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mjpardus
Jul 92 min read

Republican Racism, the “DEI Hire” Myth, and Kamala Harris

D0nald Trump did not make anyone a bigot. He just made bigots feel good about themselves, to say in public what they used to say behind closed doors.

 

The latest example of the racism, that is a cornerstone of Republican ideology, comes from the July 6th headline in the New York Post, “America may soon be subjected to the country’s first DEI [Diversity, Equity and Inclusion] president: Kamala Harris.”[1] 

 

Republicans are shifting their racist language using “DEI hire” instead of “quota hire.” But it’s just another way of saying that people of color are inherently inferior to white people and can only achieve success and visible positions with the help of a program.

 

To be clear, there is some handwringing over Biden’s candidacy, which only benefits Trump. Should Vice President Harris become the nominee then, according to Republican Rep. Chip Roy, it would only be because she was a “DEI hire” and not because of her qualifications and experience.[2]

 

Republican backers of the “DEI hire” myth don’t want to acknowledge that Vice President Harris has been a public servant for more than 16. First as an elected district attorney of San Francisco, and later as the elected attorney general for the state of California.

 

Harris was then elected to the US Senate in 2016, where she made a name for herself with her service on the Judiciary and Intelligence committees.

 

Oh, and she has served as Vice President working closely with President Biden and US and world leaders on issues that important to the rights and security of everyday Americans.

 

But Republicans want you to forget about that.

  

But it’s not just VP Harris that has been singled out by Republicans as a “DEI hire.” Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert posted on social media that White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who is Black and a Columbia University graduate, a “discredited DEI hire.”[3]

 

Republicans used DEI as an insult to Scott Brandon, the Black mayor of Baltimore, after the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.[4] In an interview with The Baltimore Banner, Brandon said “when they say DEI mayor…[what] they really want to say the N-word.” [5]

 

At the end of the day, Republicans use “DEI hire” is to demean and belittle the triumphs of Black Americans because they simply don’t believe a Black person could’ve attained that level of success on their own merit.

 

And let’s not forget that Trump originated the “birtherism” myth because Barack Obama, a Black man born in this country, could not have achieved on his own merits, his academic and political accomplishments. It was a statement born of jealousy and bigotry.[6]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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