150 truck Shamsud Din Jabbar rented the truck in Houston and drove it to New Orleans. The population of New Orleans is predominantly black by a large margin, so it is natural that they have a black mayor, police chief, and FBI agent. Also most of the restaurants and night clubs in New Orleans have black waiters, bartenders, musicians, and chefs. These are the people who give New Orleans its unique character and cannot be replaced by "white men."
Tragically, DEI is also attacked from the left as not being radical enough. As usual, the moderates who actually make progress possible are dumped on by everyone.
DEI initiatives were often a toothless office corporations created to pretend they were doing anything about diversity in the office. It was a PR gambit. They were the worst of both worlds: they annoyed everyone and accomplished very little. They usually created a lot of paperwork and required HR to jump through bureaucratic hoops but did not accomplish very much. It's a much deeper problem than just adding lines to forms and putting out a press release. It was window dressing. But hilariously, there still was a backlash.
The only success story I know of (and it was way before 2020 and the George Floyd protests) was FX increasing diversity in their TV directors. It was basically nearly 90% white men, and then they put an effort into changing it. At least for a while it had reached closer to parity. Maybe that has slipped now but once a TV director has episodes in their resume, it's easier for them to get another job. So that was successful. But it did not involve a DEI office. The CEO of FX decided it would be a goal. And recall they just won Emmys for Shogun and The Bear this year, so it clearly did not hurt quality unlike what Republicans say. Process is cheap. Let's see results.
Source:
https://variety.com/2016/tv/features/fx-diversity-directors-hiring-ceo-john-landgraf-interview-1201831409/
I am reading Viola Davis's memoir "Finding Me". There is a moment where she sees Cecily Tyson on TV, and she starts to dream about doing that. Diversity is really important! People need to see themselves as successful which includes being an FBI Agent or Mayor of a City. Or an actor on TV. I would also argue diversity is good for the rest of us. It brings more perspectives, and it broadens our worlds. I agree with you that some DEI initiatives were pretty embarrassing. But instead of using it as a racist epithet, we should have learned from those mistakes and still kept the goals alive. I just think if we turn away from it it will mean more incompetent people being hired given a smaller pool. It will mean making everything smaller.