by Dean Briggs

Editor’s Note: This is the second in our series on DEI. Part One is a deeply personal interview with a DEI professional. Part Two provides background on DEI: its history and importance. Part Three is an interview with a DEI professional in higher education, doing the vital work of lifting up marginalized students and helping create a community around them. Part Four is also an interview with a DEI professional in higher education. He helps a group of marginalized students who feel unsafe or need a family — while developing his own family and supportive community.

What is DEI?

“She’s a DEI hire.” 

DEI has been the target of a concerted campaign since the first Trump administration, when the president rescinded numerous executive orders supporting DEI and inflamed racial tensions among Americans. Since then, it’s become an epithet used by MAGA adherents against individuals and categories of people they don’t like — often women in leadership and people of color. 

But what does “DEI” mean?

Diversity, equity and inclusion are values and organizing principles promoting fair treatment and full participation of all individuals, particularly in employment, with particular attention on groups that have historically been denied those opportunities, such as African Americans. DEI includes other ethnic groups, people with disabilities, women, veterans and the LGBTQ+ community. DEI efforts focus on creating a diverse workforce, ensuring fairness in opportunities, and fostering an inclusive environment where everyone feels valued and respected. My former employer’s tagline was “DEI includes everybody.”

Diversity means a variety of people, varying by race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, age, culture, class, veteran status or religion — like America. Equity means fairness and justice, such as equal pay for equal work and opening opportunities to groups that have been disadvantaged. Inclusion means creating an organizational culture where people feel heard and included.

DEI’s roots

Some trace the earliest DEI efforts to hiring veterans in the 1860s after the Civil War, but the modern movement surrounds executive orders and legislation from the civil rights era of the 1960s, setting up the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and prohibiting “discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or age in hiring, promoting, firing, setting wages, testing, training, apprenticeship, and all other terms and conditions of employment.” DEI coverage progressed through successive decades and into the first Trump administration, focusing on people with disabilities, including veterans. 

“The business case for DEI”

DEI efforts in private industry grew slowly over the last 60 years, then spiked sharply in 2020 after George Floyd’s murder. The movement became known as “the business case for DEI.” Notably, Forbes magazine listed the following reasons DEI was good for business:

1. Build stronger teams
2. Foster collaboration
3. Leverage the best talents
4. Ensure the production of new ideas
5. Create a welcoming environment
6. Make employees feel valued
7. Perform well and achieve success
8. Increase retention
9. Make critical decisions
10. Increase business development
11. Build trust among employees
12. Avoid stymied progress
13. Engage with customers
14. Enhance productivity
15. Attract top talent

With DEI under fire, some businesses show courage; others…don’t.

Some American businesses agree. Many high profile firms have retained their DEI programs despite a blizzard of presidential executive orders and anti-DEI legislation during the current administration. Studies show corporate boards and stockholders voting overwhelmingly to retain their DEI programs. A report by Timothy Smith of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility noted that “Disney, Costco, Visa, Apple, Deere, Boeing, Goldman Sachs, Levi’s, AMEX, Coca-Cola, Berkshire Hathaway, Bristol Myers, and Gilead Science saw near-unanimous votes” by shareholders supporting DEI.

But many more firms are shrinking from taking a stand, with 68% changing their wording to avoid trigger terms or hiding DEI in their infrastructure while removing references to it from public statements and reports. 

Other firms have abandoned DEI, notably Meta, Target, BlackRock and Paramount, but not without consequences. A boycott of Target by the Black, Latino, LGBTQ+ and progressive communities has led to a loss of $12.4 billion in market valuation, a drop in stock price of $27.27/share, and a 1.8% to 2.4% decline in revenue since February 2025. One survey found 20% of firms had eliminated their DEI programs post-election, and 56% of those firms reported decreases in their hiring of underrepresented groups.

The war for racial equality and the battle against DEI

President Trump is now the loudest voice against DEI, calling such efforts “immoral discrimination programs“ in an executive order that dismantled DEI in the federal government and at federal vendors while putting pressure on private industry to do the same. 

But DEI has long faced opposition from right wing pressure groups opposed to putting disadvantaged people on a level playing field with White males. 

After the Civil War, White men were concerned that Black men would disadvantage them by gaining access to housing and employment. The term “white backlash” described resistance to racial equality — an issue in every era when Black people were gaining rights, including the 1960s during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, which promoted affirmative action, created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and enacted the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 

White backlash re-entered the White House under Ronald Reagan, who championed the phrase “reverse discrimination.” The message resonated with blue collar and poorly educated White men, becoming a mainstay of the Republican playbook. Reagan’s Justice Department tried to roll back affirmative action, but the Supreme Court ruled against those efforts.

Despite Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009, Americans polled felt that race relations worsened, during his tenure, spurred in part by a racially motivated mass shooting at a Black church. Black Lives Matter formed soon after — a racial justice movement that grew following the police and vigilante killings of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Rekia Boyd. At the same time, hate crimes against Black people and institutions spiked thanks to the rise of white supremacist groups; and the “birtherist” conspiracy questioning Obama’s citizenship further encouraged those racist elements.

Trump sensed, stoked, and exploits White backlash.

In his first campaign, Trump immediately played the race card, calling Mexican immigrants rapists and appealing to nativism and racism. As national opinion on the state of race relations trended downward, Trump beat Hillary Clinton in the Electoral College. His first term continued to fuel racial hatred, and an exhausted nation sought a return to normality, electing Joe Biden in 2020.

Biden continued Obama’s social policies, signing Executive Order 13985 to address racial inequities and assist underserved communities through federal agencies. Promising lower prices, a booming economy and fewer immigrants, Trump’s multiethnic working class coalition returned him to office in 2025.

Trump 2.0’s executive order immediately following his inauguration canceled many prior executive orders that sought to improve life for all Americans by promoting equity, combating discrimination, and protecting workers’ health.

Meanwhile, Republican-dominated state legislatures have filed at least 440 bills attacking DEI across 42 states since 2023. These laws restrict DEI offices and staff, ban diversity statements and training, and forbid using race or other protected characteristics in admissions or employment decisions. These bills target government agencies, public education, higher education and private industry. Obeying in advance, many other institutions have scrambled to drop or camouflage their DEI efforts to avoid scrutiny.

What can defenders of DEI do?

This is a multifront war, and it’s about much more than employment. For some people, such as trans children, it’s about whether they are entitled to exist. And if you’ve read Project 2025, you know they are coming for you.

Targeted groups need allies, and there is much you can do. First, educate yourself. Here’s Boston Indivisible’s resource page on racial justice. You can join IMC’s Racial Justice and Equity Team or our LGBTQ+ group; both have channels on our Slack. Next, pick something to work on and stay focused; don’t spread yourself too thin. Look for projects that prioritize action over merely talking. 

Here’s a list of web pages discussing the history, issues and common misconceptions surrounding DEI, and here’s how to respond when talking with people about DEI.

If you’re White, use your privilege to speak up on behalf of people who can’t. This is everyone’s fight.

Dean Briggs is a member of the Communication Team at IMC and of Indivisible Boros and Beyond.