Diversity initiatives are just as discriminatory
When specific diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives become an excuse for racism they need to be eliminated. There is no “right” kind of racism or “positive discrimination.”
Despite great strides in eliminating racism, it continues and we must continue our efforts, but more racism is not the answer. Misguided initiatives like positionality statements, DEI statements and citation justice are simply new excuses for continuing the pernicious practice of judging individuals by the color of their skin or their gender rather than by the content of their character.
We must persue the important goals of DEI by judging each individual’s contribution independent of their race, gender, relative privilege or “experiences of oppression.” In some cases, personal characteristics may help to produce quality work, but the only way to know that is to judge the work itself independent of its creator.
A positionality statement, which lists an author’s/creator’s personal characteristics such as race or gender, is not relevant to judging the quality of the work created. The premise of these statements is ridiculous, like suggesting that only white people can appreciate Beethoven or only Black people can appreciate Miles Davis. We know better.
The personal characteristics of the people who figured out how to use x-rays, CT scans or MRIs is not relevant; they work for everyone and that is what matters. Likewise, a drug developed by a Hispanic scientist works for people of all races. An African American writer could write an excellent biography of Warren Buffet or Bill Gates regardless of the fact that they are not of the same race. This is precisely because race in not a relevant basis upon which to draw conclusions about individuals or the quality of the work they produce.
Citation justice propounds the wrongheaded idea that the personal characteristics of the scholars one cites in one’s own scholarly work is somehow relevant to the legitimacy of the scholarship.
Personally, I do not know, do not care and would have no way of knowing the race, gender, etc. of the authors of the scholarly work that I cite in my own scholarly writing. I am concerned with the quality of the work and not with who wrote it. Thankfully, so far at least, seeking citation justice is not a common practice in legal scholarship. However, many prominent science journals now recommend that authors run their papers through software programs that detect citation bias.
Scholars, of all people, should know better. In 1633, it may have been Catholics’ lived experience — based on faith — that Earth was the center of the solar system, but that did not make it so. Truth does not work like that — it is not dependent on the author or researcher. In fact, for something to be true, it must hold for all cases. The sun is the center of the solar system for all, not just for non-Catholics.
Suggesting that truth is less than objective and depends on one’s race or gender is simply incorrect and dangerous. Perpetuating this idea, especially in the academy, does harm to students and indeed calls into question the very validity and value of education conducted in such an irresponsible manner.
DEI statements ask job candidates to demonstrate their
commitment to DEI. This may be fine depending on how it is applied. But when a response such as “I strive to treat every person equally” is an excuse for not hiring the responder because it indicates an unwillingness to engage in the “right” kind of discrimination to further DEI, then these statements have become a means of encouraging racism not eliminating it.
Recently, at the University of California, Berkeley, three-quarters of applicants for faculty positions in the life sciences were eliminated on the basis of these statements alone, according to an opinion piece in The New York Times.
When I read headlines such
as “She Wants to Rewrite the Story of Art, Without Men,” in the Times or, in the opinion piece, that a professor of nematology at Michigan State University heard a colleague say, “We need to get rid of white men in academia,” it makes it clear that DEI has become “the new boss, same as the old boss”. Racism and discrimination by any other name are equally as bad and, thankfully, equally illegal.