Columnist Rev. Andrea Ayvazian: DEI is the alternative to white nationalism

By THE REV. ANDREA AYVAZIAN

Published: 03-14-2025 4:43 PM

I am a DEI professional.

I want to make that perfectly clear in case the thugs that surround Donald Trump want to find, harass, or arrest me. I have worked in the field of diversity, equity and inclusion for 40 years. The misguided, uninformed white nationalists who do Trump’s bidding and carry out his dangerous executive orders might want to censor, discredit, or try to shame me for doing good work to further cross-race dialogue, diversity advancement, and anti-racism activism.

Since 1985, DEI work has been central to my professional life. I have a Ph.D. in racial and ethnic studies and spent many, many years crisscrossing this country co-leading anti-racism seminars with Beverly Daniel Tatum, author of the best-selling book “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria,” and former president of Spelman College in Atlanta. Dr. Tatum and I led hundreds and hundreds of workshops in 32 states, lifting up the vision of an equitable society in which every person is safe and valued, and a true meritocracy can thrive.

Those pushing back against Trump’s irresponsible and vicious attempts to dismantle DEI programs nationwide are urging us to say and spell out the words whenever possible: Diversity. Equity. Inclusion. These are noble words. They are not to be shied away from. Say them again: Diversity. Equity. Inclusion.

DEI programs seek to promote in concrete ways the values that many believe should be at the core of our national identity: honor the diversity of our nation’s population; promote equity as a fundamental human right; include everyone — no exceptions — in decision-making on all levels.

We have, as a people, prided ourselves on holding those values dear — even as we have fallen short in our ability to manifest these ideals since the inception of this country. Indeed, our country has struggled for years to honor diversity, strive for equity, and practice inclusion.

The Trump administration’s attack on diversity, equity and inclusion programs in schools, universities, corporations, the military, and all government agencies is an unvarnished, overt attempt to deepen the racial divide that already exists in this country.

Trump is motivated by his consistent, unapologetic, ill-concealed desire for a nation that privileges white people, advances white people, rewards white people, and places white people in charge of all educational, military, and corporate decisions. White supremacy is Trump’s north star. And he is direct, unrepentant, and unremorseful about advancing this agenda.

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Diversity, equity and inclusion programs are not a radical idea — unless, of course, you believe that promoting fairness and justice are radical ideas. These programs seek to recruit and retain people of color, LGBTQ+ folks, people with disabilities and other members of underrepresented groups; thereby addressing ongoing biases in hiring and admission practices, and repairing the discriminatory practices that historically have excluded certain groups from employment and higher education.

You may have watched as the Department of Education recently terminated all 32 of its outstanding DEI training grants and directed state departments of education to stop all DEI-related programs in the schools in their state or lose federal funding.

We also have learned that the General Services Administration has determined that federal agencies can no longer consider a company’s DEI practices when deciding to contract with them. Likewise, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency has canceled more than 100 DEI-related contracts. These decisions have caused corporations across the country to end their DEI efforts, in fear of retribution from Trump and Elon Musk if they failed to do so.

The recent attacks on DEI are part of a long tradition of discrimination in the workplace, classroom and public square. They also can be seen as a backlash against the racial justice efforts that swept across the country in 2020 after the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor.

At that time, schools, businesses, and other organizations announced plans to incorporate anti-racism principles in their communities. In response, right-wing think tanks and lawmakers who oppose DEI initiatives began spreading fear and misinformation about these programs on social media platforms and in the mainstream news media.

Ending DEI programs will restrict access to critical resources and job opportunities for many members of marginalized communities. These are our family members, neighbors, ministers, teachers, doctors and friends.

Bringing Musk’s famous chain saw to DEI programs will directly reduce society’s ability to foster inclusive and equitable environments. Exclusion and discrimination of already marginalized groups will only increase as attacks on DEI programs continue.

Trump and his henchmen seek to dismantle anything and everything called DEI because of their racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, disregard for poor people, and low regard for women, along with their desire to make it lawful to systemically privilege white, wealthy, heterosexual, able-bodied, so-called Christian men.

We can fight back by insisting that every school, business, and institution that now has a DEI program declare that they intend to continue to support and protect those programs. We must support any institution willing to announce that it has not abandoned their commitment to DEI and will fight to protect them.

Let’s march and rally on behalf of DEI — always stressing that diversity, equity and inclusion are values that can and do make America great.

The Rev. Andrea Ayvazian, Ministerial Team, Alden Baptist Church, Springfield, is also founder and director of the Sojourner Truth School for Social Change Leadership.