PROGRESS
The Anti-DEI Movement is a Textbook Case of White Backlash
An essay about resistance that impedes progress
White backlash is not a new phenomenon in American society. Each generation has witnessed resistance to diversity, equity, and inclusion. This point is well-illustrated by the opposition newly freed Black Americans faced following the Civil War. In 1866, an official noted that “the freedmen have been kept in perfect terror,” as White southerners often used violence and political discrimination to maintain control. This pattern has persisted in every generation since.
During the civil rights era, segregationists like U.S. South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond publically opposed integration. “All the laws of Washington and all the bayonets of the Army cannot force the Negro into our homes, into our schools, and churches and our places of recreation and amusement,” he warned in 1948. Such statements highlight widespread resistance to racial equality. Any effort to make positive social change was met with anger by those who saw racial equality as a threat. And it is through that same blurred lens many White people continue to view racial progress.
Consider Bill Ackman, for instance, a conservative billionaire hedge fund manager who claimed that DEI programs are a form of “reverse…
