What is a 'DEI hire'? Florida Rep calls attacks on Kamala Harris' ability a 'racial slur'

Some Republicans scrambling to refocus their talking points on Vice President Kamala Harris now that she has abruptly become the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate and reinvigorated the Democratic Party.

Some have mocked her laugh. Some have ridiculed her dancing. (Harris' campaign has embraced these as positives, as well as numerous memes supporting her such as "brat summer" to strong response.) And Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett accused her of being a “DEI vice president” on social media and then as a “DEI hire” in a CNN interview, suggesting the former district attorney, California attorney general and U.S. senator was chosen for VP solely due to identity politics and not merit.

“One hundred percent she is a DEI hire,” he said.

"Whenever you hear DEI, I want you to think about the N word," Rep. Maxwell Frost, a Florida Democrat and the youngest member of Congress, told CNN in an interview Tuesday. "I want you to think about racial slurs. That's what they actually mean."

On Wednesday, Burchett said on SiriusXM’s “The LauraCoates Show” that he regretted what he said, but doubled down anyway. “Do I wish I’d said it? No, but it was the truth,” he said.

Harris has also been called a DEI hire by conservative talk show host Charlie Kirk, FOX Business host Larry Kudlow, Fox News host Jesse Watters, Wyoming Rep. Harriet Hageman, former Trump official Sebastian Gorka and Utah Rep. Burgess Owens (who is Black) who told Punchbowl News that Harris is “the greatest example of DEI.”

Politico reported that House Republican leaders told members of the party in a closed-door meeting Tuesday morning to focus on Harris' record rather than talking about her race or gender.

“Her ethnicity and her gender have nothing to do with this whatsoever," House Speaker Mike Johnson said at a press conference the same day. "This is about who can deliver for the American people and get us out of the mess that we’re in."

DEI has become the latest talking point in the anti-"woke" culture war for conservative politicians and commentators, and a particular target for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

What is DEI?

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is a term used to describe programs and policies that encourage representation and participation of diverse groups of people of all genders, races and ethnicities, abilities and disabilities, religions, cultures, ages, and sexual orientations.

DEI programs in business are intended to make sure that everyone — especially groups that have historically been underrepresented or discriminated against — receives fair treatment and that differences are embraced to improve relations and teamwork and increase cultural sensitivity. In education, DEI typically refers to strategies, policies and practices that provide all students equal access to educational opportunities, regardless of their background, identity or abilities.

"Companies that are diverse, equitable, and inclusive are better able to respond to challenges, win top talent, and meet the needs of different customer bases," said multinational consulting firm McKinsey & Company.

DEI programs grew out of the affirmative action measures started during the Civil Rights era to address historic and persistent discrimination on the basis of race, sex or disability and they exploded in popularity during the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements, especially after the murder of George Floyd.

Critics claim DEI programs prioritize minorities to the exclusion of more qualified candidates and treat them as anti-white, anti-male, ideologically-driven "woke" discrimination, with some even saying they contribute to antisemitism.

The anti-woke backlash over the last few years, especially last year after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative-action admissions policies, has resulted in DEI programs getting dropped at many public colleges. Some companies have discontinued their DEO training programs, although most companies surveyed said they were keeping theirs. Conservative activists have filed a growing number of legal challenges advocating for "colorblindness" in the workplace.

What is a DEI hire?

The term DEI hire is a shortened version of "diversity hire," a pejorative term implying someone was only hired to fill a quota or check a box in a DEI program and not on their own merits.

"Intellectually, just really kind of the bottom of the barrel," Rep. Hageman said about Harris on Tuesday. "I think she was a DEI hire. And I think that that's what we're seeing, and I just don't think that they have anybody else."

Burchett said in the CNN interview that President Joe Biden himself said Harris was a DEI hire.

"Biden said - first off, he said he's going to hire a black female for vice president and that not, -- he just skipped over," Burchett told correspondent Manu Raju. "What about white females? What about any other group? When you go down that route, you take mediocrity. and that's what they have right now as a vice president."

“Unfortunately, it has become common for some conservatives to attempt to discredit, demoralize and disrespect leaders of color by labeling them ‘diversity hires’ – or otherwise misappropriating the language of diversity, equity, and inclusion as thinly veiled racist insults,” Mita Mallick, author of “Reimagine Inclusion” who runs DEI at Carta, wrote in Fast Company.

DeSantis vs. DEI

The GOP has weaponized the backlash on DEI, blaming efforts to create a more inclusive and equitable environment for everything from airline safety issues to global tech outages to the attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump.

But few have taken it as directly as Ron DeSantis.

"What this bill is saying is, you know, some of these niche subjects like critical race theory, other types of DEI-infused courses and majors," DeSantis said in 2023 when he signed legislation to ban state or federal funding for any state university programs that “advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion, or promote or engage in political or social activism.”

"Florida's getting out of that game," he said. "You want to do things like gender ideology? Go to Berkeley. Go to some of those other places."

Universities and colleges across the state dropped their programs and eliminated staff positions in response, although some have pushed back. Students and staff have protested, with many critics saying the push to the right was hurting higher education in Florida and causing a brain drain as graduate students chose to attend school elsewhere.

"As a student, UF has a lot of things that I'm really continuously impressed by," said Amiya Gupta, a fourth-year engineering major at the University of Florida. "I think we have a lot of resources. I've always thought that this has been a great university in terms of the academics, the research and the community. But I think this is symptomatic of a bigger problem in Florida's politics, because I think, historically, universities have always been places of community building and show the importance of bringing in wide and diverse perspectives — not only diverse in terms of race or any personal characteristics — but in terms of thought and ideas.

"And I think that Florida politics is trying really hard to infiltrate that," she said.

DeSantis has waged war on programs addressing race in Florida for years. The "Stop WOKE Act" in 2022 limited discussion of race, gender and other topics in state university classrooms, but it also banned diversity practices and training that could make employees feel "personal responsibility" for actions committed in the past by someone of the "same race, color, sex or national origin."

After the liberal arts college New College of Florida in Sarasota underwent a hostile takeover with an eye toward turning it into a conservation higher education experiment, the new board members appointed by DeSantis abolished the school’s DEI office.

In May, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody announced the state would investigate Starbucks for its diversity, equity and inclusion practices.

The conservative Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, which purports to be a conservative roadmap for a second Donald Trump presidency, praises Florida and DeSantis for his fight to empower parents and ending diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the workplace and across education. The project's plans for education mirror many of DeSantis' initiatives in the state.

Trump has publicly backed away from Project 2025 due to backlash over its extreme plans, saying he has no connection to it despite the number of people in Trump's former administration and current circle that are involved.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: 'DEI hire'? Kamala Harris attacked by GOP critics for her race, sex