Sarah Green Carmichael

Something ugly is unfolding in the anti-DEI movement. More and more governors across the US have banned diversity, equity, and inclusion from schools and other places serving the public places and using it as a bogeyman to justify government censorship in the classroom. High-profile critics such as billionaire hedge fund investor Bill Ackman and entrepreneur Elon Musk have called DEI “racist and illegal” and “immoral.”

Those on the political right who attack DEI have come up with their own version of the acronym: “Didn’t Earn It.” It’s the encapsulation of a false narrative that has long plagued diversity efforts — a narrative that people from underrepresented groups are generally unqualified, and that to get ahead, they require a thumb on the scale.

For a particularly egregious example, we can — of course — turn to X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter and currently owned by Musk. After a Baltimore bridge collapsed in horrific fashion early Tuesday morning, a user with more than 275,000 followers posted a video of Mayor Brandon Scott thanking first responders and calling for prayers for the families who lost loved ones. “This is Baltimore’s DEI mayor commenting on the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge,” the user wrote. And then, chillingly, added: “It’s going to get so, so much worse. Prepare accordingly.”

In case you’re utterly confused, let me spell it out for you: Scott is Black. The clear implication is that Scott, by virtue of his Blackness, is unqualified for his job. DEI opponents argue that they’re not so much anti-diversity as pro-meritocracy. The not-so-subtle implication — increasingly said out loud — is that women and minorities just aren’t qualified. Diversity, the “anti-woke” crowd claims, results in lowering standards for the sake of equality.

It’s simply not true, and Scott is a perfect example. He is a former City Council president (a role to which he was unanimously elected by his colleagues) and before that chaired the National League of Cities’ Large Cities Council. His stint on the city council started in 2011. In 2020, he beat out more than 20 other Democrats to clinch the party’s nomination for mayor. In the general election, he won some 70% of the vote. He earned it.

What is motivating the DEI backlash is so apparent it almost feels foolish to point out. But we do ourselves no favors if we can’t say the obvious: Racism is the force behind it.

Of course, critics of DEI say they’re not racist. They say they believe in merit. They say they object to DEI exercises like diversity statements – sometimes used in hiring processes — because they are political or unrelated to the job. However, a recent paper in the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology kicks the legs out from underneath that second assertion. The paper’s title cuts to the conclusion: “Racism underlies seemingly race-neutral conservative criticisms of DEI statements among Black and White people in the United States.”

The researchers evaluated how participants in their study reacted to a request for a diversity statement versus different kinds of statements — a politically neutral statement on teamwork or a politically conservative statement modeled on Hobby Lobby’s mission statement. Only the DEI statement generated any backlash, and the backlash was greater among both conservatives and people who were more likely to agree with statements such as “Over the past few years, Blacks have gotten more economically than they deserve” and “Blacks are responsible for creating much of the racial tension that exists in the United States.” (In case it’s not obvious, these are racist beliefs.)

But we’d be remiss if we said the problem was only on the right. Many liberals and progressives believe a softer but no less pernicious version along the lines of “Well, I agree we need diversity, but it’s just a really bad time to be a White guy.” Or “Look, it’s obviously just easier to get ahead right now if you fit a certain profile.”

To that, I say just look at the numbers. In academic experiments of identical resumes, where researchers changed only the applicant’s race or gender, White men are far more likely to get callbacks than equally qualified women or people of color. For example, in a 2019 study published in the American Economic Review, female or minority job applicants had to have a 4.0 grade point average – a flawless score – to get the same level of interest as a White man with a 3.75 GPA. The study found no evidence that women or minority candidates had any advantage over White men.

A bad time to be a white guy? White and Asian families have vastly more wealth than Black or Hispanic families. White households’ median wealth is $287,000, more than six times greater than Black households at just under $45,000. Black men have higher unemployment rates than white men of the same educational attainment. During recessions, Black college graduates are disproportionately likely to lose their jobs. White men, on the other hand, are disproportionately likely to climb the career ladder; they account for 35% of entry-level employees, but 57% of senior management roles.

If White men today aren’t finding it as easy to get ahead as their fathers or grandfathers did, they’re not alone. Competition for all sorts of scarce resources is fiercer. To take a random example, Harvard University’s acceptance rate in 1988 was 14.6%; it’s now just 3%. This makes it harder for almost everyone — White men included! — to get in. Some elite employers boast of 1% acceptance rates. The average unemployed person sends out 30 resumes and gets only four responses. This isn’t because of DEI departments.

It’s not that DEI programs are perfect or without flaws. I’ve been critical of them in the past. Too many have been little more than window-dressing by companies hoping to get points for trying. Their real goal seems not to be a more meritocratic playing field but protecting the company from discrimination lawsuits. Too many have focused on meaningless tick-box exercises and anti-bias trainings that were sometimes ineffective, sometimes counterproductive.

We can have a real conversation about what DEI departments should do to improve. But let’s not lie to ourselves. The vicious attacks against DEI are not being made in good faith. They’re based in racism.

Sarah Green Carmichael is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist and editor. Previously, she was an executive editor at Harvard Business Review.