The Assault on DEI Undermines Trust and Our Democracy

When I set foot on the campus of Cornell University as a wide-eyed freshman in 2006, I stood out.?

I was born and raised in Utah and had made my way out east.

I’m a Black woman.

I’d work-worked-worked hard like that Rhianna song during high school to get to Cornell, 20 hours a week at a stressful telemarketing job, all the while applying to more than a dozen colleges on my breaks.?

That first semester, a white classmate assumed, verbally to my face, that I only got to Cornell through a “handout” as an “affirmative action” student.?

It was the first but not the last time affirmative action would be used as a slur to try to diminish my capabilities and achievements in a predominantly-white space.?

He didn’t know me or the history of what got me to college, or what affirmative action really is and what it was solving for, but in retrospect, I wish he had.?

His stereotyping of me and the misinformation he had about affirmative action policy torpedoed our chances of building trust with one another. I was disinterested in learning more about him and made my own assumptions about who he was based on his behavior. I retorted how my straight As, top ACT scores, and being from a more rural state made my college application stand out. While I wasn’t a product of affirmative action, I understood it is a powerful policy – then and now – that helps correct decades of discrimination, including that Cornell didn’t have a Black graduate student until 30 years after its founding.

That fellow classmate, and so many others like him, deeply struggle to build meaningful, trusting relationships with people who are different from them. Not only due to the 200 cognitive biases that affect how we think and how we treat one another, but also due to a lack of diversity, equity, and inclusion skills and education. Without DEI, people face deep distrust and dysfunction in how we treat one another across demographic groups and cultural lines.?

Trust is the foundation of healthy relationships and a functioning society. Without trust, we cannot function or meet our basic needs. When we have high levels of trust in our relationships we work together better, and feel a deeper sense of wellbeing and safety. All of our most intimate relationships share some level of trust – a belief that the person you’re engaging with respects you, empathizes with the unique challenges you face, is dependable, and will meet your needs as best they can, with limited harm.?

While pundits and politicians on the far-right complain about the woke DEI mind-virus, those of us who live in reality understand our society is experiencing a crisis in trust. It's at the root of why our relationships and democratic processes are suffering. The Edelman Trust Barometer, a study conducted annually for the past 20 years to measure trust across society and institutions, has found a steady decline in people’s trust, particularly in the U.S. This year’s study, which looked at data from 32,000 participants in 28 countries, found the U.S. ranked 20th out of 28 countries on its trust index, which analyzes the average percent of trust participants have in their country’s NGOs, businesses, government, and media institutions (only 48% of Americans trust its institutions to do what is right).?

Distrust is damaging to functional relationships. When we experience stereotypes or microaggressions, discriminatory and unfair treatment, and betrayal, we understandably lose our ability to trust those who created those harms. Edelman’s study found 52% of U.S. respondents agreed the system makes it harder for them to achieve their goals based on their gender, political views, race, religion, and/or sexual orientation, meaning about 1 in 2 Americans feel there are systemic inequalities holding them back, due discrimination of some aspect of their identity.?

To rebuild trust requires accurate historical and cultural education, which would explain the root causes and solutions to these inequality issues so many people feel the impacts of, but this type of education is under attack. We’re currently seeing a false narrative used by conservative strategists in the media, court rooms, and in our current political election that diversity, equity, and inclusion (also known as DEI) is an anti-white rhetoric that steals “rightful” opportunities from white people. The reality is DEI is a series of values, policies, and practices with the ultimate goal of correcting systemic inequalities that were created through historic and current discriminatory practices, while building trust within groups of various identities that benefit everyone, including white people.?

DEI initiatives in boardrooms, classrooms, and the public sphere equips us with a much-needed working set of facts about our society and culture from which we can create relationships built on trust and shared human values. It allows us to really see one another beyond stereotypes and assumptions.?

Building trust across different demographics helps us to create more stable institutions and support a democracy that improves life for everyone. DEI practices honor everyone’s needs, improve empathy, and communication skills, improving problem-solving and conflict resolution. I’ve witnessed the power of DEI to build deep trust across cultural backgrounds within my own leadership training work for organizations. In Edelmen’s trust study they found providing more DEI initiatives foster increased belonging across political backgrounds, with a 17-point increase in belonging for people who identified as Republicans, a 28 point increase in belonging for people who identify as Democrats, and a 29 point increase in belonging for independent voters.?

We are an interdependent species, not only because our personal actions affect one another, but because we depend on each other to meet our many physiological, emotional, and mental needs. The device you’re reading this article on was designed and built by someone you likely don’t know. The food you ate today was grown by individuals who you likely have never met, and some element of the clothes you’re wearing was produced by hands you’ve not witnessed.?

When we don’t trust each other, these hundreds of interactions we depend on for our basic needs become stalled through dysfunction, unable to work at their highest potential. High levels of distrust leads to instability and dysfunction within organizations and across society.?

DEI provides a critical roadmap to building trust within relationships through better communication skills and problem solving amongst different demographics within a group. It helps us to uphold democratic processes in voting, trusting our elected leaders to pass policies that remove systemic inequalities and create better outcomes for all citizens, and gives us better skills to participate in our communities in ways that help our neighbors feel safe and supported. DEI practices teach people how to accept and value differences, correct for inequalities created by bias that can create untold barriers for anyone of any background, and design goals that benefit everyone. Organizations with effective DEI initiatives have higher levels of trust and are more productive.?

Imagine if that Cornell student who had stereotyped me had received DEI education on the history of affirmative action and its positive effects on student development, as well learned DEI skills on how to have meaningful conversation with someone who is different from him beyond stereotypes? We could have possibly struck up a connection that led to a friendship with untold benefits instead of the distrust that ensued. Each time we allow our biases to lead, distrust and isolation becomes our default.?

When DEI is viewed correctly as a tool for trust building, we can begin to use the lessons, ideas and skills taught through DEI education to reach a new level of trust and innovation that we didn’t think was possible. We can then create a truly functional, trusting, multicultural democracy so many of us have hoped for.