Despite high levels of polarization around the country, we can all agree that words matter a lot in this moment. The flurry of executive orders specifically abolishing government offices and funded programs associated with DEI has brought the power of words out into the open in ways that we can not ignore. Many organizations in our network have contacted us seeking guidance on if, or how, to shift their language given the unfolding and highly unpredictable events emerging from the White House and the Federal government. This is our abbreviated response: don’t focus your energy on fighting a war of words. Now is not the time to expend precious resources on maintaining momentum behind DEI vocabulary for the sake of that momentum, but rather to focus attention on the marathon ahead and what it’s really about at its core: the legal and normative protections of our civil rights and liberties.
Our democratic system is built upon a recognition of the value of protecting civil rights and liberties where and when we know they have been or are being limited. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are simply other ways of talking about those foundational pillars that uphold a society with aspirations of fairness and more just outcomes across the many diverse communities that make up the United States. When we say civil rights, we mean the right to representative government, the right to vote, the right to a fair trial, the right to government services, the right to a public education, the right to gainful employment, the right to housing, the right to use public facilities, freedom of religion and freedom from discrimination based on membership in a particular group or class.
“Our democratic system is built upon a recognition of the value of protecting civil rights and liberties where and when we know they have been or are being limited. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are simply other ways of talking about those foundational pillars that uphold a society with aspirations of fairness and more just outcomes across the many diverse communities that make up the United States.”
Connecting your organizational messaging back to these foundational touch-points of specific civil rights and liberties anchors your work in constitutionally protected rights and side-steps the spectacle that anti-DEI rhetoric is now producing. Although the recent executive orders will have substantial and wide-ranging impacts, they cannot undo laws passed by the US legislature over the past 8 decades that clearly ground contemporary American life in the aspiration—although not always the reality of—equality.
To strengthen your organizational communications in this crucial moment, link your work to the individual protections and robust democratic principles that underlie your sector in all communications. For example:
- Emphasize the ways that your programs are aligning with long-standing laws, ensuring that illegal discrimination is less likely and affirming that this is at the core of your work, driven by your organizational values.
- When accusations of illegal activity or discrimination are leveled in your sector, specifically point out the key ways your programs are advancing protections of civil liberties and rights of Americans—as demonstrated in this recent Forbes article. Remember, just because the claims are being made does not mean they are true, or would stand up to legal scrutiny.
The new administration is claiming that it is taking measures to combat discrimination. Therefore, messaging from nonprofits needs to be clear and remind audience members that words like “discrimination”, “rights”, “civil liberties” and “equality” have precise meanings, tied to legal institutions and frameworks in our country. To distinguish actual discrimination from strong-arm narratives attempting to co-opt that highly compelling vocabulary, audiences need you to share in simple terms how your work is extending the history of civil rights in our country.
If your organization is working on the following issues, consider framing your messaging to connect to these specific civil rights:
- Racial justice → freedom from long-standing and ongoing discrimination, the right to representative government and the right to fair trial.
- Climate resilience, adaptation or mitigation → the right to housing, the right to use public facilities, the right to government services.
- Education justice → the right to a public education and gainful employment, freedom from discrimination.
- Disability Justice → the accessible use of public facilities, freedom from historic and ongoing discrimination, the right to government services, public education and gainful employment.
- Food justice → the right to government services and representative government, freedom from discrimination.
- Gender justice → the right to representative government, government services, the right to use of public facilities and freedom from discrimination.
The nonprofit sector is working to advance the promise of democratic principles and protections of civil rights and liberties for all Americans in ways that candidly reflect the actual experiences of communities that have not, and do not, have necessary access.
If your organization is currently struggling to identify how to rethink DEI efforts, or shift your communications more broadly, given the changing media and government landscape, contact us to learn about how we can support a robust strategy for this new and unfolding context.