By Marco Cerino Tribune Staff Writer
Reprinted – by Texas Metro News
https://www.phillytrib.com
It seemed that almost immediately after Vice President Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee for president, Republicans came out with a variety of attacks against her.
The one that is drawing the most attention in the Black community is referring to Harris as the “DEI hire” or “DEI candidate.”
Harris is looking to make history as the first woman of color to hold the nation’s highest office. While many of her supporters see her experience as a Black and South Asian woman as an opportunity to open new doors and rectify old failings by the government, detractors believe she has only been handed this opportunity because of her racial background, not the acumen of her work.
The DEI, or diversity, equity and inclusion, movement has seen setbacks in the past few years. Many firms, educational institutions and other entities seeking to do more for historically underprivileged groups have faced backlash over these policies and efforts. The Supreme Court struck down affirmative action practices last year for college admissions policies.
“This is part of the racist playbook,” said Molefi Kete Asante, professor and chair of the Department of African American Studies at Temple University. “It only plays to people who think an African American or Latino candidate isn’t qualified.”
The attack has been widespread from party members and supporters in the media.
“I mean intellectually, she’s just really kind of the bottom of the barrel,” said Republican Rep. Harriett Hageman of Wyoming, as reported by NBC News. “I think that she was a DEI hire.”
And CNN reported that Fox News host Jesse Watters declared last month that “the only reason she is in the White House is because of the DEI deal Biden cut with Bernie [Sanders] to seal the nomination.”
To Howard Stevenson, professor of Africana studies and director of the Racial Empowerment Collaborative at the University of Pennsylvania, the acronym has a reverberating effect on society.
“The role of DEI is to inform people of how these narratives have distorted our thinking so much that sometimes we don’t question if white people are qualified for these experiences,” he said. “We know now that businesses are better, more productive, more financially sound when diversity is part of their hiring but also when it enters into their policies. That can be true not only in business, but in education, in health and in justice.”
What frustrates so many is that those accusations undermine Harris’ impressive background of work, all of which has been in public service. The vice president rose through the district attorney’s office in San Francisco, won election as attorney general of California, then became a senator. Harris has been part of one of the most diverse cabinets in American history, while Trump featured only one Black member in his top advisory team during his term.
A Tribune analysis revealed a stark contrast in the makeup of Trump’s and President Joe Biden’s administrations.
As originally reported by The Tribune in July, the appointment of Gen. Charles Q. Brown to head the Joint Chiefs of Staff made him the ninth Black person in a high-ranking position under Biden, including Cabinet secretaries and those in Cabinet-level roles like United Nations ambassador, director of national intelligence and trade adviser.
And despite having 62 different names in appointed or acting roles, Trump only included one Black person in his administration at that level — Dr. Ben Carson served as secretary of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD.
“The characterization of Black jobs by Donald Trump, who only had one Black person in his Cabinet, is not only demeaning to the African-American community but a concerning issue from the perspective of the NAACP,” said NAACP Philadelphia Branch President Cathy Hicks in the analysis last month. “It is important to recognize that African Americans hold positions in every job industry and contribute significantly to the American workforce. Stereotyping and generalizing job roles based on race is not only inaccurate but also perpetuates harmful biases towards the African-American community.”
Historically, it has been a challenge to get Black faces and voices into Cabinet roles.
President Lyndon Johnson was the first to appoint a Black person to his Cabinet, naming Robert Weaver to lead HUD in 1966. Of the 25 Black Cabinet appointees in history, 18 have been under Democratic presidents, while seven have been selected by Republicans, including four under President George W. Bush.
The Clinton administration had the most African-American Cabinet secretaries with seven overall, including four appointed when taking office in January 1993. The Obama administration had four Black Cabinet members at once. Vice President Kamala Harris is the highest ranking Black Cabinet member ever.
Last month Trump questioned Harris’ race at the annual gathering of the National Association of Black Journalists in Chicago.
“I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black and now she wants to be known as Black,” Trump said. “So, I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?”
But those comments by the former president and the GOP’s usage of the DEI acronym seem to be backfiring as Harris has pulled ahead in the polls. Data released by the New York Times and Siena College show she has a four-point lead in the battleground states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Steven Scott Bradley, president emeritus of the African American Chamber of Commerce of PA, NJ and DE, said the Harris campaign represents forward thinking and shifting away from old prejudices that have held the country back. He likes that Harris has embraced her diversity.
“She’s confident and proud of her heritage,” Bradley said of the vice president. “I think that’s part of her momentum. She’s not running from it but running to it.”
So far Harris has ignored most of Trump’s insults, including this one. Asante believes that is the correct path.
“Ignore it and go forward,” he said when asked how he would advise Harris on the accusation. “There’s no reason to play defense for that. This is part of the dumbing down of the American electorate that Trump has done since 2016.”
Harris will formally accept the nomination next week at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. She and Trump will meet on the debate stage at least twice in September.
