Victor Davis Hanson: Not Enough People Were ‘Marginalized,’ So Obama Created DEI

Feb 12, 2025

Victor Davis Hanson, a renowned historian and columnists, delves into the shift from affirmative action to the broader concept of diversity, equity, and inclusion during the Obama years. He argues that this change aimed to expand the definition of marginalized groups, enabling a more extensive woke agenda. Hanson discusses the complexities of identity politics and systemic racism, emphasizing the importance of a unified perspective on humanity that goes beyond rigid racial classifications. His insights provoke thought on the evolution of these critical social concepts.

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Evolving Definitions of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Society

00:00 • 5min

Navigating Identity Politics and Systemic Racism

05:00 • 2min

Why did President Barack Obama start using words like “diversity, equity, and inclusion” instead of the typical "affirmative action"?

Affirmative action was created to right the historic wrongs imposed on African Americans during the Jim Crow era, which included about 10% of the U.S. population. Obama used DEI to expand the terminology to anyone who isn’t white. Why?

Victor Davis Hanson argues in this edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words” that it was to dramatically increase the size of the historically marginalized constituency, allowing the Obama administration to implement its expansive woke agenda:

“Affirmative action was created during the civil rights era, 1964 and '65, and then, now, it has been with us almost 60 years. But remember what it was originally designed for—to address the historic racism and oppression of black Americans through slavery and Jim Crow, de facto segregation in some of the Northern states, but de jure segregation in the South.

"And it said that because of that African Americans had not been given equality of opportunity. Statute never said anything about quotas or equality result ...

“When the Obama administration came in, they saw that that constituency was not big enough for the type of woke agenda that they were envisioning

"So, they recreated it. They used a word, “diversity.” And diversity then would morph in, during the Obama years, to “diversity, equity, and inclusion.” They added the “equity and inclusion” so you didn't obsess on race, which was the obsession. But they didn't want you to think about that. So then, all of a sudden, anybody was diverse on one qualification.

"They were not white."

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