Why Is It Offensive To Call Kamala A DEI Hire?

Democrats are offended that Republicans are pointing out Vice President Kamala Harris was a diversity hire. What do they have against diversity, equity, and inclusion? Shouldn’t they be celebrating those concepts? It was the left, after all, that conceived and implemented DEI programs around the country.

“Kamala Harris faces racial ‘DEI’ attacks amid campaign for the 2024 presidency,” explains ABC News. “Incredibly insulting,” says Susan Rice. “Right-wing media figures call Kamala Harris a ‘DEI’ candidate as race-based attacks ramp up,” writes the perpetually confused Oliver Darcy. “Is it 1951?” asked “Morning Joe.”

Sort of, yes. In 1951, many white Americans still judged their fellow citizens by immutable characteristics like the color of their skin. Today, a new group of Americans are doing the same thing, including journalists who stopped using “black” as a descriptor of a color and then started capitalizing the word to strongly suggest that skin color defines a person. Scarborough should ask his good buddy Al Sharpton, a big-time defender of DEI, how all of it works.

Let’s face it, the only reason mentioning DEI is considered a “racial attack” by the left is because DEI is a racist policy. And the anger over the Kamala accusation is a tacit admission there’s something ugly and demeaning about race- and sex-based hiring practices. It’s an admission that being associated with DEI depreciates a person’s accomplishments and career. If that is true of the vice president, it is surely true of the millions of minority women and men toiling to make it out in the real world.  

Democrats are going to spin this by arguing that it is factually incorrect to contend that Harris was picked because of her gender and color. “The argument coming from Republicans is Harris — who had served 13 years as DA + AG before 3.5 years in the Senate — was a DEI hire for Biden, while JD Vance — who wrote a bestseller, worked in venture capital briefly & has been in the Senate 18 months was picked because of his résumé,” argued CNN Senior Reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere.

No, that’s not the argument. The argument is that Biden decided to, or was pressured into, picking a black woman by Democrats in 2020. He promised to do it. He bragged about doing it. All Dovere had to do was search his own website to find the evidence.

“Joe Biden Says He Is Considering Four Black Women To Be His Running Mate,” a 2020 CNN headline explained — not four of the “most qualified” people. “Joe Biden Pressed Again To Name A Black Woman As His Running Mate,” read a headline in The Washington Post.  “Pressure Grows On Joe Biden To Pick A Black Woman As His Running Mate,” said an NPR headline, right under the words “America Reckons With Racial Injustice” — written a little more than three years after Barack Obama finished his eight-year tenure as the most powerful man in the world.

It was clear that Kamala Harris wasn’t the meritocratic choice, not even among the other 2020 Democrat Party presidential contenders. Her campaign didn’t even make it to Iowa. Her senate career was undistinguished. Her polling was atrocious. She was unable to run a campaign or keep her staff.

Of course, I’m not naïve. Harris isn’t the first candidate who’s been picked, fully or in part, because of her background, personal appeal, and physical characteristics. Vance is Trump’s veep pick because he allegedly strongly appeals to the forgotten Rust Belt “working man,” not because he’s the most accomplished person in America. One suspects he would admit as much.

Now, none of this means that many African Americans and Hispanic kids don’t often have to overcome failing schools, poverty, and other obstacles — just as other groups have in the past. (Harris is not one of these people, by the way.) This puts them at a serious disadvantage. So, let’s fix (or better yet, dismantle) the public school system and welfare state that break apart families and undermine opportunity — and stop punishing other Americans who have earned their opportunities.

But, in the end, if you don’t want your preferred candidate being called a DEI hire, stop bean-counting people by their color and sex.