I missed the beginning of Black History Month due to the lack of government support. I couldn’t believe it, but Trump is making his presence known as “Anti-Woke” and “Anti –DEI.
He is an equal opportunity offender as he has removed MLK Day (although since it is law it can’t be removed), Juneteenth, a Celebration of Contributions of Women, Pride Month to remove focus on the LGBTQ people, and Holocaust Remembrance Day. No one should be surprised because he told us what he believed and who he was when running for the Presidency. However, he did lie when he claimed that he was not familiar with the 2025 document which is seen clearly in all these moves. Too many people thought that he wasn’t being serious and now we are paying the price.
It is easy to forget that DEI includes people with disabilities. Other “isms” get the attention. I became aware of my cluelessness when I read an article by Lynne Moronski in the Inquirer regarding her experience as a parent of a child who had significant disabilities and who died when she was twenty-one.
The statistics that I will share are from Moronski’s article. She asks, “Would you rather be dead than disabled? If your answer is yes, you’re not alone. More than 84% of US doctors felt the quality of life was lower for those with a disability. The public feels the same assuming, disability equates to misery. Hence, they would rather be dead than disabled.
Scholars use the term “disability paradox.” It describes the majority of those with disabilities who feel they have a good if not better quality of life than their able able-bodied counterparts.
I have a friend with a Downes Syndrome child. Mother and son are hands down two of the greatest people I have met. Her child is in his thirties, and he embodies the characteristics of what a person should be in terms of character and joy in life. His mother is the very embodiment of what love means. They turn challenges into opportunities. I can’t give enough praise for mother and son.
One of the facts of the “isms” is found at the core of DEI. IT IS ACCESS. I saw this firsthand when I understood years ago that an aspect of DEI is found in a key moral ethic. A simple story will point to what people fail to understand about the importance of access as an ethical rule. I was the priest in charge of a parish on Peaks Island in the Casco Bay. It was only accessible by boat and ferry from Portland, Maine. We had a Maine summer cottage on the water. The island is diverse including yearlong residents as well as summer residents from many different walks of life from the editor of the Boston Globe to lobstermen and lobsterwomen.
When walking around the city of Portland, Maine, a wonderful town, I noticed many disabled people in wheelchairs making their way around the town. I inquired of a local Maine fellow and asked if there was a home for the disabled in town as it seemed that the town had more disabled residents than other areas. There was an overabundance of the disabled out making their way around town. Portland was so supportive of those people and made MORE ACCESS for them to all city services. If I could summarize DEI, it is the word ACCESS that applies to the various “isms.” With ACCESS comes more opportunity for equality of life.
Trump says he doesn’t want differences in our population where we don’t see color which is an uninformed view. In a March 3, 2021, Heather McGhee had a TED Talk titled “I don’t see race at all just makes racism worse.” She said, “Instead of being blind to race, color blindness makes people blind to racism, unwilling where it shapes opportunity or to use race-conscious solutions to address it. Only one in five Americans expresses high levels of sympathy about anti-Black discrimination.”
There was a meeting of three universities recently, Penn, Wesleyan, and NYU that was set up before all this anti-DEI focus by Trump. They discussed many aspects of how to improve higher education so that colleges would be more responsive to and worthwhile for those who attend them including the issue of diversity. Trump is no longer using a dog whistle for racism. He is using a bullhorn. Every time that Trump has a negative experience such as the recent plane crash in Washington, he accuses the crash to be a result of DEI people either flying the plane or in the tower. If anything is bad, Trump blames it on DEI.
Just as Trump repeated his lies about the election, he believes if he can lie about DEI being connected to poor performance. He hopes that lie will take hold in the culture.
DEI is about ACCESS which leads to equality. Meritocracy leads to an oligarchy while ACCESS gives a fair shot for all people. There is a simple exercise in diversity workshops where people line up against a wall and answer questions such as “have your parents gone to college?” Other questions follow and you take a step forward when answering yes. Some move forward very quickly while others are left behind. Not all people have the same start on the road to meritocracy. It is summarized by a statement by Coach Bud Wilkinson who said, “These captains of industry think that they hit a triple when they were really born on third base.”
If Trump wants to talk about meritocracy, his Achilles heel is that everyone gets a fair start, or some accommodations must be made. ACCESS to a better life ironically is what fueled his victory. Trump is no different from a bully as studies show the bullies have at least two characteristics. They are insecure. Trump couldn’t even handle the message from the Episcopal Bishop of Washington from the pulpit for him to be merciful. How crazy is it that he wants an apology. Bullies don’t feel that they belong, so they surround themselves with bad people making themselves even worse. Trump is said to follow Mein Kampf, the book by Hitler. That may be, but his transactional relationships with others is based in “what have you done for me lately.” It is clear to me that Trump may have read Machiavelli’s, The Prince. Machiavelli talked about great leaders governing best by having others fear them. Unfortunately, that is Trump’s belief as well. Make all those people in DEI fear you! Have all those he considers powerful come to his home to kiss the ring of loyalty. The other part of Machiavelli’s ethic is “the ends justify the means” so Trump can do anything he wants to get to reshape our democracy to be those things called for in the 2025 document. These recent days of his government demonstrate major uniformed, if not illegal, reforms.
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