DEI Is Under Attack. What's The Plan? | ForbesBLK Summit 2024

Four years after George Floyd's murder ignited America's racial reckoning, DEI initiatives are now under attack, and corporate investment in DEI is on the decline. In this panel, three of the most influential figures in DEI policy and business strategy will discuss how business leaders and the Black community can continue to advance equity and inclusion in the face of significant backlash.
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[@shaunaodiea6184]

May God richly bless all of their lives, and the lives of their loved ones. I will watch this many times. 💯🙏🏾💯

[@TDA55555]

Powerful panel. Such a great 30 minutes. This was straight brilliance the entire time. Thank you.

[@gailjordan2063]

Ladies you all stated your opinions and strategies excellently. We all must vote and strive to be the best at everything we put our minds and hearts to.

[@sljt8d2g7nfp4ua6ey]

👏, thank you Stacey.

[@christenasmalls6118]

Amen, Stacey Abrams is such a critical voice that speaks to and understanding of the issues that are not new but ongoing.

[@silentmajority8365]

@@christenasmalls6118 read 2025 for yourself Its not a law its just goals that require lawful acts to implement We should be hiring the most qualified not the one with the right color or gender

[@HH-pp6hp]

Amazing Stacy Abrams, thank you for the knowledge....you are the absolute best! 💯 ATL Thanks to all other participants, you all are also amazing the best in addition!!

[@chanelhopeful5336]

Bravo, this was truly amazing to watch ,thank you ladies 💙, vote blue n vote against Project 2025💙

[@silentmajority8365]

So you oppose hiring the most qualified as opposed to a color?

[@ddfelder2]

Under attack? Most ppl want nothing to do with it anyway.

[@EvanHicks-m5k]

That's ignorant.

[@TheMoreUGrow143]

Companies need to get rid of DEI teams , they hold companies back and is a waste of time and money.

[@shirleyharris1335]

As a former state government employee and from decades of civil service experience, All government employees represents All American citizens! And to the best of my knowledge, All are Nonpartisan and responsibilities should never change no matter which administration serves, of course excluding closely associated cabinet members! The same should hold true for Volunteer Election Workers! Government in its entirety should be about ensuring citizens are created equally!💙💙💙✌🏽 ❤

[@silentmajority8365]

No such thing as a non partisan person We have socialists holding office as Judges and DAs etc. Libs are crying because 2025 will hire those qualified as opposed to color gender etc

[@yasip9897]

Might be better to keep the plan to yourself. Why would you reveal it to your enemies? Unless this is just smoke and mirrors. In chess, you don't tell your opponent how you plan to move. Nor do you do so in business.

[@kajoseculinair3116]

PREACH! It's just "smoke screen & mirrors". D.E.I . isn't meant to change anything. Instead it's meant to maintain the Status quo, with a few black talking heads, as usual.

[@greenjihad3390]

The plan is MEI = Merit, Excellence, Intelligence.

[@hdlc4635]

When that day happens, let us know. We've never known that standard in the past.

[@dallassegno]

Yes they did. It was called grammar school and prioritized merit. Lots of people came out of poverty. Then it was shut down to prioritize nepotism because low and behold, the rich were actually stupid.

[@annieclore9443]

@@hdlc4635 yes, we have know that standard - DEI is trying to change it

[@cedric7122]

The plan is NDW. No Drugs Workplace. Let Elon know that.

[@realnathanh]

@@hdlc4635 Because the past is bigoted but then again why not succumb to the current bigoted thing that is DEI. Stop placing yourself in the past, look at it learn and continue with life. This pick me I'm lowly attitude doesn't show tenacity.

[@dearjourneyxokamiahmonique]

Fantastic panel!!! 👏

[@wilsondoswelliii3127]

God bless these elegant and special ladies for being on the frontline. They have my support and love.😊😊❤❤❤❤❤😊

[@levelupsinglemom6143]

22:52 I agree with her! It IS impressive how organized and on code they are. I am definitely setting my mind on how we van do the same

[@EvanHicks-m5k]

I dont know how we have created a generation of people that are soneducated we forgot the common sense answer that america needs DEI. This country is not built on diversity, equity, or inclusion. We are so educated and privileged that we have succeeded to regress the work that pur leaders for 200 years worked to gain.

[@dramese]

What a panel of great womens, love all of them.

[@cedric7122]

Thank you Stacy

[@wilsondoswelliii3127]

Tell me what I need to do to help.😊😊😊😊

[@anngimccoy2074]

Same here

[@reginaldamoah8608]

I think the challenge apart from the bad faith political actors that want roll back progress is that DEI has been cast as a being an identity war. However it is more than that it is about circumstance as well which is a much broader intersectional coalition such as social circumstances. Inclusion means poor white men as well who don't have access due to circumstance.

[@tpearl109]

From these comments attacking this wonderful panel, there are so many miserable people who are afraid of the competition.

