The Toxicity of DEI: A Tale From Newton, Massachusetts

By Charles Love

A white grievance backlash has arrived in Massachusetts, to hear the liberal media tell it. Well-funded and well-connected GOP power players masquerading as aggrieved parents have been "harassing educators for policies they deem unfair to white students and antithetical to their values," per a Boston Globe columnist. It's "white backlash politics" that's "clearly coordinated, with right-wing money" and engaged in a campaign of "whipping suburban parents into a frenzy" to win elections for the Republicans.

Sounds sinister! But if you talk to the parents at the center of the ongoing fight over Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in public schools in Newton, Massachusetts, you'll find something very different. You won't find MAGA Republicans opposing DEI in the schools, but rather liberal Democrats who have noticed a shift in their children's school system priorities. And their complaints have nothing to do with being white.

One parent had a child excluded from an affinity group (a race-based social group), while other parents were dismayed to find an accelerated math program that was in place for years had been scrapped due to equity concerns. Still others were troubled to learn that their children's English and History instruction was filled with language dividing everyone into categories of oppressor or oppressed.

When these parents questioned the school about these issues, they were told that their complaints targeted aspects of their children's education that were consistent the values of Newton Public Schools (NPS). That was true: In 2022, NPS shared these values in their Statement of Values and Commitment to Racial Equity. With imperatives like "Take immediate and sustained action to dismantle racism in our schools and communities" and "It is essential to give voice to those who have traditionally been underrepresented and historically marginalized," the Statement of Values consists of typical progressive antiracism language, which leaves you with no doubt that blacks and other minorities are marginalized and have no agency, and adheres to the highly subjective findings of unconscious bias.

The Statement of Values left many parents with more questions than answers, so they decided to engage further. They addressed their concerns at a Newton School Committee (NCS) meeting, where they were summarily dismissed, so they submitted a letter to NCS and the interim superintendent seeking to amend the Statement of Values.

"While we recognize that it is a well-intentioned statement, we seek a revision of the current statement so that applicants for superintendent will understand that Newton upholds a culture of fairness, understanding and common humanity," reads the letter. "The revised statement should include compassionate principles for positive change." The letter went on to spell out an alternative DEI approach.

This was the great sin that led to these parents being smeared as MAGA extremists committed to white grievance: a request for a slight modification to the DEI approach.

True equality, it turns out, is divisive to the Left.

Their letter was ignored, so the parents and community members behind this effort decided to create a petition requesting an Academic Principles Advisory Committee that would review and recommend revisions to the public school system's goals and curriculum. They thought they might get 20 or 30 parents to sign; they were shocked when they got nearly 300 signatures.

A hearing on the petition was announced for March 28, but leading up to the hearing, another grassroots group, Families Organizing for Racial Justice (FORJ), started to mobilize against it, sending out emails asking people to denounce the petition.

"Your voice is needed!" an email from FORJ reads. "Please encourage your networks to speak up in support of NPS DEI efforts and of the importance of acknowledging the race, culture, identity, etc. of students, staff and families."

Unsurprisingly, the hearing turned into a five-hour onslaught of attacks on the signatories of the petition; a wide range of detractors came out to speak against the Academic Principles Advisory Committee, and because of the attacks, most of the parents who signed the petition were now afraid speak in support of it.

At the end of the marathon hearing, the petition was unanimously voted down—no surprise, considering the significant pushback and the negative way it was framed. But what the public hearing exposes about DEI is the real scandal here.

I have long railed against DEI, which gives too much credence to diversity, distorts the meaning of equity, and reduces inclusion. But even if I didn't believe the cause hopelessly flawed, the way its proponents practice it should be proof enough that there is no good DEI.

In case after case, DEI proponents viciously denounce as racist anyone who questions these programs. They create strawman arguments and call liberals MAGA extremists for opposing their own extremist views. Children, who should be the focus, are overlooked in deference to the feelings of progressives.

This all-or-nothing DEI approach in education is destined to fail, but it will not go away until people stand up in the face of personal attacks. All Americans of conscience should support those willing to do so, because our children depend on them.