03 Mar 2022 Equity is Destroying Equality

“The legacy of the civil rights movement, for which so many people fought and died, is hanging by a thread,” warns Project 21 member Joe Mobley in a commentary published by The Federalist.

The reason is the rise of the “equity” agenda.

Joe fears that “the final nail has been placed in the coffin of the Civil Rights Act” with the passage of legislation in California requiring companies based in the Golden State to have set-asides on their boards of directors for women and “underrepresented communities” (meaning racial/ethnic and sexual minorities).

He warns:

One can’t help but weep for the civil rights movement. The tremendous sacrifices, losses, and displays of courage driving the promise of a more perfect union – dignity, respect and equality for all people – are sullied. Bigotry, racism and flagrant sexism are now par for the course.

Equity, Joe explains, is far different from the equality sought by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement:

In reality, policies aimed at achieving equity – the catch-all term for blatant discrimination against men, whites, Christians, heterosexuals, and oftentimes Asians – are really meant to wildly overrepresent certain groups. For instance, many companies have initiatives aimed at increasing the number of black senior leaders from some lower percentage to a radically high number – as high as 20 percent. One problem: black Americans only make up 13.4 percent of the population.

Racial quotas within the workforce create a zero-sum game. Companies can hire and promote more black Americans, but they cannot increase the overall black population. More black Americans in leadership roles at Company A means less black Americans available for Company B.

Citing census data, Joe makes the case that reaching statistical equity goals is not logical because they are “actually disproportionate to true workforce demographics.”

Joe also notes that the National Center’s Free Enterprise Project is helping bring sanity back to the boardroom with lawsuits against equity mandates.

“It stands to reason that a truly fair board – one accurately representing the workforce – would have more men than women,” Joe wrote. “While some might say this conclusion is hateful, others should recognize it as an empirical fact based on bona fide data.”

To read all of Joe’s commentary – “How the Left’s Push for ‘Equity’ is Destroying Equality” – click here to go to the website of The Federalist.