[@tianamoses3793]

That’s it. They have to complete now and it’s to much to handle 😂

[@anngimccoy2074]

❤❤❤

[@silentmajority8365]

Ironic that there were black people trying to give street justice to a black suspect this week in NYC The same people wanting Derik Chauvin in prison for street justice

[@deanebandiledube2776]

Embarrassing 😢

[@linniseturner2337]

What's embarrassing and why?.

[@tonisumblin2719]

@@linniseturner2337exactly. I’d like to know also.

[@madeehaoluyerni3795]

@@linniseturner2337 Prioritizing diversity over merit is simply bad for progress and fairness.

[@walidahwalker9008]

EXCELLENT!!!!

[@twilderlm2559]

When did Forbes get a DEI devision??

[@v.a.993]

When it realized that it needed to expand its market reach because it was missing whole segments of the U.S. society.

[@JAFTW]

Cultist like behavior.

[@nessasue5046]

Excellent

[@NathanBallah]

Exactly!

[@davidbryant6135]

🔥

[@lindafields6218]

Preach Stacy!

[@Scooterdude01]

Unsubscribe from Forbes and this racist BS

[@tianamoses3793]

Great stay poor 😂

[@ssuwandi3240]

I never.. look at this pick . Np different to the Plant from Harvard and Columbia and NO SINGLE PERSON saw the body was there 😊

[@christenasmalls6118]

This is nothing new. Stacey Abrams stated it best. Know the why and then solve the issues.

[@33parentino]

She and Mia Motley got to be related.

[@trailmark4504]

no matter it is just fascism

[@nicolemurray5718]

Affirmative Action Is What Dr Rev Martin Luther King Fought For, I’d Prefer To Have It Separated Yet Equal, Diverse Didn’t Go Through Black Peoples Plight Nor Immigrats, Their DEI 💋

[@kajoseculinair3116]

'THIER' D.E.I. indeed, not ours! 😏

[@zoeyzoey3384]

Omg.. I'm trying to concentrate.. but the moderator 😵‍💫😵 the slooooow dragggggging of her voice..

[@zoeyzoey3384]

Love the Panel and discussion

[@michaelj6392]

DEI = Didn’t Earn It

[@hymnodyhands]

The old version of DEI: Domineering, Exclusion, and Iniquity (see chattel slavery and genocide, and compare that against what we know are crimes against HUMANITY, for which Nazis were HUNG when caught). Eventually, Michael, the pendulum had to swing so that the human rights and merit of ALL HUMANS were recognized ... Diversity ... and given a fair shot ... Equity ... and Jim Crow, too, had to die ... Inclusion. The new DEI is not perfect, but it certainly beats slavery, genocide, Jim Crow, and a bunch of other things war criminals and mass murderers would applaud that were done under the old systems.

[@darkdan3379]

Like the lie called white supremacy?

[@orvillegrant3304]

You need read about Racial Integrity Act of 1924

[@linniseturner2337]

Resesrch all the hidden history at America and Didn't Earn It would be applicable. Some people wrote big checks to get it, not earn it. Some people shut the doors and created road blocks so it couldn't be earned. Some people got it bc great grandpa knew someone who slid them in the door. You got it bc of who you knew not always bc of what you knew. Ipt's still happening. Tulsa, OK, built on hardwork and knowledge but destroyed by whom? Booker T. Washington, earned it dispite the obstacles. Hidden Figures, Exposed who earned it behind closed doors vs. those who were given credit in the front room bc it waa given to them. Who didn't earn it? Why can't people support and help one another? Peace.

[@koolkharisma5298]

Neither did many members of the Caucasian species. They have a history of taking and taking with mediocre skills.

[@Mis-AdventureCH]

What irks me is the the Left's complete denial and disregard for the achievements of the west in general and Gen X in particular. We went, in a very short period of time historically speaking, from a nation of literal race segregation laws to the election of a black president and non-european ethnicities represented at every level of power. The work of the civil rights movement was sealed and crystalized into societal norm by Gen X. We all went to the same schools, played on the same teams, listened to the same music, dated and married the same people, and then went to war together for 20yrs. Rascism on any real scale was literally eradicated, confined to a handful of cultural backwaters. But then a certain presidency's numbers were slipping and big corporate was getting it's feet held to the fire because their criminal hustle tanked the world economy. Solution? Invest hundreds of millions into "activist" groups who chanted the 'Everything is rasist" mantra over and over, joined by corporate owned psyop engines backing the same theme. When that began to wane they expanded the net to include any other victim group they could create, such as widespread transgenderism. This was like cultural crack to a society increasingly disconnected and seeking external validation, perfectly served by donning the robes of a "Justice Warrior." Presto, instant meaning in ones life. Find a "victim," pity the victim, loudly display your saviorship, and reap the social rewards. In societies where struggle for daily survival had been basically eliminated, it was the perfect drug. Meanwhile, behind the smokescreen, big corporate was expanding its power, unbothered by the Progressive pests it had been dealing with for a century or more. Ever wonder where "Occupy Wall St." went to? They got steamrolled under by the new religion of "Everything is rasist" and their annoying presence went Poof! It's been the perfect PSYOP. Corporate finally figured out it was easier to co-opt the left and give them victim rabbits to chase than it was to continue fighting them. So suddenly the mega corporations of the world used their marketing engines to create the new cause, ran up the progressive banner, and just like that, the horrors of their sweat shop exploitation were all forgotten. Even better was the left's insistence that these same entities build a police state to suppress any dissent. Absolutley fkn genius move. Enjoy the dystopian nightmare that's coming for you.

