DEI isn’t “racist against white people”; it’s a set of tools to correct systems that were never race‑neutral.

heathcurry74
Jul 22
3 min read

“Meritocracy” was engineered on unequal ground

From the New Deal to housing finance, federal policy hard‑wired racial advantage. The Social Security Act initially excluded domestic and agricultural workers—jobs overwhelmingly held by Black and Mexican workers—leaving about 65% of Black workers without benefits. NAACP The Federal Housing Administration’s underwriting manual explicitly warned against “incompatible racial groups,” institutionalizing redlining and blocking non‑white families from the primary wealth engine of the 20th century—homeownership. Bill of Rights Institute Federal Reserve Bank of Chicagodsl.richmond.edu

Classic labor-market experiments show the bias persists: resumes with “white‑sounding” names get 50% more callbacks than identical resumes with Black names. American Economic Association NBER Asian American professionals are the least likely group to be promoted into management, despite high representation in talent pipelines—proof that “merit” alone doesn’t explain outcomes. Harvard Business Impact Harvard Business Review

Bottom line: If the rules, networks, and filters are biased, “merit-only” selections will skew white, whether or not anyone says the word “race.”

2. Mexicans & Mexican Americans: From mass expulsion to courtroom exclusion

Mexican Repatriation (1929–1936): Up to 2 million people of Mexican ancestry—around 1.2 million U.S.-born citizens—were coerced or forced to Mexico during the Depression. Immigration History HISTORY USCIS
Operation Wetback (1954): INS “roundups” deported hundreds of thousands; officials claimed 1 million removals, and even U.S. citizens were swept up. Immigration History HISTORY
School & jury segregation: Mendez v. Westminster (1947) struck down Orange County’s segregation of Mexican American children, finding it harmed their education and psyche—years before Brown. United States Courts Federal Bar Association Zinn Education Project Hernandez v. Texas (1954) proved Mexican Americans were excluded from juries (none had served in 25 years in that county), violating equal protection. Research Guides Oyez Texas State Historical Association
Labor exploitation: The Bracero Program (1942–1964) institutionalized low wages and abuse for Mexican workers; its end exposed how vital—and undervalued—their labor was. aijcrnet.com JSTOR The Washington Post MySA CUNY Academic Works

Takeaway: When policy and practice target a group for removal, segregation, or cheap labor, outcomes aren’t “merit-based.” DEI counters that legacy.

3. Asian Americans: Banned, dispossessed, and still hitting ceilings

Chinese Exclusion Act (1882): The first U.S. law to ban immigration by nationality, suspending Chinese laborers and shaping a century of racially restrictive immigration policy. Office of the Historian The Library of Congress Gilder Lehrman Institute
Japanese American incarceration (EO 9066): In 1942, 120,000 Japanese Americans (two‑thirds citizens) were imprisoned, losing an estimated $400 million in property; decades later, Congress paid limited reparations. fdrlibrary.org National WWII Museum The New Yorker
Contemporary “bamboo ceiling”: Despite high educational attainment, Asian Americans remain under-promoted relative to every other racial group. Harvard Business Impact Harvard Business Review

Takeaway: Exclusion and dispossession aren’t ancient history; they cast long shadows. DEI addresses the structural barriers that “merit” alone can’t breach.

4. Black Americans: From legal exclusion to ongoing discrimination

Social Security & New Deal carve-outs: Agricultural and domestic workers—largely Black—were deliberately excluded from early Social Security and labor protections. NAACPNAACP SOAR Works Urban Institute
Redlining & wealth loss: HOLC/FHA grading and private redlining denied mortgages, segregated neighborhoods, and entrenched the racial wealth gap that persists. NCRC Investopedia Bill of Rights Institute
GI Bill discrimination: Black WWII veterans faced systemic barriers to college admission and VA loans, costing them massive intergenerational wealth (estimates of ~$170,000 lost per veteran). PMC Georgetown Law
Hiring bias today: The resume callback study proves discrimination is current, not historical trivia. American Economic Association NBER

Takeaway: If Black candidates start with less inherited wealth, lower-resourced schools, and biased hiring filters, “neutral” selection just bakes in the past. DEI is the tool to unbake it.

5. Why DEI isn’t “reverse racism”

Focus on barriers, not quotas: Modern DEI emphasizes fair processes—job analyses, bias interrupters, accessible materials, equity audits—not automatic preferences.
Risk management & compliance: Equity policies reduce lawsuits, regulatory violations, and PR crises. They are as “neutral” as cybersecurity or OSHA training—protecting everyone by addressing known risks. Investopedia
Better outcomes for all: Inclusive teams innovate more and serve diverse clients better—benefiting white employees and customers too. (This is widely documented in management research; your own retention and satisfaction data can prove it.) Harvard Business Review Harvard Business Impact

6. The real question isn’t “DEI or merit.” It’s “Biased merit or fair merit?”

Without DEI: The default systems continue to privilege those historically included.
With DEI: You alter the inputs (who gets to apply, how you evaluate, who sits on interview panels, what “qualified” really means) so that actual talent can surface.

DEI is not punishment. It’s calibration.