By Lori Lee
NDG Contributing Writer
Much work has been done to improve opportunities for American minorities over the years. The 1957 and ‘64 Civil Rights Acts protected voter, education and worker rights. Later, in 1969, the courts handed down a ruling that would end school segregation.
Later, in 2014, the Supreme Court upheld the use of race in college admissions in Fisher v. Univ. of Texas at Austin, but in 2023, a more conservative court would only overturn the ruling, effectively ending affirmative action.
The political tide has certainly turned over the last decade. As tensions brewed amidst the economic strain of the pandemic and the murder of George Floyd, divisions ran deep, CNN reported, a Trump crackdown on protestors only deepening the divide. During this time, America embraced Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) as the right thing to do, a term that would quickly become a buzzword in Corporate America.
Since then, misinformation and social division have distorted the term DEI. The political climate has, in fact, changed so much since Trump’s first term that leveling opportunities to support the historically disadvantaged are increasingly seen as means of promotion without merit.
Following decades of progress, the pendulum swung back hard, as Donald Trump on his first day issued executive orders ending federal DEI, with private sector programs soon to follow.
The sudden absence of DEI, which had benefited minority populations, women, and veterans, and the disabled, will certainly hurt business growth. This, considering over 20% of small business owners are racial minorities, Forbes reported, and more than 40% are women–this, up from 4% in 1972, according to Guidant Financial.
The attack on DEI is actually an attack on small businesses, expressed Dilawar Syed, former Deputy Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA), in a March American Community Media briefing.
“American leadership in the world, our economic might, our competitiveness, is directly tied to immigrants pursuing their entrepreneurial dreams. When you attack these programs and you try to push back on their aspirations, you’re actually pushing back on American leadership,” he said.
Syed, citing Biden Administration inclusion of DEI in the Bipartisan Infrastructure and CHIPS Acts, notes the added inclusion of minorities does not come at the expense of other segments of society. With DEI policies, the country saw a massive rise in female, Black and veteran entrepreneurs, Black women remarkably starting businesses at four times the rate of other Americans.
The new administration is now rolling back to 5% the former administration’s goal of 15% of contracts going to minorities, he added. This means hundreds and hundreds of minority, women and veteran businesses will shut down.
During this time of heightened DEI access, the country was meeting the pent-up demand for commerce in its historically disadvantaged communities, these programs offering access to SBA loans and capital through regional and community banks and serving the fastest growing segment of U.S. entrepreneurs, he said.
“I just cannot, for one understand how this is ushering in a new golden age in America, said Syed. It is actually setting us backward, not forward.”
Trump Administration cuts to SBA means the organization will no longer show up in communities of color, spreading awareness about SBA programs to help people grow small businesses and access SBA loans.
As a former tech entrepreneur turned public servant, Syed said he shares the impatience of folks who want more efficiency. “We all share that goal.”
Yet laying off 20% of the SBA workforce without ever stepping foot inside the agency will not result in efficiency, nor shutting down SBA offices in the country’s major cities. The latter will only negatively affect people needing help in urban areas, where people of color often reside.
President, CEO and founder of multicultural marketing agency BARU, Elizabeth Barrutia, said, it will now be up to individuals and the private sector to maintain a “moral compass” aligned to help small and minority owned businesses.
Our nation is becoming more diverse, but policy is negating cultural diversity, she said. Target and Walmart used to have collaborative partnerships with artisans that offered products targeted to communities of color, but these companies are now walking away from this segment-based approach. These independent entrepreneurial efforts will no longer be nurtured, she said, losing this innovation and dollars for the American economy.
American pop culture is driven by multicultural audiences, she added, and we’re already seeing a brand backlash on TikTok and Instagram.
“For brands that turn away, it’s going to boomerang, she added. If we aren’t marketing to our community culturally and linguistically, and we’re not hiring diverse employees, we’re forcing assimilation, and we are going back to sixties again,” said Barrutia.
The policies alienate diverse audiences, creating a distrust already found within these communities.
It is a problem that will only grow, she said, predicting a growing lack of commitment from the workforce, disproportionate declines in education and negative financial and health outcomes.
Hard and fast racial quotas are already a thing of the past, added Thomas Saenz, President and General Counsel of Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and there is nothing the current administration is doing that is illegal.
Yet, recalling a time when discrimination was more widespread, he said “DEI programs rose up to stop the widespread discrimination . . . ensuring people of color and women receive[d] a fair shake in competing for employment, contracts or admission.
The attack on DEI will only take us backward.”
The current political rhetoric is saying that all DEI efforts have been radical and wasteful, added former diplomat, best-selling author, and founder of Be Act Change, Dr. Esther Zeledon. This is just one of many new policies that will end in hurting the economy.
The policy puts mistrust into people who have even benefited from these programs.
Zeledon cites 2020 studies by McKinsey that show investments in DEA create financially stronger businesses, but the people have to work twice as hard and take extra steps to be considered.
DEI was helping to undo those wrongs, she said.
People of color, women, people with disabilities do not have access to the same information or opportunities, she explained. DEI just allows these people to knock on the door.
“I got in because of merit,” she explained. “I had all the merit, but it gave me the in, the knock.”
I was giving pro bono work to the pipeline, helping other students of color, giving free coaching and workshops and creating a trickle-down effect, she said, but I won’t be able to continue helping advance the pipeline.
Ending these programs also effectively makes DEI advocates fearful so that universities interested in continuing programs, which they know will benefit their students, will result in their losing federal funding.
“We need to move from a scarcity to a growth mindset,” she said.
“There is space for all of us to thrive. There’s a space for all of our businesses–all of our voices.”
