The Daily Signal - Bob Woodson on Why DEI Is Being Ditch

Episode Date: June 7, 2024

Some universities are repealing and replacing their diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.  At the end of May, the University of North Carolina system voted to repeal and replace its DEI policy for a new policy that “aims to ensure efforts to support students on UNC System campuses do not infringe on academic freedom, equal opportunity, or institutional neutrality,” according to the university.  In Utah, the state recently passed legislation to halt all DEI activities in the state’s universities.  Conservatives have long raised concerns over the harmful implications of DEI programs, which Bob Woodson argues are “institutionalizing racism in the name of addressing social injustice.” Woodson, founder of the Woodson Center and author of “Red, White, and Black: Rescuing American History from Revisionists and Race Hustlers,” says “it’s insulting to black America to assume that social justice can only be achieved by changing the rules, dumbing down standards, and compromising the basic integrity. We fought in the Civil Rights Movement so that we can move beyond race and define ourselves by the content of our character, but this is turning the clock back.” Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

DEI is destructive. It says once you define one group as a villain and the other is a victim, there is no resolution to that. This is the Daily Signal podcast for Friday, June 7th. I'm Virginia Allen, and that was Bob Woodson. Diversity equity and inclusion programs have had broad, negative implications for universities across the United States. And these negative effects are causing many universities to do. their DEI programs. Woodson is the founder of the Woodson Center, an organization dedicated to empowering struggling communities and empowering the people in those communities to be a part of the

solutions to the problems that they're facing. Woodson joins us on today's show to talk specifically about the shift in perspective among Americans over these DEI initiatives and what should be happening in America's universities to take the place of these harmful DEI. programs. Stay tuned for our conversation after this. It was 10 years ago that the Daily Signal officially launched as an alternative to the establishment press. We believed then that major newspapers and broadcast networks were leaving a massive audience of conservatives and independent-minded Americans unserved. We set out on June 3, 2014, to inject

competition into the market. Well, our hypothesis was correct. To all the patriotic Americans and reporters of our work, thank you for making the past 10 years possible. Going forward, you can expect the same insightful reporting and thoughtful commentary from the Daily Signal as you've come to rely on for the past decade. Just as our name implies, we will continue to be your signal that cuts through the noise to transmit the news quickly and simply. More importantly, we will always tell you the truth. That is our promise. We believe that by focusing on quality journalism, the unbatched knowledge of our contributors, and insider intel, thanks to our access to policymakers, the Daily Signal's future is bright. But we can't do it without your help. You can support

our work by visiting dailysignal.com slash donate. For those who have made a financial contribution in the past or are considering making a gift today, thanks for making the Daily Signal your trusted source of news. I am pleased to welcome back to the show today, the founder of the Woodson's Center, author, and a veteran of the Civil Rights Movement, Mr. Bob Woodson. Mr. Woodson, thank you so much for being here today. Pleased to be here. Over the past five years, we have seen that many schools have embraced diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.

We often call these DEI. You've been really vocal with concerns regarding these DEI programs. And you actually recently wrote a great piece in National Review discussing this and discussing how some schools are pulling away from these DEI programs. You write in that piece for National Review, my problem with DEI was never about its intentions, but rather its impact. What do you mean by that? What is the impact of DEI program? You cannot use a racist approach to eradicate racism. And DEI is really turning the clock back. It's really institutionalizing racism in the name of addressing social injustice.

It's divisive. It's insulting to Black America to assume that social justice can only be achieved by changing the rules, dumbing down standards, and compromising the basic integrity. We fought in the civil rights movement so that we can move beyond race and define ourselves by the content of our character. But this is turning the clock back. and it's had some devastating impact on this nation. It is, and I think it's fascinating to see that now more and more people are coming to that conclusion in regards to DEI, and we're actually starting to see, as you write about, some universities that are pushing the brakes on these DEI programs in North Carolina, University of North Carolina, their whole system voted to repeal and replace its DEI policy at the end of May. Why did University of North Carolina decide that they were going to roll back this DEI program? Because they know that it has been divisive.

I had about two years ago, I spoke at the Air Force Academy before the cadets in a three-day symposium that dealt with race. The leadership of the Air Force Academy is really spruing this racist message. that somehow all whites are privileged and oppressors and all blacks are victims. And I think that this message where we're being divided is endangering our national security because recruitment of military personnel is down. Recruitment of people into law enforcement

is down almost 60% as we denigrate this. the values upon which this nation was built, and somehow that the disparities between groups is related to the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow, and that America is inherently and systemically racist, you know, once you say that racism is in your DNA, what do you do to change it? And so the DEI is not pointing,

to anything that it proves the quality of people's lives. And when they see the practical consequence of 911 calls in some urban communities, it takes 30 minutes before the police respond, it's because of our racial policies that's denigrated to police, discourage people from enforcing standards, it's promoting distrust. And so people are just waking up to the practical consequence of DEI, even with progressive prosecutors releasing,

dumbing down in Boston and other places in Oakland, California, the city administration has decriminalized shoplifting. So people just shoplift in plain sight with the consequence that major stores, retail stores, are shutting down, operations in these cities. That's the kind, that's why DEI is in decline all over the country. This is having a corrosive effect on our society in practical ways that people understand. Well, and the people of Utah seem to certainly understand this because Utah recently passed legislation that halts DEI activities in its universities. What are Utah universities doing instead

of DEI? They're really, we were blessed to be invited by the governor and the state legislator and some community groups. I spent three days in Salt Lake City, and I addressed the governor, the leadership of the House and Senate, and also 35 low-income black and brown grassroots groups. And we were all on the same page that we should respond to people based upon need, not their color. And so the DEI program has been dismantled, but it's being changed to deal with students who are in need. And need is not defined by color. The New York Times did a study of the 10

poorest counties in the country. Six of those counties were occupied by whites. And over the last six decades, their income, education, every other social indicator puts them at the very bottom of society. Even inner city blacks are fair better than poor white. So the issue isn't race in America. It's really class. And so changing DEI from a race-based program to one that deals with need really is the proper way of addressing needs in society. It's needs. It's not race. Not every black person is in need. Forty-eight percent of middle class. Well, and that's really been the strategy of the Woodson Center, has it not, to let's identify what those needs are within a community, and how can we be a part of meeting those needs?

