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It was an obvious example of how companies implement DEI, or Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, policies ostensibly meant to address prejudice or structural bias听鈥� but that often fall far short of that goal.听

I dismissed the idea of going out of hand. By this point in my career there, I was cynical about how much good it would do. In my early days at VICE, I pushed hard for internal change, with varying success. Eventually, I got tired and decided my time would be better spent focusing on my work. But a colleague and friend, a fellow woman of colour, convinced me to attend. If nothing else, she said, I would be showing her and my other co-workers moral support.听

During the session, we were told the exec wasn鈥檛 going to be answering any questions. She was mainly there to 鈥渓isten.鈥� Convenient. I ended up sharing some anecdotes about my time there, including how I was lowballed when I was brought on, despite having more experience than some of my white colleagues who were paid much more than me out of the gate. I spoke about the abuse I鈥檇 been subjected to by readers and viewers 鈥� described as 鈥渢oken,鈥� 鈥渄iversity hire,鈥� or a straight up 鈥渟and鈥� n-word. I talked about the vicarious trauma I absorbed by reporting on topics like police brutality and sexual violence. I said that while I knew some of these things were industry-wide problems without easy solutions, the company could at least pay for therapy. That never happened.

After everyone spoke, it was the executive鈥檚 turn to address us. Rather than engage meaningfully with anything we鈥檇 revealed, she launched into a defensive lecture about the economic realities of journalism, justifying why the company had slashed its workforce and would continue to do the same. Her speech had nothing to do with the cultural issues we were describing. It was also condescending and unnecessary 鈥� no one is more aware of the existential threats facing journalism than staff members who have to wonder on a weekly basis if they鈥檙e about to lose their livelihoods.听

This interaction encapsulates a lot of my gripes with DEI in the corporate world. The term has become so loathed by some on the right that it is often now a stand-in for a slur. It is also rapidly disappearing from corporate and public life in the U.S., under threat from Donald Trump, who signed an executive order diversity-based policies in the federal government. But even before the current war on DEI, its usefulness to marginalized groups was debatable.听

In principle, DEI sounds like a good thing to anyone concerned about addressing the racial 听. But without concrete follow-through, it often ends up as a ritual in which minorities talk about their trauma and pain, the company鈥檚 white executives get to say they did something, and everything remains more or less the same.听

DEI is a broad term that encompasses an array of different initiatives: changing hiring and compensation practices, sometimes having hiring quotas for certain groups, doing unconscious bias training, or being more inclusive about representation in public. Beyond just being the 鈥渞ight thing to do,鈥� these things can help organizations by bringing out broader perspectives, reaching new audiences, and creating more loyalty and .

Those policies can make a difference. The US Supreme Court鈥檚 decision to end affirmative action in college admissions has, in the case of some Ivy Leagues, resulted in a in non-white students being admitted. While pop culture is still lacking in diversity, shows and movies like Insecure and Black Panther have showcased Black excellence in a way that was unheard of 20 years ago.

But representation alone, as we can see from the number of prominent people of colour in Trump鈥檚 cabinet, who prop up his bigoted policies, is not enough.听

Often, DEI can end up being little more than lip service. After Minnesota cop Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd in 2020, many Canadians companies took the BlackNorth Initiative pledge, designed to create tangible goals for elevating Black people in the workplace. Two years later, a Globe and Mail found few had followed up on their commitments. Some newsrooms hired dedicated race reporters, though many of those verticals have since been .听

It鈥檚 this disparity between the practical implementation and rhetoric that is so often the problem. Many DEI committees are led by white women, who disproportionately from DEI initiatives. Some of these groups are given no budget and so they create more unpaid labour for marginalized groups despite having no real power. Other times, people of colour are installed as leaders to clean up a mess, and take the fall when it doesn鈥檛 work, a phenomenon known as From what I can tell, unionizing a workplace is a far more effective way of implementing systemic change than DEI programs. Whistleblowing can work too, though it comes with risks, and as my own example shows, simply making people aware of things doesn鈥檛 always lead to substantive change.听

DEI is also a convenient scapegoat for white people whose careers aren鈥檛 going the way they expected. I鈥檝e been told by white colleagues that I might have a better shot at a job, or less a chance of being laid off because I鈥檓 a woman of colour. Framed as a reassurance, it didn鈥檛 seem to occur to them that they were insulting me by implying that I need to rely on my identity rather than just being good at my job.听

I鈥檝e been anticipating a great DEI backlash for years. With Trump back in power, it鈥檚 finally here, and already being .

After an army helicopter flew into an American Airlines flight in Washington, D.C. in late January, killing 67 people, Trump He even signed an incoherent executive order calling for a return to 鈥渕erit-based鈥� hiring in the Federal Aviation Administration. All three soldiers in the helicopter were white.听

When asked by reporters how he could be so sure it was about DEI, Trump said it was because he has 鈥渃ommon sense.鈥�

鈥淲e want somebody that鈥檚 psychologically superior,鈥� he continued.听

And that鈥檚 really what we鈥檙e talking about here. Not 鈥淒EI,鈥� but something much closer to eugenics. Trump and others like him who malign DEI appear to believe that minorities are dumber and less capable than our white male counterparts.听

Even if a person of colour was directly responsible for the crash, blaming 鈥淒EI鈥� is still deeply racist and problematic. White men are afforded the luxury of being able to fail. The rest of us can be perfect all the time and still never ascend to the same heights. If we screw up, it鈥檚 blamed on our identities 鈥� seen as an indictment of an entire community 鈥� rather than any other number of factors, including poor training, being overworked, or more plainly, individual incompetence.听

Personally, I would welcome a true meritocracy. I was raised mostly on a single income by immigrant parents who grew up extremely poor in Fiji. I went to an unknown college in Vancouver, and still made it to New York, won an Emmy, and currently hold an 鈥渆xtraordinary ability鈥� work visa. I did all of that without the connections and wealth of many others at the top of the dying media industry.听

With the pushback against DEI, however, we鈥檙e not getting a meritocracy though, despite the rhetoric insisting we are. Rather it鈥檚 an obnoxious and defiant return to the old world order 鈥� with the added feature of obscene wealth. Something tells me when the powerful white billionaires now controlling the world run things into the ground they won鈥檛 be looking inward. DEI will be long gone, but their failures will still be everyone else鈥檚 fault.