One important thing that effective DEI does, is address anti-Black racism. It makes the workplace tolerable for your Black coworkers (if you have any).
Most public school teachers in the US are in a union. And yet, Black teachers and Black students experience massive amounts of racism from those teachers. Because unions aren't a magical answer for anti-Black racism.
@mekkaokereke afaik at least some studies have shown people in unions are less racist so it seems they are both important parts of addressing racism, from different angles
Yup. I've pointed out on here before, that if I take two white men:
1) a 50 year old, non college educated, union plumber or electrician from Pittsburgh or Atlanta
2) a 50 year old, college educated, venture capitalist from New York or Los Angeles
And ask them both what the Black Panthers' mission was, what "rainbow coalition" means, who first said "class, not race," or who Fred Hampton was... the "uneducated" tradesman has more accurate answers.
The statement "It's class, not race!" has been perverted, and is now used as a weapon against Black people. It's used to harm Black folk by minimizing the effects of racism, and pretending that growing up poor and white is an equal disadvantage to growing up poor and Black. It has become an anti-Black statement.
But it was originally popularized to help Black folk. To show poor white folk that had bought into racism, that poor Black folk are not their enemies.