By Roy S. Johnson, member of the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame 2023 Pulitzer Prize finalist in Commentary

Guest Columnist Roy S. Johnson
‘WE CAN’T GO BACK’ – – George Wallace, in his 1963 inaugural address, promised his white followers: “Segregation now! Segregation tomorrow! Segregation forever!” When African Ameri- can students attempted to desegregate the University of Alabama in June 1963, Alabama’s new governor, flanked by state troopers, literally blocked the door of the enrollment office.

This is an opinion column.

What have they done? Besides make themselves proud. So proud of themselves.

Alabama Republicans are proud as preening peacocks of killing DEI. Proud of binding together in lockstep and accomplishing a two-year quest to, well, do exactly what?

Proud for stuffing fingers in their ears, being deaf to logic, truth, and young voices who saw DEI as an anchor, as a rock—not to throw, but to stand upon. Who saw it as protection, as a promise of opportunity, not outcomes. Who saw it as a safe haven allowing them to be.

To excel.

Not anymore because Republicans choked DEI with a thimble full of unverified incidents and tsunami of groundless fears. They choked it with empty rhetoric and jejune catchphrases—how many times did we hear “indoctrinating,“ “colorblind,” “divisive concepts,” and “equal outcomes”? — they dutifully parroted but could not accurately define nor factually defend.

No matter. With the sweep of a pen by our double-minded Governor—she claimed to “value Alabama’s rich diversity” while spitting in its eye—Republicans expelled the whole of DEI due to, in Gov. Ivey’s own revealing words “a few bad apples.”

Would a “few bad apples” in, say law enforcement, cause Republicans to eliminate all of law enforcement across the state? Of course not.

Yet they pridefully flushed DEI, as with so many much they ram through the legislature as super-majority bullies, as a solution, though to a problem that exists only in their closed minds.

Along with attacks on libraries, voter access, and gender identity, they are in lockstep with Texas and Florida in diminishing any progress we’ve made to elevate our “rich diversity” to form the unholy troika-core of, what, a new Culture Confederacy?

DEI is not perfect—its rapid, unregulated growth is certainly partly to blame for it becoming a target for those who stone what they do not comprehend. Yet nothing is perfect, truly.

Because a specific class or even a curriculum is a dud, we don’t shut down the institution.

Let alone all institutions.

Because one or two professors fall short or misstep in the classroom, we don’t fire all professors.

Unless you’re Alabama Republicans.

They’ve proudly bullied the state back to the 1950s. To when America was nowhere near great—not for more of us than they want to acknowledge.

Now, as I previously noted—and was brilliantly portrayed by my award-winning colleague J.D. Crowe—they embody one of Alabama’s lowest images: Republicans proudly stand behind Ivey at the schoolhouse (and bathroom) doors, saying, You’re not welcome here. (Unless you think like us. Or won’t hurt our precious feelings.)

Now what?

Leaders in higher education and state offices everywhere, along with their attorneys are trying to figure that out. They’re assessing the best they can what they must do to abide by the new law while softening its potentially “chilling effect on student opportunities,” as stated by Heidi Tseu, associate vice president for national engagement at the American Council on Education.

In the meantime, between now and the six months before the new law goes into effect, I wonder:

Can state funds be used to pay the severances of any Alabamians who may lose their jobs, their ability to care for their families, their livelihoods, due to the new law?

Can they be used to pat contractors rip those three dreaded letters from departments, walls, and doorplates on campuses and offices throughout the state? For new business cards for those still working the department of whatever to continue to ensure students, faculty, and employees are welcomed and valued and embraced by a safe haven allowing them to be?

To excel.

Can they be used for the salaries of whomever the heck is supposed to monitor bathrooms statewide to ensure no one walks into one labeled differently from their assigned sex?

It’s a proud moment for Alabama Republicans.

What now? Perhaps scripture foretells: Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.

This post was originally published on this site