Reader Spotlight: Do the work, own your stuff

Do the work, own your stuff

For years, many of us thought that when someone wrote “DEI” they were just misspelling die. At least now we know what DEI stands for, but we don’t really understand what “it” is (not unlike CRT or woke, but that’s another letter.)

The Idaho legislature seems to be hell bent on removing DEI initiatives (DEI is Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) from their universities, and more places than that but I’m trying to be empirical. A January 2025 article in The S-R quotes Senator Lenney, R-Nampa as saying “In 2025 we’ll ramp up our campaign, … to completely eradicate these toxic policies.” The S-R article continues that the Idaho Board of Education banned all DEI programs at universities.

As a good white girl, I must say “you all crazy.” As our nation becomes more diverse (42% being nonwhite), we must admit that we should be paying attention to this demographic shift. But denial is an amazingly strong coping skill and white Americans don’t pay attention to much until it’s a crisis, or it affects their pocketbook.

So, I’m here to say that DEI has helped me process many of my racist views, views that I didn’t even realize existed in my brain. As a good progressive, I thought I’d addressed most of this stuff, but as the Shaman Kurtis Robinson says, we are all swimming in a sea of racism. It’s hard to see something when it’s the lens through which we look. Our work policies, trainings, HR practices, deeds are all laced with racism. The work continues. DEI has helped me recognize and own that reality.

So, I’m talking to all you white folks – stop it. Start owning our cultural reality. Nonwhite folks deal with this multiple times every day and you all are whining about it like it’s your experience. Do the work, own your stuff. Act like grownups.

Edie Rice-Sauer

Spokane