DEI is needed to remedy America’s inequities

Opinion editor Jeff Tucker’s piece on “UNM’s DEI dogma rightfully not present on the hardwood” (March 21 Journal) claims it is hypocritical for UNM to field a merit-based basketball team with a “lack of diversity” when UNM promotes DEI off the court and in the classroom.

Yet, he references a team comprised of players and coaches who come from many states, countries, with various races and ethnicities. Mr. Tucker’s real agenda is to denigrate DEI. If cherry-picking statistics can “prove” hypocrisy and meritocracy, so, too, can it prove disenfranchisement.

Two years ago, when Ketanji Brown Jackson was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court, many asserted she was not a meritorious candidate, despite her impressive credentials.

At that time, 1,930 years of service on the bench were rendered by 115 justices — 93% white men, 4% Black men, 3% white women. For 178 years, 1789-1967, it was an exclusive white man’s club; white males represented fewer than 40% of the country yet had 100% of the appointments.

Throughout our country’s history, there has been systemic oppression which denied and still denies opportunities for many.

After four centuries of U.S. history, the median net worth for Black families is about $24,000 or about one-eighth of that for white families at $189,000.

In large part, this is because Black families have been denied opportunities to build generational wealth. If Mr. Tucker agrees with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. about history’s long arc bending toward justice, I hope he would agree we need a lot more bending in 2024 and hereafter.

MICHAEL BARON Corrales