Racial equity activists are outraged after several large companies dropped their diversity, equity, and inclusion consultants in response to conservative backlash and criticism.
The outrage was documented in a report from the Los Angeles Times that noted the exits of DEI experts at Disney, Netflix, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and Warner Bros. Discovery.
“I wake up every day trying not to be a cynic, but this is frightening,” said Vic Bulluck of the NAACP Hollywood bureau. “Hollywood seems to be sending a message that these programs that were designed to give more access to African Americans are no longer needed.”
The report noted that all of the DEI chiefs dismissed were black women.
Business strategist Kim Crayton claimed that she predicted that the corporate support of DEI programs would be short-lived.
“2020 was the year that we were definitely making strides — but there wasn’t any strategy, there wasn’t any plan,” she explained.
“It was a PR moment — corporate blackface,” she added. “I told people at the time: ‘White guilt isn’t going to last.’”
Disney, Netflix, and Warner Bros. Discovery told the Los Angeles Times that these criticisms were inaccurate and that they were still committed to the cause of equity and diversity.
Crayton went on to say claim that DEI consultants were too busy having to deal with white people’s feelings to make any lasting change about inequity.
“If you don’t have the autonomy, the resources or the authority to make changes, it won’t work,” she said. “Many of these women spend the majority of their time navigating white people’s feelings — and you cannot do the work if you have to do that.”
Former NBCUniversal diversity chair Paula Madison put it another way.
“In many instances, the person in those roles has no power,” Madison explained. “These DEI officers are just treading water — and sometimes they are drowning. These things were never designed to be successful.”
The exasperation of DEI proponents was mirrored by that of LGBTQ activists who complained that corporations had been backing off from their support of the far-left movement during the very lucrative Pride Month.
Here’s more about the DEI movement:
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