No matter how we look it, this movement truly is a wolf in sheep’s clothing

Last week, New Hanover County Commissioner Dane Scalise came under fire for his call to defund the County’s Office of Diversity and Equity. In comments he made to Port City Daily, Scalise said it’s a matter of government efficiency, not ideology. 

“I aim to streamline government, not fund ideology,” Scalise said. “My focus has been and will remain on providing excellent core services to all our citizens. DEI is a costly distraction away from that focus.”

A costly distraction to the tune of $600,000 a year, most of which funds five county employees including a chief diversity officer, the 13th highest-paid employee with a salary of $170,000. To put this in perspective this salary surpassed what the chief deputy, emergency management director, and fire chief made. After salaries, only $68,819 goes towards programs and operating expenses. It makes you wonder what exactly does this department do, other than fund more staff? 

Formed in 2020, New Hanover County’s Office of Diversity and Equity was part of nationwide reverberations in the wake of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and a push by the Biden Administration. It was a way for college campuses, corporations, and governments to virtue signal to minority and underserved groups. Everywhere the phrases “systemic racism,” “marginally oppressed,” “inclusive spaces,” and “equity” replaced equal opportunity and diversity. 

DEI programs have very little to do with diversity and equality but promote affirmative action. It instructs that workplaces should select more minorities not based on merit, but because of their racial and gender identity. The Supreme Court ruled this a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and workplace claims are on the rise. If that’s not bad enough, DEI programs are a gateway to introduce Critical Race Theory (CRT), a divisive theory that teaches systemic racism still exists through deep-rooted systems embedded in society to continue the oppression of minorities by white majorities. For those pushing the DEI/CRT agenda, the outcome is not equality or diversity, but reverse discrimination and oppression. 

In other parts of the world like South Africa, we see the most extreme effects of DEI/CRT through the redistribution of wealth and property. Since the ending of apartheid, the ruling political party in South Africa, the African National Congress (ANC) instituted a policy to buy up land from willing white farmers and redistribute it to Black farmers. Just a few weeks ago the government began seizing land by force from white farmers without compensation. The ANC is doing this to “right the wrongs of the country’s colonial past.” I know several Afrikaners who have come to the United States and are trying to move their families here because the violence against white South Africans has worsened. 

DEI/CRT initiatives seek to shine the light on our country’s dark past, not to make society more just, but to fuel hatred and division based on race, and to perpetuate a dangerous, Marxist political agenda. This is not what our national or local government should be funding and we need to close the door now before it’s too late. 

If you look at the department’s 2023 assessment, New Hanover County’s Office of Diversity and Equity is pushing this racially charged political agenda by conducting thousands of DEI trainings per year for staff and residents. Additionally, the Office has duplicated the efforts of HR by rewriting job descriptions to be more “inclusive,” shifting the focus from hiring based on merit and qualifications to hiring based on affirmative action. The other initiatives, including the failed Port City United, revolve around work other government agencies and non-profits are already working on, like affordable housing and broadband access. Other than DEI training, it’s unclear as to what the DE Office does or how effective it is. 

There is a lot of work that needs to be done in New Hanover County to help minority and underserved populations. But the root problem is not in “systemic racism” but income disparities that can affect anyone, regardless of race. We must continue to build affordable housing for working families, improve our schools, and offer more after-school programs in distressed areas. We need to provide more workforce training programs that help underserved communities become gainfully employed, and we need to offer more minorities access to entrepreneurship programs and access to startup capital or grants to fund their businesses. 

New Hanover County is fortunate to have many nonprofits working daily to balance the scales in our communities. We must empower these organizations and get the government out of the way. We should strive for tangible solutions rather than create division through lofty DEI indoctrination. 

Like the disastrous Port City United, it’s time for county commissioners to eliminate the Office of Diversity and Equity from the budget. I hope the other commissioners will join Dane Scalise in being better stewards of our tax dollars. 

Originally published in The Wilmington Conservative.