'Acting Like We Live In A Colorblind Society': Dem Lawmaker Slams Colleagues' Opposition To DEI

5 months ago

During a House Oversight Committee hearing Thursday, Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) spoke about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies.

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Transcript

00:00Thank you, Mr. Chair.

00:03Just to pick up where my colleague from Florida

00:08left off when he ended, it's not just

00:11that we have colleagues here in this committee who

00:13are making the claim that too many black folks are getting

00:17jobs, but indeed, it feels like the entire premise

00:20of the cultural war that we are seeing against diversity,

00:23that we're seeing against equitable practices that might

00:25possibly level the playing field, right?

00:28That there are too many black folks who are getting jobs.

00:31There are too many black folks who are getting degrees.

00:33There are too many black folks who

00:34are getting opportunities that were not historically

00:38for them.

00:41To just level and remind people why we're here,

00:44the reason DEIA policies were even created

00:48was to right existing wrongs.

00:51The reality is that we have some members of this committee who

00:54were alive during Jim Crow.

00:56They experienced segregation firsthand.

00:59Yet now, they're acting like we are suddenly

01:02in a colorblind society, that we don't

01:05need to codify protections, or that the only victims here

01:08are wealthy, or the white, or the privileged.

01:11How easily we forget.

01:14But we know, statistically, that they're not

01:17the ones whose communities have been intentionally polluted

01:19or targeted by police or the war on drugs.

01:22Their neighborhoods have not been redlined.

01:24Their schools have not been decimated

01:26by racist, inequitable funding schemes

01:28that commonwealths like Pennsylvania, my own,

01:30are finally recognizing as harmful and attempting to fix.

01:35We forget the reason HBCUs and other minority serving

01:38institutions exist is because we weren't

01:40accepted into predominantly white institutions.

01:43They are not targeted by how they look, or how they dress,

01:47or how their hair grows.

01:48Truthfully, we recognize that this crusade

01:50has been going on since, indeed, the passage

01:53of the 14th Amendment, if not earlier.

01:55Every time black folks, or brown folks, or women,

01:57or queer folks, or the disabled are

01:59able to achieve some semblance of equity,

02:01we continue to be demonized, or face ad hominem attacks.

02:05So we didn't earn our spot, or we don't belong here,

02:09to ensure that they can continue to concentrate wealth

02:12and power with the few.

02:15Ms. Wiley, in your opening statement,

02:17you said that this kind of weaponization of civil rights

02:19law is nothing new.

02:20Could you please elaborate on that?

02:24Well, sadly, and one of the reasons

02:26we have disparate impact recognized

02:29by the Supreme Court of the United States

02:32is because every single time we have made advancements

02:37in civil rights laws, what we have seen

02:40is active efforts to skirt them, as well as not paying attention

02:49to whether or not someone is qualified for the job

02:54that you're hiring.

02:55So again, sadly, at every turn, we

03:01have been having to fight to protect the gains,

03:04even as we can quantify how much it has benefited

03:10every single one in society.

03:12And I just, because we're talking a lot about race,

03:15and I don't want to lose gender in this,

03:16going back to police departments.

03:19We made real progress, as I said,

03:22not just with getting women on the police forces,

03:25but that improving the opportunity for white men

03:28who are being excluded because of things

03:31that didn't have anything to do with a job like height.

03:34But it stalled about 20 years ago at 12% women.

03:38And even Police Chief Magazine recently

03:42has been raising the alarm bell that police departments are

03:47utilizing measures of, say, upper body strength that

03:52are not necessary to qualify to be a police

03:55officer that may be keeping women off the force.

03:59But if we see a stagnation in progress that

04:02doesn't have to do with the qualifications for the job that

04:06is telling us there's a barrier that we, as a society,

04:11should want to remove, and whether it's voting rights,

04:15whether it's employment, whether it's education

04:18or public accommodations, every single time we say,

04:21let's pay attention to the people who are excluded,

04:24a lot more people of every race, of every background,

04:28get more opportunity.

04:30And that, that is what we should all be for.

04:33We're going to leave it right there.

04:36That is my time.

04:36I yield back.

04:37Chair recognizes Mr. Grofman from Wisconsin.

'Acting Like We Live In A Colorblind Society': Dem Lawmaker Slams Colleagues' Opposition To DEI

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