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The University of Pittsburgh's Daily Student Newspaper

The Pitt News

The University of Pittsburgh's Daily Student Newspaper

The Pitt News

The University of Pittsburgh's Daily Student Newspaper

The Pitt News

Editorial | Do not fall for Trump’s anti-DEI rhetoric

Carrington Bryan | Assistant Visual Editor

A PSA regional airliner carrying 64 people with a United States Army Black Hawk helicopter last Wednesday, leaving no survivors in the crash — a national tragedy which Trump immediately blamed .

There is — the only reason Trump could give was because he has “common sense” — and federal investigators are still determining the primary causes of the accident. This event is indicative, however, of an America that is beginning to feel more comfortable turning to open and unabashed racism.

As simple as it is, the anti-DEI rhetoric espoused by our nation’s right-wing pundits is anti-Black rhetoric. It has been since the start of Trump’s reelection campaign, and many are starting to not bother trying to mask their blatant racism. Just last year, Charlie Kirk, who was welcomed to speak on Pitt’s campus as part of his national tour, when his pilot isn’t a white man.

“You want to go ThoughtCrime? I’m sorry, if I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, ‘Boy, I hope he’s qualified,’” Kirk said on his discussion show, ThoughtCrime.

These are not fringe radicals on dark corners of the internet — they are people with millions of followers, people who are invited to speak on college campuses and people who run our nation. There is no reason why a person should doubt the competency of a pilot based on the color of their skin, and there is certainly no reason why anyone who does should have their voice taken seriously in politics.

Anti-DEI rhetoric is grounded in racist assumptions. It is grounded in the notion that minorities are less likely to be skilled or competent than white men. It assumes that any minority hired as a result of a DEI initiative must have been plucked off the street simply to meet a race quota.

This reasoning, however, is entirely backward. DEI exists because hiring practices often favor white men due to the institutional racial bias that still very much exists in our country. They don’t exist to give unskilled minorities jobs that should go to skilled white applicants — they exist to stop the pattern of unskilled white people landing jobs over better-qualified minority applicants. 

The goal of DEI isn’t just to balance the racial makeup of a workplace. It’s to ensure that employers aren’t overlooking highly skilled minority candidates. It’s very likely the staff of an institution with a DEI office are collectively more competent than somewhere without one.

It’s unfortunate to need to bring up the obvious that racism is never justified, nor was DEI the cause of the two plane crashes that have occurred since Trump took office. But when the people who many men look up to are or openly expressing their distrust of rigorously trained Black workers, something must be said. 

This is not the first thing Trump has blamed on DEI, and it will not be the last. He is building an uncertain and worrying America — for Black people, for trans people, for women, even for . When planes start crashing and prices start rising, it’s easy to get scared. But no matter how frightening Trump makes this country, don’t let him scare you into believing what he says.

The Pitt News editorial is a weekly article written by the opinions editors in collaboration with all other desk editors. It reflects the collective opinion of the current Pitt News editorial staff.

׿ the Contributor