The Failure of DEI: It Did Not Equate to Black Progress, So Why Keep Fighting for It?

For decades, Black leaders have championed Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) as a means to correct systemic inequalities. Yet, after more than 50 years, DEI has failed Black communities while reinforcing White power structures. If DEI was truly about dismantling systemic oppression, why have White women been its greatest beneficiaries while Black families and generational wealth continue to fall further behind?

The Trump administration recently moved to dismantle federal DEI programs, prompting strong opposition from Black leaders who have rushed to defend these initiatives. But the harsh truth is that DEI has never served Black people the way it has benefited White women. Rather than dismantling systemic barriers, DEI has acted as a Trojan horse for preserving White supremacy, giving White women disproportionate access to economic, career, and leadership advantages—while Black Americans remain locked out of true progress. For Black women, this realization is particularly disheartening, as their emotional labor and advocacy have long been manipulated to push agendas that have done nothing to build Black wealth or strengthen Black families.

DEI Has Strengthened White Wealth, Not Black Progress

A 2020 report from Catalyst exposes the unequal benefits of DEI—White women, due to their proximity to White men in corporate and social spaces, have leveraged DEI policies for their own advancement. Meanwhile, Black communities, the very people DEI was supposedly designed to uplift, have seen little to no systemic change.

A 2022 McKinsey & Company study found that 63% of DEI leadership roles are held by White women—not Black women, not Latina or Indigenous women. This reveals a stark reality: DEI has become an extension of White feminism, solidifying White women’s place in corporate America while using Black women as the face of the movement. Meanwhile, Black professionals are left tokenized, sidelined, and without real decision-making power, proving that DEI has been more about optics than actual systemic change.

For over 50 years, affirmative action and DEI programs have overwhelmingly benefited White women—gaining them the highest increases in income, executive positions, and economic mobility. Meanwhile, the racial wealth gap for Black Americans has barely moved and, in many cases, widened.

If DEI Worked, Black Wealth Would Have Grown

A recent Federal Reserve report highlights a persistent issue: while the average White family’s wealth continues to grow exponentially, Black families remain systematically locked out of homeownership, high-paying jobs, and financial security. If DEI initiatives had truly been successful, Black economic empowerment would be a reality, not a topic still up for debate. Instead, the enduring wealth gap indicates that DEI has done little more than uphold existing power structures, offering only the illusion of progress.

Reflecting on the period since the Obama administration, the economic disparities have become even more pronounced. According to inequality.org, over Obama’s presidency, median Black wealth never returned to even its modest $10,700 from before the Great Recession. By 2013, it had dropped to just $1,700 — virtually nothing — even as white wealth rebounded.

Imagine if, over the last 50 years, Black communities had concentrated on building generational wealth through business ownership, land acquisition, and economic self-sufficiency, rather than investing hope in the unfulfilled promises of DEI. Where would we be today? How much stronger would our families, communities, and financial institutions be if we had prioritized ownership over optics? The time spent on ineffective initiatives could have been directed toward creating genuine power, not just symbolic inclusion.

Why Are Black Leaders Still Defending DEI?

With DEI under attack, Black leaders have rushed to defend it—but why? If the past 50 years have shown us anything, it’s that DEI has not delivered real economic or structural power to Black communities.

1. DEI Was Never Designed for Black Liberation – If DEI was meant to create equity, why are Black families still experiencing rising economic insecurity while White women have climbed the corporate ladder? Fighting for DEI today is like demanding a seat at a table that was never meant for us.
2. White Women’s Gains = White Family Wealth – Over the last 50 years, the largest recipients of affirmative action policies have been White women. And what does that mean? White families and White generational wealth have continued to accumulate—while Black generational wealth remains stagnant or declined.
3. Performative Inclusion, No Real Power – Even in DEI leadership roles, Black professionals lack true decision-making authority. Many are trapped in symbolic positions, used to signal “diversity” while corporations maintain the same White-dominated hierarchies.
4. DEI is a Distraction from Real Solutions – If DEI truly worked, Black people wouldn’t still be demanding economic justice, land ownership opportunities, and reparations. Instead, the focus remains on corporate diversity statistics rather than shifting wealth and power into Black hands.

The End of DEI Should Be a Wake-Up Call, Not a Cause for Mourning

Trump’s decision to gut DEI programs should not be seen as the death of Black opportunity—because DEI was never the solution in the first place. If DEI had worked, Black wealth wouldn’t still be a fraction of White wealth. If DEI had worked, Black professionals wouldn’t still be fighting for equal pay and fair treatment in the workplace while White women continue to reap the majority of the benefits.

Black leaders must stop defending a system that has failed us and instead refocus on strategies that build real economic power. It’s time to pool our $1.5 trillion in spending power to support Black-owned businesses, banks, and institutions, ensuring that our dollars circulate within our communities before benefiting outsiders. We must move beyond symbolic “diversity” initiatives that primarily serve White women and White families and start demanding direct economic investment in Black communities, reparations, and land ownership opportunities—the true keys to closing the racial wealth gap.

Beyond economics, Black leadership must also prioritize education and workforce development. Instead of pushing our children into an outdated system that leaves them in debt with useless degrees, we should be guiding them toward skilled trades like plumbing, electrical work, engineering, technology, AI, and cybersecurity—fields that create long-term stability and generational wealth.

The end of DEI isn’t the end of Black progress—it’s an opportunity to fight for something better. The real question is: Will we finally demand real power by building our own institutions, or will we keep begging for a seat at a table that was never meant for us?