Waters told reporters that Republicans have used the “legal system” to their advantage.
This week a handful of House Democrats held a discussion titled “Countering Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Attacks by MAGA Republicans,” to protect marginalized communities from discriminatory practices.
On Tuesday, U.S. Reps. Maxine Waters, D-Calif.; Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio; Nikema Williams, D-Ga.; Sylvia Garcia, D-Texas, and Emanuel Cleaver, D-Texas, held a roundtable discussion with civil rights experts Angela Rye, principal and CEO of IMPACT Strategies; Laura Murphy, president of Laura Murphy & Associates, LLC.; Dariely Rodriguez, deputy chief counsel for Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and Arian Simone, co-founder and CEO of the Fearless Fund to discuss the importance of having diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Rye told theGrio, “All of the programs that are designed to ensure our ultimate success and liberation are under attack. We have to fight back.”
Waters told reporters that in recent months, Republicans have used the “legal system” to their advantage.
“Starting with the Supreme Court’s reversal of affirmative action,” Waters said.
In June 2023, the majority-conservative U.S. Supreme Court overturned the use of affirmation action in the college admissions process.
Waters told reporters, “Affirmative action was a program that aimed to close the racial wealth gap…and give people access to spaces where they have been excluded from.”
Rye told theGrio that those who do not believe that DEI is under attack should “take a look at legacy admissions and see who benefits from it across the country” and who does not.
Also, during the roundtable chat, Waters highlighted the need for DEI programs to exist at Fortune 500 companies.
“DEI initiatives have been effective,” said Waters. “They give underserved communities a more level playing field to excel and accomplish professional and economic success.”
This roundtable comes nearly two weeks after the Congressional Black Caucus disclosed its “Day One” agenda if House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., were to become House Speaker in 2025.
CBC Chairman Steven Horsford, D-Nev., previously told theGrio, “There are forces working to take away the very tools of economic opportunity and freedoms that we have fought so hard to advance.”
He believes one solution to combatting attacks against DEI is ensuring that Democrats have control of both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.
Horsford said, “There is no one in the U.S. House of Representatives who has done more to advance the interest of Black America than the CBC” or other Democratic members.
If Democrats win back the House, the CBC plans to advocate for reproductive and voting rights, U.S. Supreme Court reform, combat efforts to defund Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and lower the cost of housing.
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