On Being a “DEI Hire”

The concept of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is all over public discourse these days. This is largely a result of the presidential candidacy of Kamala Harris, who supposedly was a vice president DEI hire.

When President Biden decided on his VP pick, he mentioned wanting to choose a woman. Was she thus a DEI hire, which is simply another way of saying she isn’t qualified to do the job? 

Institutions— governmental, educational, social, political or ecclesial— have never been gender or race-neutral. We live in a society where every available position in upper management, every available seat in a university classroom, every job on the assembly line, and every political appointment has historically belonged to white males. This continues to be the case.

A zero-sum logic assumes that when a person of color is hired, they are taking the position away from a white male to whom it belongs.

This way of thinking misses the reality of the historical practice of white affirmative action. Since the foundation of this nation, every position— from president to dogcatcher— regardless of qualification, was exclusively reserved for a white male body, usually at the expense of more qualified nonmale and nonwhite bodies.

Supposed “meritocracy” has trumped the skills of minoritized populations, allowing white people to skip the line to obtain undeserved opportunities. The issue, then, is not how to become more diverse, equal or inclusive, but how to challenge the institutional power structures controlled by white hands.

Dismantling the sexist and racist status quo of white affirmative action with DEI policies is reinterpreted to invalidate people of color and women. The tool used to do this is the phrase “DEI hire.”

DEI frightens those who assume the political and social arenas are their birthrights. They feel threatened by the unraveling of white affirmative action, which endangers the lie upon which it is based— white supremacy. Since the foundation of the republic, our society was designed to secure their unearned power, privilege and profit simply based on the color of their skin. 

When those who are negatively impacted by white affirmative action challenge the status quo, which privileges whiteness, they are gaslighted into believing they are asking for special treatment. Qualified and gifted individuals like Harris are dismissed with the racial slur of being a “DEI hire.”

I can relate. I, too, was supposedly a DEI hire.

In my first tenure-track teaching position, the religion department consisted of over nine scholars— all of them white. This lack of voices from minoritized racial and ethnic communities resulted in a lack of academic excellence. 

To correct this disparity, they sought a professor who could provide some diversity, equity and inclusion. They hired me in the hopes of making their department more vibrant.

Shortly after being hired, one of the adjunct professors took me out to lunch. During our conversation, this white colleague informed me he had applied for the position I was hired for. 

He said, “You know, the only reason you got the job was because you are a Latino and I’m white.” He went on to state that white scholars like him are unable to get a job in the academy these days because they are white males. There are so many things wrong with what he said.

First, he ignored that over 95% of the institution’s faculty was white. Even today, the academy is not representative of the gender and racial diversity of our society. White males, thanks to white affirmative action, continue to be overrepresented.

Second, it dismissed my academic rigor. He, who had been teaching for several years by that time, had not published anything worth reading. I had published several well-received articles in premier journals and had three signed book contracts. 

Third, his racist comments dismissed any academic perspective not rooted in eurocentric religious thought as being uninteresting. What I brought to the table would always be inferior to the eurocentric perspectives he taught. (I would add “and wrote about,” but to this day, he hasn’t written anything significant). 

Here is the damage done by accusations of being a “DEI hire.” It fostered an imposter syndrome that made me feel (if truth be known, still makes me feel) as if I do not belong. It leads me to falsely believe I am an inferior scholar to every other white scholar, even those whose scholarship receives no publication interest.

No matter how many book awards, teaching awards, scholarly awards, Fulbrights, and international speaking invitations I receive, I struggle with the lie that the scholarship I do from the margins of eurocentric thought will always be less than.

DEI hires are often seen as unjust or unfair, largely because many people from marginalized communities, including my own, have been so deeply influenced by colonial thinking. For too long, I have been taught to see reality through the eyes of the dominant culture.

 Maybe the first act of decolonizing my mind is to learn to recognize any hire lacking a basic understanding of diversity, equity and inclusion to be an inferior scholar, student or Vice President. 

Their entire white worldview has nothing to do with reality. It is, instead, based on a myth designed to protect their unearned power, profit and privilege.