March 31, 2024
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott Snaps Back At ‘Racist’ DEI Mayor Label: ‘What They Mean Is Duly Elected Incumbent’
Users pointed out that the ways that conservatives use the term DEI, shorthand for diversity equity and inclusion, are similar to the ways in which they employ racist terms like the N-word.
After Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott was criticized on Twitter/X for being a “DEI mayor” in the wake of his response to the Francis Scott Key Bridge tragedy on March 26, Black Twitter swiftly came with the jokes. Users pointed out that the ways that conservatives use the term DEI, shorthand for diversity, equity, and inclusion, are similar to how they employ racist terms like the N-word.
Scott, to his credit, seemed to play his hand masterfully in a March 27 appearance on Joy Reid’s The Reid Out program. In the case of his misguided detractors, Scott riffed that DEI meant duly elected incumbent.
Scott told Reid that those who called him a DEI mayor lacked the intestinal fortitude to call him what he knows they really want to call him, tying that to the ways that Black people, and Black men in particular, have functioned as a type of boogeyman for racists.
“We’ve been the bogeyman for them since the first day they brought us to this country, and what they mean by ‘DEI,’ in my opinion, is duly elected incumbent. I know, and we know, and you know very well, that Black men, and young Black men in particular, have been the bogeyman for those who are racist and think that only straight, wealthy white men should have a say in anything,” he said.
Scott concluded, “Because me being at my position means that their way of thinking, their way of life of being comfortable while everyone else suffers is going to be at risk, and they should be afraid because that’s my purpose in life.”
Some, like Anthony Sabatini, a Florida congressional candidate, and Utah State representative Phil Lyman tried to blame the Baltimore bridge tragedy on DEI initiatives, commentary that seems to echo Charlie Kirk’s belief that Black pilots are inferior to white ones.
Marc Morial, president of the Urban League, called those suggestions racist in a statement to Newsweek.
Morial told the outlet the suggestions “that a diverse workforce is somehow less competent than an all-white workforce is racist on its face and beneath the dignity of any self-respecting American.”
Morial continued, “The reflex to lay blame for every disaster at the feet of workers of color or simply to assume their incompetence is the most primitive expression of racial animus. The success of diversity, equity, and inclusion policies in building adept, dynamic, and innovative organizations is well documented – as the politicians who exploit tragedies like the Key Bridge collapse to provoke resentment are well aware.”
Morial’s comments are supported by the ACLU, who posted an update to their website on Feb. 14 that detailed how right-wing attacks on DEI initiatives are attacks on racial equity and freedom of speech.
The ACLU describes attempts made by Christopher Rufo and his ilk to create the perception that DEI initiatives, initiated in 2020 following the high-profile extrajudicial murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, were unnecessary.
Rufo’s attempts ultimately resulted in then-President Trump’s Executive Order 13950, which banned federal training on systemic racism and sexism. This, according to the ACLU, formed the legal bedrock of bills, which limit teaching about sexism or racism in 40 states, 20 of which are currently laws.
According to the ACLU, “DEI programs recruit and retain BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and other underrepresented faculty and students to repair decades of discriminatory policies and practices that excluded them from higher education. The far right, however, claims that DEI programs universally promote undeserving people who only advance because they check a box. Anti-DEI activists like Christopher Rufo consistently frame their attack as a strike against “identity politics,” and have weaponized the term “DEI” to reference any ideas and policies they disagree with, especially those that address systemic racism or sexism.”
RELATED CONTENT: Another One: Kansas Considers Jumping On The Bandwagon Of Banning DEI Programming At Public Universities