Vang: What ‘justice’ apparently means in America these days

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes a mix of material from 11 contributing columnists, along with other commentary online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

•••

America is Captain America — the comic book superhero who is an idealized figure of justice, resilience and leadership, but also deeply flawed and struggling with the contradictions of his own ideals. For example, America is a nation that claims to stand for freedom, yet it shackles those who dare to demand it. It sings of justice while it silences those who speak the truth.

With the stroke of his pen, Donald Trump showed us what America apparently means these days when it says “justice” — a return to the old order when only white men ruled the nation. These few oligarchs wield power, and everyone else must fight for scraps.

I wept upon hearing about Trump’s executive orders — Executive Order 14151, which obliterates federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, and Executive Order 14173, which parades as a return to “merit” while erasing many safeguards against discrimination. These two executive orders are nothing more than a declaration of war on progress.

I intended this column to be about how chief diversity and equity officers were doing. As a chief diversity and equity officer myself working for Meet Minneapolis, I reached out to my colleagues to find out. I know too well that jobs like mine are vanishing, wiped away by a wave of political retribution. But beyond the careers lost, I worry about something deeper — people’s mental and spiritual well-being.

And yet, when I sought voices willing to speak out, I mostly encountered silence. Four DEI professionals declined to go on the record, afraid that having their names in print would summon Trump’s loyalists to their doorsteps. This is how authoritarianism thrives: by turning fear into obedience, until silence is the only language left.

I have felt this fear myself. It is not my job security that haunts me, but my safety, my sanity, my very spirit. The moment Trump’s executive orders were announced, my phone erupted with messages from colleagues and friends asking if I still had a job. One acquaintance, misunderstanding my work, asked me — the minority hire — if I had been let go. The question was like a slap. As if my master’s degree, my years of experience, my expertise amounted to nothing. That is the true cruelty of these attacks on DEI: They do not just erase programs; they make even the most qualified among us doubt our worth.

One person I reached out to, however, refuses to be silenced. Cecilia Stanton Adams, CEO of the Twin Cities-based Diversity Institute, has spent over two decades fighting for DEI. “Remind people there is hope,” she told me when I asked why she speaks out when so many stay quiet. Her work with over 100 brands has shown that diverse companies are more just and more profitable. Stanton Adams added that the research is clear: Diversity breeds innovation. Inclusion is not just a moral good — it is an economic advantage.

“Sorry, you think this is a hit on me? No, it’s a hit on all of us,” she said of people who don’t understand that eliminating DEI will negatively impact everyone.

And yet, even she is considering changing the name of her business.

I told her people were fearful to talk to me for this column. “Fear is your body’s way of telling you there is something to pay attention to,” said Stanton Adams.

So, America, pay attention. While Trump distracts you with nonsense — renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” — he is gutting the very institutions that safeguard equality and democracy. Do not be fooled. Look at the federal agencies being dismantled, the opportunities being erased, the silence being forced upon us.

Those who support Trump’s executive orders on DEI do not understand DEI. Or worse — they understand it all too well and still want it gone. DEI was never about handouts. It was never about taking opportunities from one group and handing them to another. It is about removing the barriers that have long kept marginalized people from opportunities in the first place. DEI is the ramp that allows a person in a wheelchair to reach their desk. DEI is paid family leave so a mother is not forced to choose between her paycheck and her newborn. DEI is flexible hours so a father can care for his child with autism. It is not about giving anyone an advantage. It is about ensuring that access is not a privilege reserved for nepo babies.

In fact, the biggest beneficiaries of DEI have not been Black and brown people, but white women. Affirmative action and DEI initiatives have propelled white women into boardrooms and leadership roles in ways that would have been unimaginable decades ago.

Trump doesn’t understand DEI because he never needed DEI. He never had to fight for a seat at the table. He was born into a golden throne, a nepo baby whose tiny hands clutched the wealth of his father. And when he mismanaged it, his companies declared bankruptcy — six times. He was never an outsider. He has never known exclusion. And now, he tells us exclusion was never real so there’s no need for DEI to create a level playing field.

But we know better. And we must not be afraid to say so. So, if America is indeed Captain America, then that would make Trump the Red Skull, a Nazi mastermind and the embodiment of fascism, tyranny and evil.