SPLC President and CEO Margaret Huang, Stacey Abrams defend DEI in USA Today

As the nation has seen “a powerful, multipronged assault” on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts, it’s imperative to fight back against this attempt to repeal progress that has provided equitable opportunities in the U.S.

That’s the message of a USA Today op-ed by Southern Poverty Law Center President and CEO Margaret Huang and American Pride Rises founder Stacey Abrams. The piece describes how Abrams, who is Black, and Huang, an Asian American, saw doors that were closed to their parents due to systemic racism and sexism open for them due to DEI efforts. Yet, despite 6 in 10 Americans approving of DEI, there’s a renewed wave of attacks on such efforts.

DEI proponents must be committed to fending off these attacks.

“Cynical opponents are counting on us not to fight back, but we have come too far as a country to capitulate and not protect our hard-won gains,” Huang and Abrams write. “Organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center, American Pride Rises and others are committed to winning the fight.”

You can read the entire op-ed here.

Picture at top: In a 2022 photo, protesters rally as the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments in affirmative action college admission cases. In June 2023, the court declared affirmative action admissions policies used by Harvard College and the University of North Carolina unconstitutional. (Credit: Jack Gruber/USA Today)