I will be honest, I don’t think I will ever understand why DEI is becoming viewed as a national-level threat. In a country with a historically tense relationship with race and inequities, having programs and institutions that fight against othering marginalized people should be a monumental step in the right and equitable direction.

Yet, we see that employee resource groups and diversity training in the workplace are “no longer needed” or only do harm by creating “DEI hires.” In our limited school systems, teacher training programs have lost funding and grants because they promote “woke” ideologies and diversity initiatives. Corporations like Target are rolling back DEI policy to comply with the executive administration. Washington, D.C.’s mayor, Muriel Bowser, coincidentally plans to remove a Black Lives Matter street mural amidst the pushback.

My question is: What does this solve? Could it be that Americans just do not want to face history? Is slavery, Jim Crow, forced removal of Native Americans, lack of bodily autonomy, and the lavender scare too far back in the past for us to recognize systemic structures of discrimination?

During a joint address with Congress, Trump stated that these anti-DEI measures mean that “our country will be woke no longer.” Finally, our country can go back to suppressing its deranged history of slavery and settler colonialism. 

Speaking on this as a woman of color and a history major, diversity symbolizes a discomfort in addressing America’s systemic and generational history of atrocities. History does not only repeat itself; it enters and reenters the crucial, divisive conversations of our country. It made itself known during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, it made itself known when Roe v. Wade was repealed in 2022, and it is making itself known in this anti-DEI wave. 

I am scared for this country and for the marginalized individuals who are crushed under a tyrannical weight. I am fearful as a woman who studies women’s gender and sexuality history and sees a crackdown on grants for gender research. 

But if you are knowledgeable about history, you know DEI will not be eliminated. It will thrive under new names and acronyms, it will simmer within social circles and private societies, and it will disturb these executive powers at play. As long as people of color continue to fight to be taken seriously in positions of power, DEI programs, discussions, and gatherings will persist. 

America was founded on the fundamentals of liberty, and the truest Americans have been and will always be the protesters, insurrectionists, nonconformists, and reformers who have fought for that liberty – you bet they will make their presence known when diversity, equity, and inclusion are on the line.