BLOG

I watched Don Lemon’s interview with Elon Musk, and I found a lot of the responses interesting because people that lean more conservative felt that Don Lemon was interrogating him and it was a poor interview, and people who lean left thought that Don was amazing and Elon was agitated and rude.

I personally had some issues with how both of them conducted themselves at points in the interview. I love Don Lemon, and I thought he asked some good questions but some I felt were unnecessary. And while I don’t care for Elon, I thought he did have some interesting and valuable takeaways. However, I really want to home in on Elon’s evasiveness on DEI.

I have been in many situations where people have thought I only received certain accolades not because of my merit (despite me being educated, working my ass off and being able to prove myself when I didn’t need to) but because of “affirmative action” and because I was Black. Elon made the statement in regards to DEI that we shouldn’t be lowering standards in certain fields, and  while I think he believes it is noble to say that, seeking out diversity does not automatically lower the standards. People with this viewpoint tend to think more diverse environments mean you aren’t hiring the best, which clearly to me means they think only white men are qualified to do anything.

DEI’s purpose has always been to allow for the makeup of any environment to not solely be the dominant race, a race who has had access to those opportunities the majority of the time. The lack of diversity in the workplace or any place for that matter is not because people of color or women lack the skills to compete on that level, it’s because the gatekeepers tend to hire and include people that look like them.  (So they DO understand what representation means!!)

I just want to know what would help adjust the mindset of Elon and others like him. I fully believe that, even if there weren’t DEI initiatives put in place or if affirmative action never existed, people like Elon Musk would still think that people who look like me only received whatever accolade they are receiving because of the color of their skin or their gender identity. And when you already have your mind made up about that, there’s really nothing that could convince you that the mediocre white male who got the job maybe isn’t the right one for the job. Because let’s face it… standards were never questioned when it was just them in the office.