One of the things that has surprised me the most in a flurry of shocking (and some not so shocking) recent developments has been the severity of the vitriolic attacks on “DEI” throughout the new administration. It struck me as far more than a simple policy disagreement, and it was hard to understand just what these people found so troubling about efforts to address and encourage Diversity, Equality and Inclusion. Don’t get me wrong, I fully understand how some elements of that push went too far, as causes tend to do, but nothing I have experienced could explain to me why these people are so hell-bent against the concept.
Then two things became quite clear:
The far right has latched on to criticism of DEI as a socially acceptable shorthand for racial epithets. Yeah, I knew that this was part of the equation prior to now, but seeing the vehemence with which every agency is going after all things DEI, even outside of the government, has really struck this point home.
To illustrate this point, one needs only to review the initial reactions to Kamala Harris stepping into the role of the Democratic candidate for President upon Joe Biden’s withdrawal. The right-wing media was flooded with claims that she was a “DEI Hire”. Hell, she was a trifecta, Black, Asian and Woman. The barely hidden racism and misogyny of the term permeated the race, and the speed and force with which the concept of DEI was attacked upon the inauguration is pretty telling.
The nadir of this mindset, to this point, was how Trump immediately and unequivocally blamed DEI efforts for the tragic crash at DCA, with no basis in fact and without a shred of investigation having been performed.
There is a second aspect though, and it is far more sinister. Consider this skeet:
Read that again: all Clubs for POC at West Point have not only been immediately disbanded, but they are also being erased. Re-read point #4 at the bottom of page 1:
All clubs listed in paragraph 3 of this memorandum are directed to permanently cease all activities on club External Official Presences (EOPs) and will unpublish, deactivate, archive or otherwise remove all public facing content.
(Emphais added)
Translation: remove any websites, Facebook groups, Discord servers, etc, that your group has used. As Wellman points out, the Clubs for religious organizations were not removed. It is hard to argue with his point that this is Christian Nationalism, being perpetrated at one of our Nation’s prestigious Military Academies.
Christian Nationalism is not new, and its proponents haven’t been shy in their intentions toward reworking the United States. I realize many will criticize Mother Jones as a lefty source , but just read the actual quotes from the Inauguration.
“So President Trump, we set the name of the Lord upon you, and we declare that no weapon formed against you will prosper. That every tongue that rises up against you in judgement will be condemned. And if God be for you, who can be against you?”
We, as a people, need to realize this for what it is and prepare for it. I would love to tell you what to do, but I simply don’t know. Whatever can be done starts with identifying the problem, and that’s what I am hoping to do here. Just keep in mind that these folks are extremists. There is nothing differentiating their intensity of belief from that of the Taliban.
Despite what the evangelical extremists try to gaslight the nation into believing, this nation was equivocally not founded on “Christian Values”, whatever that even means. The First Amendment is pretty damned clear on this point, there is no national religion, and there never should be. Further, the values that are espoused by the current right-wing ruling class have about as much to do with true Christian values as I do, and I have been a lifelong atheist. Hell, I would argue that my morals are far better than theirs.
Take care, and stay strong!
I would amend that to, "you have morals and they don't."