Count MENA: When DEI is MIA
Originally published on LinkedIn Apr. 7, 2024
Count MENA: When DEI is MIA
It's just a checkbox, but it can determine a lot whether you'd like it to or not.
Just ask anyone of Middle Eastern or North African (MENA) descent about how frustrating it has been navigating various forms of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) programs over the years that have an overly simplistic, US-centric view of race and ethnicity, not to mention other dimensions of diversity, that can significantly impact an individual's opportunities and experience, both professionally and personally.
This is why the US Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) recent announcement about the adoption of a MENA minimum reporting category in Federal data just signifies the start of addressing decades of seemingly deliberate exclusion in most DEI conversations because of government mandated "whiteness" many can not and do not identify with.
Nowhere has this disconnect been more acutely felt than in the Jewish community, where the signs of increasing antisemitism were already apparent, leading to the announcement last summer of the US's first ever national strategy to counter antisemitism and key actions by pillar. This was soon followed by a similar announcement related to Islamophobia along with EEOC guidance on identifying and reporting related employment discrimination and harassment concerns.
When it comes to hate crimes, though, it's not just about how one chooses to identify themselves for census or employment purposes, but the motives of the perpetrators who may not always recognize who they are dealing with. This is why the Sikh and South Asian communities were previously included in the response to 9/11 backlash incidents, because of the frequent misidentification their members faced.
There is no doubt many of these same communities are also feeling the increased hostility associated with the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, now in its 6th month, and all the related geopolitical tensions that includes. Which is all the more reason why having a MENA checkbox is simply not enough, esp. when many DEI programs are ill-equipped to deal with the complex history and ethnoreligious identities that have been in the region for millennia.
Just take a look at the race and ethnicity codes included in the MENA category from the 2020 Census (where they were still counted as White) and you can understand why: Israelis, Palestinians, Copts, Moroccans, Iranians and everyone in between can have drastically different perspectives, experiences, and religions even if they all identify as "MENA."
Many in academia have seen the limitations of DEI up close, as Tammi Rossman-Benjamin of the AMCHA Initiative aptly summarizes in her article last summer on "Why DEI Programs Can’t Address Campus Antisemitism."
"Doling out protection on the basis of group identity, the stock-in-trade of DEI programs and the policies and laws on which they are based, has led to the exacerbation of group differences and an unhealthy competition for group rights on many campuses. Affording all students equal protection from behavior that no student should have to endure offers the possibility of a healthier campus climate for everyone." -- Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, AMCHA Initiative
This gap in protection from patently unacceptable behavior is not just a problem for academia to solve now - it has become more prevalent in the workplace because of the normalization of these ideologies, confusion around what actually constitutes antisemitism (see IHRA, Nexus, and JDA for starters), and approaches to public discourse around DEI that one would likely place very low on The Dignity Index.
The marked culture shift that has allowed antisemitism and other forms of religious and ethnic bias to flourish recently needs to be addressed sooner rather than later. In some cases, pulling the plug on deeply flawed and misguided DEI programs is a good first step. However, the underlying premise that everyone deserves a fair chance to fulfill their mission and purpose in life should never be forgotten as the reason to be more inclusive and respectful of their unique gifts and identity in all its dimensions to begin with.
Reference
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AMCHA Initiative, https://amchainitiative.org/
Florida Department of Education, "State Board of Education Passes Rule to Permanently Prohibit DEI in the Florida College System," Jan. 17, 2024, at https://www.fldoe.org/newsroom/latest-news/state-board-of-education-passes-rule-to-permanently-prohibit-dei-in-the-florida-college-system.stml
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