Diversity isn’t divisive — but it is political. A DEI veto in Pierce County proves it | Opinion
The debate — at least as it plays out in the public discourse — is dumb and predictable, the kind that now dominates our lives.
It’s black-and-white tribalism, given air by stereotypes and presumptions that contradict the complexity of people most often encountered in real life, which is one of the things that makes it so terribly exhausting.
I’m talking, at least in this case, about the frenzied controversy that now surrounds three simple words — diversity, equity and inclusion — often called “DEI” for short.
Earlier this month Pierce County provided a perfect example of how silly and pointless the battle inspired by the simple-sounding acronym can be, not that it’s something we should take particular pride in.
As The News Tribune’s Becca Most reported, in late September the Pierce County Council — and specifically the small liberal majority among its seven elected members — approved an ordinance, 4 to 3, that would have established an official Commission on Equity.
The creation of such a committee was recommended by Pierce County’s Equity Review Committee, an advisory group launched in 2021 with bipartisan support. The idea, to paraphrase Council Chair and prominent local Democrat Ryan Mello, was to put in place a permanent body that would help local lawmakers develop and enhance important equity work across county government.
On Oct. 9, the drama ensued.
Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier, a Republican, vetoed the ordinance, describing it to The News Tribune as a waste of time and resources.
Dammeier suggested the new commission would be a divisive distraction from the important equity work the county is already undertaking.
He also echoed a common refrain in conservative circles: the misguided idea that this liberal infatuation with equity is more posture than substance — and that, in practice, it can do more harm than good.
“I’m concerned that it won’t yield kind of anything that is tangible or beneficial and will just be a lot of process and a lot of talk,” Dammeier explained to The News Tribune not long after wielding his veto pen for the eighth time as executive.
“We have new tools and existing tools that are already in play,” Dammeier added, “so adding this on top of all of that — I didn’t think was justified.”
Mello, Pierce County government’s most powerful elected Democrat, had an equally on-brand take from the opposite side of the political spectrum.
In a sharply worded note to constituents, Mello speculated about the impact that “a vocal minority working to spread harmful disinformation” might have had on his Republican colleagues’ opposition to the effort. (Specifically, Mello received “about 200” angry emails from constituents, “drummed up” by local hardline Trump-style Republicans, he told me.)
Mello’s message to local residents described Dammeier’s veto as disheartening and troubling.
He also positioned the local DEI tit-for-tat within the broader context of the national partisan debate.
“Executive Dammeier and I do not always agree on everything,” Mello wrote, “but on the work of enhancing equity, I thought we stood shoulder to shoulder.”
“Despite how this has all unfolded, I still know the Executive and my Council colleagues agree that no matter your income level, race, or background, everyone deserves a government that values them and provides services in a manner that meets their diverse needs,” he added.
“The culture war emerging around the country by some to politicize diversity, equity and inclusion efforts is harmful to this work of delivering effective county government to everyone. We must not succumb to the devolving weaponization of equity.”
An unfortunate trend
Let’s stop before we go any further and state one thing for the record:
Dammeier was wrong. No question about it.
Vetoing the creation of a Commission on Equity was reactionary and shortsighted. It also did little more than dump an extra thimble of fuel on a smoldering partisan fire that only elected leaders with a willingness to cut through the noise have the power to extinguish.
Even if Dammeier believes the commission would be all talk — even if he’s convinced that the effort would do little more than provide another platform for DEI performance art — there was clearly a higher, more constructive road to take.
As a Republican who’s spoken candidly about the need to address systemic racism and correct racial disparities in county government, signing off on the commission — or even endorsing it, because why not? — would have been a mildly courageous response, at least in our fractured times.
Unfortunately, Dammeier seems to have little interest in entertaining such ideas.
Previously, Dammeier put the executive kibosh on efforts to fly the Pride flag at county buildings in support of Pierce County’s LGBTQ+ community, hiding behind similar semantics and hypotheticals as justification.
These aren’t principled stands, no matter how you spin it.
They’re little more than commonplace political volleys in the toxic, contemporary culture war we seem so intent on waging — from the highest political offices to the Facebook comment section.
