Breakdown:

1. Introduction

• Critics of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) deride it as “Didn’t Earn It,” a phrase that delegitimizes the achievements of marginalized groups.

• This rhetoric aligns with historical strategies from the Jim Crow era, which sought to discredit Black Americans’ qualifications and contributions.

2. Jim Crow Parallels

• Poll taxes and literacy tests exemplified the Jim Crow-era belief that Black people were inherently unqualified to participate in democracy.

• Plessy v. Ferguson justified segregation by dismissing the harm caused by racial inequality, blaming Black Americans’ feelings of inferiority on their “faulty thinking.”

3. Contemporary Connections: Affirmative Action

• The Roberts Court’s decision to strike down affirmative action mirrors the logic of Plessy.

• Chief Justice Roberts claimed that emphasizing racial identity over individual achievements reflects a mistaken worldview.

4. Legal and Scholarly Critique

• Cedric Merlin Powell critiques this reasoning as a historical rewrite, reducing discrimination to individual outcomes while ignoring systemic inequities.

• Such narrow definitions fail to address the structural barriers that continue to shape societal inequality.

5. Conclusion

• Labeling DEI initiatives as “Didn’t Earn It” dismisses historical context and perpetuates discriminatory frameworks.

• To move forward, it is crucial to confront structural inequities rather than obscure them behind rhetoric that delegitimizes the struggle for equity.