[@yungheehong5613]

I am all for DEI, however, I am concerned about how it is being implemented and executed. I am especially concerned about how any questions or counter point to the movement is labeled "racist" or "ignorant". When did we establish a healthy debate about such important topic as DEI, become "racist"? Furthermore, this perpetuates silence and ultimately ignorance on this topic and we solve nothing.

[@DadHominem]

DEI should be cancelled. The only thing DEI accomplishes is the accumulation of high-cost, low-performing staff. The USA was built on merit. Show me a successful company or country that fails to reward merit, rewarding instead immutable characteristics.

[@hymnodyhands]

No, sir ... we know how the initial capital of the United States was built. Those who committed crimes against humanity for 246 years documented what they did and were proud of it. The descendants of African and Native peoples are not going to let it be forgotten that when the Statue of Liberty said, "Give me your tired, your hungry, and your poor," many of those who came here succeeded because land was stolen and Africans were enslaved. Merit meant much less than being WHITE. All a white person had to figure out how to do was to get some money and some land and kill their conscience, and they could move up in the world on Native blood and enslaved African backs. There are some EXCEPTIONS to the rule ... there are some merit-based success stories ... but domineering, exclusion, and iniquity -- the good old boy's DEI -- had to give way at some point to acknowledging the merit of all people ... Diversity ... and rewarding them fairly ... Equity ... and stopping shutouts ... Inclusion.

[@DadHominem]

@@hymnodyhands The competent beat out the incompetent. That's just how the world works. Winners win, losers lose. It's always been this way, and it always will be. Circumstances favor the winners, and in the founding of our nation, circumstances favored the merit-based winners. DEI - where it actually exists (and many companies are now abandoning it) - crushes merit-based systems. Puzzle me this: Why don't we see midgets and dwarfs in professional basketball or football? How many 5'10" quarterbacks are there in the NFL? Think about why winners win and losers lose, and find something that you can win at and do that. Best wishes to you.

[@hymnodyhands]

​@@DadHominemI already have found something to win at... and there is more to do than professional sports... the world's tasks have and require MORE DIVERSITY than fits that analogy. Everything is not a zero-sum game... and REMEMBER: only if the merit is greater ability to do crimes against humanity can we count the Founders on their merit without question. Again: are we slotting the destruction and unjust exclusion of millions as meritorious without question? Are we agreeing with the likes of the worst men of the 20th century on that? Again: Domineering, Exclusion, and Iniquity is the basis of the old system... much of the company history you can pull up before 1970 reflects the tail end of that, too. The matter is simple. There are talented people who can be hired on the merit across race, gender, and creed. What we are not going back to is the system where whiteness is the only merit considered -- and for 340 years that's the "merit" that dominated housing, education, and more. The survivors of Domineering, Exclusion, and Iniquity do not intend to go back to that way of life. NO, SIR.

[@orvillegrant3304]

America was not built on merit, that's a total lie

[@justbeheard]

The USA was built on/off the backs of ppl of color.

[@JB-IGOR]

This is ridiculous 😂😂

[@tianamoses3793]

Was someone talking to you. Bye 👋🏾

[@77Necro]

Weird, DEI panel and no diversity or inclusion????

[@v.a.993]

You failed to notice that this is the Forbes Black Summitt, hence the Black people? The letters BLK is the abbreviation for Black.

[@geneduclos4003]

Garbage

[@tianamoses3793]

Hater

[@sonjaanderson6933]

Who bought you here, didn’t they tell you this is a black summit? Probably you were misinformed.

[@DreamAgainNetwork]

🫡💎📈

[@v.a.993]

I'm the 100th like!

[@yeshua64]

Abrams is the original election denier. DEI explains much of the panelists' success.

[@tianamoses3793]

And every white man before her 😂

[@madeehaoluyerni3795]

DEI? More like 'Dumbing Down Excellence and Innovation'. It's like watching a turtle race in slow motion while they pat themselves on the back for token gestures instead of promoting real skill and merit. WHAT A JOKE!

[@phoenix5054]

It's a pity how women are still failing on leaving college and still piling on debt. They are so behind the curve on this one.

[@almazlarsen215]

Vote blue as if your life depends on it because it does 💙 🗳💙🗳💙🗳💙🗳💙🗳💙

[@JAFTW]

How?

[@yasip9897]

Might be better to keep the plan to yourself. Why would you reveal it to your enemies? Unless this is just smoke and mirrors. In chess, you don't tell your opponent how you plan to move. Nor do you do so in business.

[@yasip9897]

Might be better to keep the plan to yourself. Why would you reveal it to your enemies? Unless this is just smoke and mirrors. In chess, you don't tell your opponent how you plan to move. Nor do you do so in business.