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As we bear witness to the slow death of DEI—not diversity, equity, and inclusion itself, but the acronym—we must recognize the orchestrated campaign behind its demise. This is not a natural death but a political assassination, co-authored by right-wing disinformation machines and a federal government, including the president himself, that is hellbent on dismantling the very institutions meant to serve the people. The latest attack? The scapegoating of DEI for the recent aircraft disaster at Reagan National Airport.
In the wake of national tragedies—be they school shootings, acts of terrorism, or catastrophic accidents—people of color, religious minorities, and marginalized communities often experience a visceral unease. That sinking feeling, that silent prayer: Please don’t let the perpetrator be one of us. We know all too well the consequences of being associated, however unfairly, with destruction. White men, despite their overwhelming presence among mass shooters and domestic terrorists, do not live under this same burden. Their individual crimes are never attributed to their race; their collective history of violence is never weaponized against them. But for Black people, for women, for LGBTQIA+ individuals, for people of color at large, collective blame is the default setting in America’s racial machinery.
Now, that machinery has found its latest target. In the immediate aftermath of the Reagan National Airport disaster, right-wing agents—led by President Donald Trump and echoed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth—seized upon DEI as the culprit. Before the facts had settled, before investigators could even determine the root cause, they had already issued their verdict: Diversity did this. Equity killed those people. Inclusion was to blame for the wreckage.
This is the final transformation of DEI. Once a set of principles aimed at broadening opportunities for all Americans, the acronym has now been twisted into something far more sinister. It no longer stands for diversity, equity, and inclusion. It has become a dog whistle, an empty vessel into which the right pours all of its racial and gendered anxieties. DEI now means Black people are incompetent. DEI now means women are unqualified. DEI now means LGBTQIA+ individuals are dangerous. In the hands of conservative fearmongers, DEI is no longer a commitment to fairness—it is a scapegoat for every failing in America, no matter how unfounded.
This is not new. This is history rhyming with itself, another hackneyed chapter in a centuries-old book of racial scapegoating.
There is a long and well-documented history of white America blaming Black people for disasters, economic downturns, and crimes they did not commit. It is a political maneuver as old as the nation itself, a means of deflecting responsibility while reinforcing white supremacy. During slavery, white enslavers justified their brutality by claiming Black people were naturally inferior, prone to violence, and incapable of self-governance. Enslaved individuals who rebelled against their bondage—like those in the Stono Rebellion (1739) or Nat Turner’s uprising (1831)—were used as proof of Black savagery rather than as evidence of an unjust system. The mere fear of rebellion led to the violent destruction of entire Black communities, whether or not they were involved.
After the Civil War, when newly freed Black Americans sought political and economic autonomy, white politicians in the South blamed them for economic instability and crime, crafting the racist myth of the inherent Black criminality. This led to Black Codes, Jim Crow laws, and a mass incarceration system that continues to decimate Black communities today.
During the Great Migration, when Black families fled racial terrorism in the South for better opportunities in Northern cities, white communities accused them of causing job shortages and housing crises. Race riots—like those in East St. Louis (1917), Tulsa (1921), and Chicago (1919)—were instigated by white mobs but framed as “Negro uprisings” in the press.
In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan popularized the “welfare queen” stereotype to demonize Black women and justify slashing the social safety net. During the War on Drugs, Black communities were blamed for America’s drug problem, despite the government’s own role in flooding these neighborhoods with narcotics. Policies like the crack vs. powder cocaine sentencing disparity (100:1 ratio) made it clear that the goal was not justice, but racial control.
After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, media narratives painted Black survivors as “looters” rather than victims. Following the 2008 financial crisis, Black homeowners were scapegoated for the housing collapse, despite banks having targeted them with predatory loans. And during COVID-19, conservative pundits claimed Black Lives Matter protests were superspreading events while dismissing the health risks of their own political rallies.
Fast forward to 2025. A plane crashes, and rather than confronting failures in aviation regulation, rather than investigating the corporate greed that may have cut corners in manufacturing, rather than addressing the actual cause of the disaster, the president blames DEI. The very concept of diversity itself is now an enemy of the state. This tragedy couldn’t possibly have anything to do with this very same president gutting an aviation safety advisory committee less than 24 hours into his term as president.
When President Trump and his administration attack DEI, they are not making an argument for “meritocracy.” They are resurrecting the same exhausted myth that white men are inherently more competent than everyone else. The very premise that DEI is to blame for a plane crash suggests that the only way to ensure safety and success is to have an all-white, all-male workforce. This is absurd, and more importantly, it is dangerous.
DEI initiatives did not cause this disaster. But dismantling DEI will undoubtedly lead to more. Diverse teams, studies show, make better decisions. Inclusive policies expand the talent pool and ensure that the best people—regardless of race, gender, or identity—are given the opportunity to lead. Yet, the Trump administration wants the American public to believe that diversity itself is the problem, that only white men deserve to occupy leadership roles in government, business, and beyond.
This is not about safety. This is about power. This is about reasserting white male dominance under the guise of “competence.” And if history has taught us anything, it is that these attacks will not stop at DEI. If they succeed in dismantling diversity initiatives today, tomorrow they will come for voting rights, anti-discrimination laws, or any policy that even remotely challenges their grip on control.
Make no mistake: The demonization of DEI is not about ensuring excellence—it is about ensuring exclusion. It is about maintaining a racial and gendered hierarchy that keeps power concentrated in the hands of a select few. It is about erasing the progress that has been made and returning to a time when diversity was not just unwelcome but actively punished.
The Reagan National Airport disaster was a tragedy. But another catastrophe follows closely on its heels: the slow, methodical erosion of inclusion in America, all under the banner of a lie. DEI did not cause this awful tragedy. But if we allow these lies to persist, if we let this moment go unchallenged, we may find ourselves in an America where diversity, equity, and inclusion are not just blamed for disasters, they are banned altogether.
Dr. James B. Peterson is founder of Hip Hop Scholars, an organization devoted to developing the educational potential of Hip Hop. He is the author of Hip Hop Headphones: A Scholar’s Critical Playlist.