Harris’ political ascent makes her the latest target of DEI insults
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By Curtis Bunn, NBC News
“DEI hire” has become the latest insult to Black success, and presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris isn’t exempt.
An insult uttered in schools and boardrooms about many marginalized people has a new high-profile target: Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
“I think she’s one of the weakest candidates I’ve ever seen in the history of our country. I mean intellectually, just really kind of the bottom of the barrel. … I think that she was a DEI hire,” Rep. Harriett Hageman, a Wyoming Republican, said of Harris.
Earlier this month, Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., said on X that the news media had “propped up” Biden, and then “dumped him for our DEI vice president.”
For Black diversity, equity and inclusion professionals, the attacks on Harris as a “DEI hire” or a “DEI candidate” show the ways racial tropes can be used against Black people in power, despite their successes. Burchett and Hageman did not respond to requests for comment from NBC News.
DEI refers to workplace policies and practices designed to support people of various backgrounds and provide resources for them to thrive, while also identifying qualified candidates for jobs to close racial and gender disparities. But it has become the latest shorthand way to allege that success and power for some people of color or from other marginalized groups are unearned.
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