Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

‘Black jobs’ slur and anti-DEI mindset are bad for business

Three diverse professionals  in business attire smiling and posing in an office
LaylaBird/Getty Images

Devlin is managing director of Open to All. Unguresan is founder of the EDGE Certified Foundation.

It’s a trend with no clear expiration date and every sign of continuing — the “Black job” meme, which began in June when former President Donald Trump said immigrants were taking “Black jobs” and “Hispanic jobs.”

In the weeks that followed, one of the more joyful iterations came when Shonda Rhimes, among the most successful television producers and screenwriters in history, posted a photo of herself on Threads wearing a T-shirt that read, “My Black Job is TV Titan.” And at the Democratic National Convention, Michelle Obama made the point that the presidency was a “Black job.”


But what accounts for the staying power of this meme, one that Gen Z icons like Simone Biles have happily embraced? Why is it that nearly three months  since its original utterance the public imagination continues to delight in mocking the notion of jobs categorized by race and ethnicity?

Because the thinking behind it is comically outdated. But it’s also a central core of today’s opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion practices. In coining the terms “Black jobs” and “Hispanic jobs,” the former president perfectly distilled the anachronistic mindset behind the anti-DEI backlash, just as others have tarred people of color in leadership as a “DEI hire,” a “DEI mayor” and the possible “DEI president.”

These are today’s slurs — the belief that people of color have a fixed place at the bottom and that when they’re successful, they haven’t earned it. It’s the same mindset that perversely sees diversity, equity and inclusion measures as giving advantages to people from underrepresented groups rather than what DEI is: a method for including people who have been systematically kept on the margins.

But it’s time to be honest — the anti-DEI mindset is highly perishable from a business perspective. It just won’t keep. The most cursory glance at the horizon makes this clear.

For those who oppose diversity, equity, and inclusion measures, it should be troubling to know that Gen Z is not with you. To today’s 13- to -27-year-olds, an anti-DEI mindset is as appealing as coal-fired power plants. Today’s youth are more than their TikTok makeup tutorials and inscrutable slang: Members of Gen Z are employees, customers, innovators, voters and leaders — to an extent today, and growing steadily.

And they’re the most diverse generation so far. In the United States, only 52 percent are non-Hispanic white (compared to 61 percent of millennials), one in four are Hispanic, and 22 percent identify as LGBTQ, nearly three times the rate of the population as a whole.

By 2031, Gen Z is expected to make up about 31 percent of the U.S. workforce and currently makes up 27 percent of the global workforce.

Of all the generations, Gen Z has expressed the lowest levels of “ spiritual health,” the feeling that their lives have meaning and they find purpose in their work. The employers that can meaningfully respond to that sentiment will be the ones that attract and retain young employees. DEI is a big part of that. Eighty percent of job seekers aged 18-34 say a company’s investment in diversity, equity and inclusion is very or somewhat important to them when they are considering a new job, according to Glassdoor. Also consider that 65 percent of Gen Z in the United States and United Kingdom acknowledge having mental health challenges, according to Oliver Wyman.

There’s a connection between these three data points. Together they shine a light on a key component of DEI: A climate of belonging is one in which each person’s unique identity is valued; assimilation is not the goal.

The benefits of responding to Gen Z’s priorities are obvious: Inclusion minded Gen Z employees will know how to sell to, communicate with, and design, innovate and problem-solve for those in their cohort and with some naturally overlapping Gen Alpha soon. And the benefits of their contributions extend to the rest of us. By 2025, Gen Z online shoppers are expected to outnumber Gen X online shoppers. Meanwhile, the estimated global spending power of Gen Z exceeds $450 billion. And 50 percent of Gen Z shoppers want companies to take a position on social issues, particularly racial justice, LGBTQ+ rights, gender inequality and climate change.

Now, look, there are plenty of anxiety-themed conversations to be had: Artificial intelligence, rising authoritarianism, climate change and the next inevitable pandemic all promise to affect how we live and work. But telling the next generation of employees, leaders and consumers they shouldn’t be who they are need not be on the list.

Read More

A Promise in the Making: Thirty-Five Years of the ADA

Americans with Disabilities Act ADA and glasses.

Getty Images

A Promise in the Making: Thirty-Five Years of the ADA

One July morning in 1990, a crowd gathered on the White House lawn, some in wheelchairs, others holding signs, many with tears in their eyes. President George H.W. Bush lifted his pen and signed his name to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)—the most sweeping civil rights law for people with disabilities in the nation's history. It was a moment three decades in the making: a rare convergence of activism, outrage, and legislative will. The ADA's promise was simple—no longer would disability mean exclusion from public life—but its implications were anything but.

Thirty-five years later, the ADA remains a landmark, a legal bulwark against discrimination, and a symbol of hard-won visibility for a community that has been too often relegated to the margins. Yet, like every civil rights law, the ADA's story is more complex than a single signature or a morning in Washington. Its passage and its legacy have always been about more than ramps and regulations.

Keep ReadingShow less
Illinois Camp Gives Underrepresented Kids an Opportunity To Explore New Pathways

Kuumba Family Festival at Evanston Township High School

Illinois Camp Gives Underrepresented Kids an Opportunity To Explore New Pathways

Summer camps in Evanston, Illinois — a quiet suburb just north of Chicago — usually consist of an array of different sports, educational programs, and even learning how to sail. But one thing is obviously apparent throughout the city’s camps: they’re almost all white.

Despite Black or African American families making up nearly 16% of Evanston’s population, Black kids are massively underrepresented throughout the city's summer camps.

Keep ReadingShow less
Students in a classroom.​

Today, Hispanic-Serving Institutions enroll 64 percent of all Latino college students.

Getty Images, andresr

Tennessee’s Attack on Federal Support for Hispanic-Serving Colleges Hurts Us All

The Tennessee Attorney General has partnered with a conservative legal nonprofit to sue the U.S. Department of Education over programming that supports Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), colleges, and universities where at least 25% of the undergraduate full-time equivalent student enrollment is Hispanic. On its face, this action claims to oppose “discriminatory” federal funding. In reality, it is part of a broader and deeply troubling trend: a coordinated effort to dismantle educational opportunity for communities of color under the guise of anti-DEI rhetoric.

As a scholar of educational policy and leadership in higher education, I believe we must confront policies that narrow access and undermine equity in education for those who have been historically underserved. What is happening in Tennessee is not just a misguided action—it’s a self-inflicted wound that will harm the state's economic future and deepen historical inequality.

Keep ReadingShow less
Inclusion Is Not a Slogan. It’s the Ground We Walk On.

A miniature globe between a row of blue human figures

Getty Images//Stock Photo

Inclusion Is Not a Slogan. It’s the Ground We Walk On.

After political pressure and a federal investigation, Harvard University recently renamed and restructured its Office for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging. MIT announced the closure of its DEI office, stating that it would no longer support centralized diversity initiatives. Meanwhile, Purdue University shut down its Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging and removed cultural center programs that once served as safe spaces for marginalized students. I am aware of the costs of not engaging with ideas surrounding diversity and difference, and I have witnessed the consequences of the current administration's actions— and the pace at which universities are responding. It’s nowhere good.

I was forced to move to the United States from Russia, a country where the words inclusion, diversity, and equality are either misunderstood, mocked, or treated as dangerous ideology. In this country, a woman over fifty is considered “unfit” for the job market. Disability is not viewed as a condition that warrants accommodation, but rather as a reason to deny employment. LGBTQ+ individuals are treated not as equal citizens but as people who, ideally, shouldn’t exist, where the image of a rainbow on a toy or an ice cream wrapper can result in legal prosecution.

Keep ReadingShow less