Politics of DEI
Now that we’ve gotten the straight talk out of the way: There’s more to chew on than the blunt-force trauma arguments waged in public suggest.
Is diversity divisive? Of course not. That’s fevered nonsense. You’d be a dope to assert otherwise.
Is it also used as a political football that liberals and conservatives both toss around to score points with their bases and vilify their adversaries?
It would be nearly as foolish to suggest otherwise.
This isn’t an attempt to “both-sides” what happened in Pierce County. Only one party has the high ground, and it’s not particularly close.
But it does get tiresome, wherever you stand — and it doesn’t have to be this way.
What do I mean?
Well, what if I told you Dammeier has a point?
Not in his opposition to creating a Commission on Equity, mind you. That just comes off as deluded and partisan.
What if his underlying assertion — that Pierce County has improved diversity and inclusion in recent years through a an approach with documented success — isn’t all wrong?
For example: A day after Dammeier vetoed the creation of a commission on equity the Pierce County Council passed an update to the county’s administrative guidelines.
The update included an official diversity, equity and inclusion policy — the kind of thing that now consistently stirs frothing MAGA-ites and hardline mega-church pastors.
It’s designed to create a “culture of dignity and respect,” codifying the county’s commitment to fostering an “inclusive work environment” that “celebrates the unique experiences, perspectives, and cultural backgrounds that each employee brings to the workplace,” according to the language of the ordinance.
Perhaps most importantly, the updated policy — which was reviewed by the county’s Equity Review Committee — directs the county’s human resources department to establish DEI programs focused on increasing training opportunities and creating recruitment and retention strategies that promote diversity in the workforce.
A funny thing happened: There was no veto from Dammeier and no competing party-line press releases issued. Republican Council member Dave Morell voted for it. Few, outside of the committed zealots, even realized.
Pierce County’s updated administrative guidelines became the law of the land, without as much as a peep — and it did so with what can accurately be described as bipartisan support.
Further contradicting the familiar narrative, when Dammeier points to the diversity, equity and inclusion work that’s already underway across Pierce County government — the kind of “tools,” the executive suggests, that are “already in play” — he has numbers to back it up.
According to publicly available county data, Pierce County’s workforce has grown more diverse over the last four-plus years under Dammeier’s leadership.
The number of minority employees increased by roughly 5% between late 2017 and August of this year, the statistics show.
During roughly the same time period, the percentage of Pierce County employees who self-identified as white dropped from 77% to 73%.
That’s not a reason to celebrate, to be certain — or cause to unfurl the “mission accomplished” banner. Nor is it meant to suggest people of color and others who have been underrepresented and under-served by Pierce County government should settle for bits and crumbs labeled as progress.
But it’s not nothing, either.
The data represents a step in the right direction, albeit slight and insufficient, achieved at a time of divided government, under Dammeier’s administration.
If nothing else, it shows there’s room for compromise and continued collaboration — if that’s something we’re interested in.
A choice
So where does this leave us?
Hopefully in the mood for self-reflection — and course correction.
The fight for a more equitable society is righteous, in the most sincere meaning of the word, and creating a world where diversity and inclusion are more than buzzwords is something we owe future generations. That’s bigger than party affiliation.
It has also been unnecessarily politicized, which has implications.
When Democrats play the game they have an inherent leg up, because they’re on the right side of history and basic human decency.
At the same time, broad-brushing conservatives as racists and bigots — which is now a fairly standard element of the siloed, partisan DEI argument, at least on the national level — has an unsurprising outcome: inspiring political opponents to dig in their heels.
Meanwhile, when Republicans like Dammeier play the game, they just look like neophytes destined to lose.
Regardless of what’s in their heart — or what they claim to believe — they become prisoners to a destructive, out-of-touch segment of the conservative base, which is sad and ironic, considering the loudest voices come from people they’ll never be able to satisfy. No one wins.
What’s the good news?
We all have a choice — from the executive’s office on down:
We can play along, at our own peril and, oftentimes, at the expense of progress.
Or we can demand something better — before it’s too late.
This story was originally published October 24, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