We really did. In fact, we published our book 1776 Unites. red, white, and black, rescuing America from revisionist history and race hustlers. And that was the counter Nicole Hannah-Jones' 16-19. And in our book, we believe that people are motivated to change when you give them visions of victories that are possible. So in our books, we have a series of essays that have been translated into school curriculum. And thus far, in the last two years, we had 190 downloads of our free curriculum. And it talks about not just, it tells the story of slavery, but America is not defined by its birth defect of slavery. That one, the complete picture is not just crucifixion, is resurrection.

And so we in our book acknowledge slavery, but say that there were 20, blacks who were born slaves who died millionaires. Some of them actually purchased the plantation on which they were slaves and took in the destitute family of the slave master. So we really need to tell a more complete story of American history and a more complete understanding that black America has never been solely defined by the barriers that they face, but is the story. of resilience and perseverance and the presence of oppression, that's the real American story. If you would, share with us some examples of modern communities where the Woodson Center has gone in, has been able to identify what are the needs and has been able to see fruit come from that of actually

saying, okay, we're going to look at the needs within this community and work with the people in the community to bring about positive change. In the early 70s and early 80s, we work. with a group in one of those drug-ridden toxic neighborhoods in Washington, D.C. is called Kenilworth Parkside. 680 units of public housing is run by drug dealers and dropout rates. But about an inspiring leader, Kimmy Gray, who was a single mom with five children, was in public housing, got off welfare and sent all five of her kids to college. Well, her neighbors wanted to know how she did that. So she started a resident management group

and where residents took control of their property. Within three years, they had taken control, driven out the drug dealers. And in the last, in 12 years, they sent over 600 kids to college, reduce the violence in their welfare dependency, went down. And they have been a market.

for what you can do when you're in power groups. 25 years ago in an area of Washington called Benny terrorists, there were 53 gang murders in a five-square-block area. We worked with five grassroots ex-offenders that had the moral authority and negotiated a gang truce in that community. And those 16 young men who were terrorized in the community were transformed into ambassadors of peace. and they went from 53 murders in two years down to zero in 12 years.

And the principles that we extracted from that experience, we have taken to the city of Milwaukee and to other cities. So there are just outstanding examples that when you stop looking at people as a collection of victims and began to look at them, for the prospects of development and you provide resources and the means for them to develop themselves. There are some amazing examples of that.

And I could spend the rest of this time just sharing with you endless examples of what the Woodson Center groups that have supported. The Piney Wood School in Jackson, Mississippi, 150-year-old black boarding school only takes children from these deprived neighborhoods in the past 10 years, 100% of the kids who graduate go on to college, even though there's some from the same toxic neighborhoods.

It proves to you that when you focus on developing the strengths and capacities of people and invest in them, then they can thrive and prosper. Well, I really want to encourage anyone listening who's curious to learn more or support the work of the Woodson Center to visit the website. It's Woodsoncenter.org. But Mr. Woodson, before we let you go, I do want to ask you to speak specifically to young people who might be saying, well, yeah, I know that DEI, it's not perfect, but it was helping. It was doing something. What is your message to young people who maybe feel a little nervous about what is going to happen in this? in this really journey and an effort across America, this push to remove any remnants of racism

that may remain if we're eliminating these DEI programs. What is your message to them? Well, first of all, anytime anyone presents something to you that's supposed to be helpful to you, you must ask yourself, now that I've heard that message, what am I inspired to do that can improve the quality of my life? If I were to follow what these people are telling me, what impact would it have in improving the quality of my life? That's a very simple test. And if you can't answer that,

then you need to look with suspicion upon the DEI. DEI is destructive. It says once you define one group as a villain and the other is a victim, there is no resolution to that. Perhaps young people, both whites and blacks, perhaps that's why we have this hemorrhage of death. The highest form of deaths of young people in the inner city is homicides for blacks, even on Silicon Valley, where their two parent households, the suicide rate among white, affluent, and Asian kids is six times a national average. In low-income white neighborhoods of Appalachia,

the leading causes thus is prescription drug overdose. So the crisis in the country is not racial. It is a moral and spiritual emptiness of our young people that's causing them to devalue their lives. And if you devalue your life, you will take your own or you'll take someone else's. So that's why what the Woodson Center is doing is bringing young people together, particularly inner city kids who have become redeemed

from troubled lifestyles so that they can share their success. Young people ought to be coming together to share not their victimization or their privilege, but they should come to share their journey, their moral and spiritual journey towards, of course, a good mental state. Yeah, excellent. that question. What a good, a good test for is this truth? I think that's so practical. And again, that website for anyone who's curious to learn more about the Woodson Center, it's Woodsoncenter.org. And also, if you're a social media user, be sure to follow Mr. Woodson on X at Bob Woodson.

Mr. Woodson, thank you for your time today. We really appreciate it. Well, thank you for inviting me. And with that, that's going to do it for today's episode. Thanks so much for joining us here. on the Daily Sickle Podcast. Make sure that you check out our evening show every weekday around 5 p.m. We bring you the top news of the day. These are the headlines you don't want to miss. And on Fridays, we are bringing you as well during our top news edition, a special movie

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