Black ‘inclusion’ director called ‘white supremacist’ for being too inclusive

A black university employee in charge of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) says she was accused of being a white supremacist and was bullied out of her job for being too inclusive.

DEI is an ideology which advocates hiring employees or enrolling students based on their pigmentation or genitalia at the expense of equality or even profitability. DEI directors are tasked with ensuring that women, non-whites and the sexually disoriented are placed above all others, both in opportunity and social status. The role also includes making sure that others view their work or learning environment in terms of gender, race and sexual disorientation. 

DEI exploded into a multimillion-dollar industry following the death of George Floyd in 2020.

But De Anza College’s Office of Equity, Social Justice, and Education Faculty Director Dr. Tabia Lee is one DEI operative who took her role too seriously, inviting “non-stop hostility” from her co-workers.

When she created a Google Doc system to help streamline processes for her colleagues, they accused her of “whitesplaining” and being a white supremacist.

“I’m a black woman, and [they’re] telling me that I’m white-splaining,” Lee told the New York Post. “[Everyone] acted like I had injured [my colleague] instead of it being the other way around, because I didn’t confess to my white supremacy or whatever.”

Lee, who has been in the DEI business for years, was excited to get the job at De Anza in 2021.

“I researched them, and I thought we had similar values around diversity, equity and anti-racism,” she said. “I was selected, and I was like, wow, this is a dream come true.”

But that dream was crushed when Lee asked why the university was capitalizing “Black” in communications but not “white”, citing a recommendation from the National Association of Black Journalists that races be capitalized.

“For that, I was accused of being a white supremacist,” she said. “These constant accusations of calling people racist or calling them a white supremacist or saying that they’re aligned with right wingers — that’s such ridiculousness. It’s very damaging.”

In another instance, Lee questioned a ritual by the college where faculty members recite an acknowledgement that the land the college is built on belongs to Native Americans. While Lee supported the ritual — which is performed at the beginning of classes, meetings and Zoom calls — she informed her colleagues that they were declaring solidarity with the wrong tribe, sparking backlash.

“To me that signals, it doesn’t really matter,” Lee said. “We’re doing [land acknowledgements] to signal our alignment with critical social justice ideology and not to really make any real changes. It’s a performative, almost pseudo-religious exercise.”

When Jewish students and faculty members approached her about being subjected to antisemitism on campus, Lee decided to organize a conference to address the issue. But her colleagues told her the event was unimportant and that Jews are white oppressors.

Lee says her colleagues decided she had to be eliminated by “any means necessary”. She was recently denied tenure for her “inability to demonstrate cooperation in working with colleagues and staff” and an “unwillingness to accept constructive criticism”.

On June 15, she will no longer be employed by the college.

Lee is not the only DEI minority to discover that DEI is neither about minorities nor inclusion.

In June 2020, the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCWBI) proudly announced its new Chief Equity & Inclusion Officer, a black Jewish woman named April Powers. 

A year later, Powers posted a tweet condemning antisemitism and “all forms of hate.” But because she did not also specifically condemn Islamophobia in the tweet, Powers had to apologize and was forced to resign. She continued to receive death threats and SCWBI issued a statement of apology for Powers’ condemnation of antisemitism. 

One unlikely voice who came out in defense of Powers was Will & Grace star Debra Messing, who once suggested that blacks who vote for Trump are “mentally ill.” Messing posted a furious tweet about the Powers story, but there was otherwise no outrage. 

Last month, Joe Biden signed an executive order instructing all cabinet secretaries to hire DEI teams within 30 days — what the EO referred to as “agency equity teams”.

“Each Agency Equity Team shall support continued equity training and equity leadership development for staff across all levels of the agency’s workforce,” the order says.