Of Protest and Paradox

Abstract

This chapter glances into the experience of leading diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work while living in Minneapolis before, during, and after the murder of George Floyd, the subsequent uprisings, and racial reckoning of 2020. Ironically, the progressive state of Minnesota has been the site of multiple state-involved murders while also consistently voting Democrats into the White House and U.S. congress. This Minnesota paradox creates a unique place for DEI work. The author explores theories of white guilt and white saviorism, provides context about the racial and social environment of Minnesota, and provides recommendations for Black women DEI practitioners and those that employ them.

The racial politics of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work.

“…There is no prior research to suggest the tensions and experiences of DEI work differ across institutional spaces, although a preponderance of work situates DEI work as particularly challenging and fraught in predominately White institutional contexts (Patton et al, 2019; Reed, 2023). For example, scholars have previously laid out the tensions of Black leadership in higher education and DEI work (Ahmed, 2009, 2012, 2014, 2018; Briscoe et al, 2022; Briscoe & Jones, 2022; L. L. Jones, 2023; Stewart, 2017).…”

“…Racially and ethnically minoritized people who work in DEI are uniquely challenged to decenter Whiteness and transform organizations also having to rely on and work within the parameters of White logics within the organization (Gorski, 2019). As others before us have noted in prior critiques of DEI work (Ahmed, 2012(Ahmed, , 2018Casellas Connors, 2021;Gray et al, 2023;L. L. Jones, 2023;Leon, 2014;Long, 2003;Patton et al, 2019;Reed, 2023;Stewart, 2017), it is a perpetual challenge to transform higher education institutions while working within them (Andreotti et al, 2015;Stein, 2018Stein, , 2019Stein, , 2021Stewart, 2017;Zembylas, 2021).…”

“…The stress, labor, and workload of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) staff and administrators in higher education never seem to end (Endo, 2021; Gray et al, 2023; V. Jones, 2020, 2023). Within the current political and economic climate (e.g., Russell-Brown, 2024), DEI workers are forced to have conversations about unit name changes, removing DEI rhetoric from strategic planning documents, or planning for their unit to be dissolved altogether 1 .…”