The Superpower (aka Soft Power) Of DEI

Forbes

21-04-2025

Diverse, Inclusive, Accepting, Welcoming, Safe Space for Everyone signage outside Forest Hills ... More Jewish Center, Queens, New York. (Photo by: Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
I am a proud, naturalized American citizen. I was the 1980s equivalent of a 'dreamer' immigrant, someone brought to America as a child with undocumented status, who subsequently obtained legal citizenship. Thanks to President Reagan, no less.
My parents brought me here from war-torn Sri Lanka, in hopes of a better life. So, I know what it means to live with a constant, gnawing fear, fear that your nation of choice, the land where you have pinned your future and identity, might reject you, and fear that your nation of origin might not welcome you back.
This year, since the Trump Administration launched its two-front war on immigration and DEI—'diversity, equity, and inclusion'—has been quite a ride, to put it mildly. I would say it has been a roller-coaster ride, but there have been no peaks.
One of the things that makes America truly exceptional throughout the world—its core principle of assimilating immigrants who strive for a safer, freer life—has been denigrated for the sake of short-term political gain.
As someone who has spent a lifetime as a public voice for social justice, I have been chagrined to see how even bland, neutral words can be quickly weaponized for cultural warfare.
President Trump and his appointees, sadly, have been all too effective in making the mere acronym 'DEI' radioactive and divisive. He has extended the reach of this poisonous view into realms far beyond the realm of executive orders, even Disney cartoons and French companies.
Most shocking has been the realization that a U.S. president could propound a Big Brother-type list of censored words and get away with it.
Even so, as a student of soft power, I have wanted to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. And, to my surprise, the news is complicated but not all bad.
Soft power initiatives—of which DEI is surely one of the most prominent—are more durable because they gather strength and reach gradually, from the bottom up, not by diktat or force.
And guess what? In this case, soft power is more than standing its ground.
To be sure, in a shockingly short period of time a number of high-profile institutions and corporations have cravenly and publicly caved to Trumpian demands to scrub their websites and operations of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
But this number has been dwarfed by those who have not so much as batted an eye either publicly or in their operations.
Trump's war on DEI has revealed not how weak and ill-founded the ethics of diversion, equity, and inclusion have been, but how deeply (and wisely) embedded in America's body politic they have become.
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS - JUNE 29: People walk through the gate on Harvard Yard at the Harvard ... More University campus on June 29, 2023 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that race-conscious admission policies used by Harvard and the University of North Carolina violate the Constitution, bringing an end to affirmative action in higher education. (Photo by)
America's soft power success story of 2025 will be: DEI is dead, long live DEI.
Take Apple, the pinnacle of American commerce at a world-leading valuation of more than $3 trillion. Amid the white-hot competition in mobile phones and artificial intelligence, you would think Apple would be the first to be wary of displeasing the U.S. government and buckle under to threats surrounding DEI.
Not so. Apple doubled down, explicitly rejecting a proposal to abandon its principles.
Others who have likewise gone on the record in defense of DEI: Coca-Cola, Costco, Delta Airlines, JP Morgan Chase, Microsoft (also valued at more than $3 trillion), Patagonia, and Ben & Jerry's.
Harvard University, the oldest higher education institution in the United States and the one with the largest endowment by a wide margin, has been firm in its response to Trump's anti-DEI demands. Its answer: nope.
A recent review of almost 400 DEI programs in higher education institutions found that the ratio of those standing pat versus those eliminating DEI programs is roughly 24-to-1.
If you think the Pentagon's frenetic and petty effort to remove photos, paintings, and videos lauding diversity is worrisome, just recall the television advertising during the March Madness basketball playoffs.
America's recruiting advertisements are panoramas of young men and women of every conceivable ethnicity performing vital military functions with pride and professionalism.
Why? The U.S. military faces a harrowing recruitment crisis. It needs (wait for it) diversity and inclusion—more than minorities need the military. Minorities are already overrepresented in the military relative to the general U.S. population.
'Diversity' isn't a nightmare for national security; it's one facet of our beautiful, compelling American dream.
As for gender inclusivity, take a look at the numbers, sports fans. The fastest-growing sports franchise in the world is the WNBA.
America has not reached the end of the DEI era. In so many ways, it is just beginning.
Two of America's largest states—California and Texas—are already 'majority-minority,' i.e., minorities collectively make up more of the population than non-Hispanic whites. By the end of President Trump's term, the entire age group of Americans under the age of 29 will be majority-minority.
By the time an American child born today graduates from college, around 2045, the entire nation will be majority-minority. If anyone thinks Generations B,C, and D—or whatever generations to come might be called—will be less in favor of diversity, equity, and inclusion, think again.
Social acceptance of racial, gender, immigrant, and gay/lesbian issues continues to trend upward, especially among the younger generations. Eight in 10 Americans favor laws that protect gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people against discrimination in jobs, public accommodations, and housing.
America will face many debates over its treatment of racial, ethnic, and gender identity in the coming years. Some may be more heated and more violent than those we are witnessing now.
But one reality is clear. DEI as a core principle and a soft power movement has not been silenced. It is the voice of the future.