I am a Proud Black Man. DEI Undermines Us

Am I not good enough to compete? Am I being hired because I’m Black and fulfill some quota, or do I stand out from the crowd because of my competency?

These are the questions Black people like me are forced to consider in this new corporate environment that overtly wants to elevate people based on the complexion of their skin.

It’s a policy philosophy that creates doubt not only within the minds of the minorities who are trying to navigate successfully in corporate America, but their colleagues as well who aren’t sure if the person standing beside them is there for the same reasons as them.

I understand the motivation for wanting to help people that some feel are disadvantaged by ensuring a fairer environment for everyone, no matter their ethnicity, sex, or sexuality. But the problem with DEI is that in practice, it is inconsistent with the message that discrimination is bad because it engages in discriminating against some to elevate others. And in so doing, they aren’t setting an equal playing field for all but skewing the field to create an ideologically satisfying outcome. And no one likes it when there are favorites in a competitive market, including the people who didn’t ask to be anointed.

As a Black man who has worked in the IT field for well over a decade, I never once questioned why I was being hired for a position prior to the popularization of DEI. There was a solid chemistry in the room during the interviews that resulted in job offers. But after the death of George Floyd, I routinely began to wonder if the job I was hired for was given to me out of some kind of racial motivation instead of thanks to my capabilities as a professional. And for a moment, I questioned if the other Black men in my work environment were also beneficiaries of a diversity agenda.

Yes—I, a Black man, fell into that trap progressives like to pretend is racism and wondered if my Black coworkers were diversity hires. And I am not the only one.

Over time, of course, I realized that like me, the other Black men I work with are highly capable, intelligent, and competent, and it would be unfair for me to presume any of us didn’t deserve to be standing where we were. But this is one of the many fundamental problems with DEI: It creates paranoia even among the people who theoretically benefit the most from it.

I know that DEI is not about equality because equal hiring practices and treatment in the workplace are already part of the law, and there would be ramifications for violating them. As a matter of fact, DEI praxis actually violates the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) regulations, which stipulate that “your employer cannot make job decisions because of your race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity) national origin, disability, or genetic information.”

DEI does not act as a repetitive entity that competes with Human Resources in many corporations; it instead supersedes Human Resources’ employer-to-employee relationship with a stronger ideological position and purpose dedicated to manipulating outcomes and interactions.

I am a self-respecting Black American man, and I would never want to be treated differently because of something I didn’t earn, like having more melanin in my skin than someone else. To me, DEI in corporate America was implemented in the hopes of limiting liability against claims of discrimination, to massage the egos of faux-guilt-riddled white Leftist savior types in leadership, and to give the perception that ruthless capitalists can also be socially conscious.

It was created for everyone but the people it directly impacts and now we are unfairly blamed as a group when there are white people being discriminated against for opportunities and advancement.

I don’t need artificial opportunities: I just want equal treatment.

Adam B. Coleman is an author, and founder of Wrong Speak Publishing. Find his writing at Adambcoleman.substack.com.

All views expressed in this article are the author’s own.