01 Aug What do the key rulings from the Supreme Court mean for the DEI field?

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As the nation finished celebrating its 247th birthday this past Fourth of July, the most recent Supreme Court rulings and the lasting impact they will have on those working to create more diverse, equitable, and inclusive environments are still unknown. However, to those in the DEI field already working to disrupt past practices of discrimination, our work will continue to persist. These decisions serve as a timely reminder that the work of advancing diverse and inclusive spaces is a marathon and not a sprint.

As we work to support forward momentum in the face of challenges, here are three things to consider around how the most recent Supreme Court rulings might make their way into corporate America and how you can ensure that doesn’t impact efforts to create robust and thriving DEI initiatives within your organization.

1. RECOGNIZE THE GREAT STRIDES MADE BY AFFIRAMATIVE ACTION FOR UNDERREPRESENTED GROUPS

Critics of Affirmative Action have long continued the misperception that it is a process for unqualified people to get into jobs and positions, or in the most recent Supreme Court ruling, universities. However, Affirmative Action, as it was originally designed, supports qualified applicants “who otherwise would have been overlooked because that they don’t have the same advantages of privileged white America” says Elmer Dixon, President of Executive Diversity Services. EDS has always advocated to our clients that when hiring, promoting, and managing people who are different that they consider asking “Does the difference make a difference?” If a person’s style, approach, or culture does not interfere with cost, safety, legality, or productivity, then those are differences that should be included. If organizations, companies, and universities did this in the first place, there would be no need for Affirmative Action programs. The reality is that when hiring, promoting, or giving access to a university, everyone is compared to the dominant US white cultural norm, negating everything and everyone else. It’s far past time to shift the paradigm and recognize the value in differences.

While removing race as a factor in admissions at a university, perhaps that court should also consider looking at additional systems that incorporate race but favor the dominant culture such as using data points like test scores that historically have had a negative impact on underrepresented groups like Black, Latinx, and female applicants. Eliminating other programs that use criteria beyond academic excellence, such as legacy preferences, also must be questioned. This deep review may ultimately bring new opportunities to support a more diverse population of graduates moving forward. For example, when Johns Hopkins University eliminated legacy preferences in 2014, the percentage of first-generation students increased by approximately 10 percent.  

Research shows that Affirmative Action in the workplace and universities has allowed for more women and historically underrepresented racial groups- particularly Black and Indigenous to increase over the past three decades. Additionally, prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion within organizations benefits both the company and the employee experience exponentially from increasing the ability to hit financial goals to more folks feeling safe, seen, and secure to grow with an organization.

2. REMOVE OBSTACLES FOR RECRUITING AND RETAINING FOLKS FROM UNDERREPRESENTED GROUPS

According to USA Today, in the majority of the corporate world, white men still hold the majority of leadership positions. According to a New York Times study of the 922 most powerful people in the United States, just 180 identify as Black, Indigenous, or a Person of Color in positions ranging from government elected officials and commanders of police forces to people who head universities. And, while people who identify as white make up 59.3 percent of the US population, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 77 percent of the U.S. workforce is made up of white people. That’s compared to 78 percent in 2016 which means that Affirmative Action and DEI initiatives appear to have made minimal progress at best over the past decades in making space for underrepresented groups. Obviously, there is a lot of work yet to be done. 

A review of the business case for diversity and inclusion states several reasons why having diverse employees and being inclusive of them make an organization more effective and more competitive. As companies and organizations seek to hire diverse candidates, they will need to step outside of their normal strategies of hiring from only top-tier universities and ivy league schools and take a broader look at many other schools including historically Black and Latino universities. “It will fall to companies and recruiters to first look more broadly at graduates coming from varied educational backgrounds who may have the skills and ability to do the work” adds Pauline Kim, an employment law expert at the Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. 

Competent, corporate leaders need to resist the urge to pull back on their DEI initiatives as a result of these rulings, and instead ensure that there are strong, sustainable, and adaptive DEI initiatives in place.

3. CONTINUE TO ADDRESS WORKPLACE INEQUITIES

The work of DEI initiatives in companies and organizations aims to offer a counter-narrative to the idea that all employees are the same and have the same opportunities and lived experiences. And, recent efforts to minimize and deprioritize DEI programs and by extension deeming important factors such as race as “irrelevant in law does not make it so in life,” noted the Honorable Justice Jackson in her dissenting opinion. For example, in addition to eliminating Affirmative Action in higher education institutions, striking down the loan forgiveness program will continue to perpetuate an income inequality gap for Black and Brown employees who, according to the US Department of Labor, are still earning less than their white counterparts. Without DEI initiatives working to promote workplace environments that have protocols and systems in place to address bias, unconscious or otherwise, or acts of discrimination that take place, addressing those challenges is much more difficult. Not talking about the issues at hand does not make them go away, it only makes it harder to create a sustainable, positive, inclusive workplace for employees.

THE WAY FORWARD…

With the recent Supreme Court rulings, the landscape for navigating work as DEI professionals and the external forces that could have an impact on how to create workplaces that are free of discrimination is that much more urgent. As the systems that govern much of the corporate world did not have people from marginalized communities in mind when they were created (Black or Brown people, women, neurodivergent, etc.), DEI professionals are tasked with finding ways, both big and small, to infuse more inclusive and equitable ways of thinking, knowing, and being into company culture. And while there is the temptation for DEI agitators to lose heart, the fight for equity and inclusivity can and must continue.

 

Praise for DIE STANDING: From Black Panther Revolutionary to Global Diversity Consultant!

If you haven’t yet had the opportunity, make sure to order a copy of Elmer Dixon’s powerful memoir DIE STANDING: From Black Panther Revolutionary to Global Diversity Consultant and check out what others have been saying about Elmer and his story. 

Check out these other opportunities to see what folks are saying about Elmer and his continued work. 

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