No, Kamala Harris Is Not a 'DEI Hire'
Why this attack is deeply disturbing to women, people of color and immigrants
When Trump and his Republican cronies accused Vice President Kamala Harris for being a DEI candidate for the Presidential election, I almost jumped out of my chair to crush the TV screen.
Well, the part about crushing the TV screen was a joke, but not my anger. What kind of a lame attack was that? When Trump was confronted by a journalist at the convention of the National Association of Black Journalists earlier this month, he asked for the definition of DEI to hide his ignorance of what it actually meant — Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
It is clear by now that such an accusation is baseless. Kamala Harris worked her way up to become Vice President of the United States with her intelligence, on-the-ground experience, hard-earned wisdom, perseverance, empathy and emotional maturity.
No, Kamala wasn’t handed her jobs via political or monetary inheritance, as in the case of some former U.S. Presidents, including Trump. Nor was she put into her leadership roles through DEI measures, which Team Trump tried to portray as an act of charity. This is ultimately a racist concept used in an attempt to misguide voters.
I was infuriated to hear the Republican dismissal that, intellectually, Kamala represents "the bottom of the barrel."
When the remark became personal
These comments triggered my memory of a similar comment I received when I finally got hired and became gainfully employed back in 2020. Prior to that, I had struggled to make ends meet for five years upon returning to the United States from having lived abroad for 16 years. My overseas professional experience was regarded as an “employment gap,” and I wasn’t considered even for jobs that were way below my pay grade.
So when I finally got hired, although still at a much lower pay grade than what would commensurate with my work experience, I felt a great sense of relief and gratitude for being lifted out of poverty. The part-time and odd jobs I held in the years prior put my income under the poverty line, and I got to experience exactly how it was like to be one of the millions of working poor in America.
The company that hired me has a robust DEI policy. I had never heard of this acronym before since I was out of the country for so long. I was delighted to find this rare gem of a company that was committed to diversifying its workforce. The pie charts in its DEI annual report suggested a bright future for Asian American employees.
But someone close to me told me in my face that I got my job only because I was Asian. That person is my ex-partner.
I was taken aback. There was a hidden footnote to his comment — he felt a sense of self-pity, that no one wanted to hire him, an older white male, anymore. His reference point came from a job interview many years ago. He said he was more qualified than the other candidate on the shortlist — a Black woman. He believed the reason he didn’t get hired was because he didn’t fit into the DEI profile of the organization.
His remark, which came across as diminishing and contemptuous, actually came from the kingdom of sour grapes. Sour grapes were the snack he chewed on for many, many years. Here we have a disenfranchised entitled man, playing victim so he could feel better about himself.
If I weren’t the meek and accommodating woman I was wired to be — a woman who would protect the man’s fragile ego in intimate relationships at any cost, I would’ve clapped back and said, “No, I’m not a DEI candidate.” Not the DEI as interpreted by him and other disenfranchised people in the privileged class. Not the definition of DEI as thrown out so randomly and heartlessly by Trump and his Republican cronies.
I didn’t clap back, because I just wanted to preserve harmony in the relationship, as so many women — especially Asian women — try to do in a marriage or partnership.
Regardless of his snide remark, I decided to embrace the underlying spirit of DEI.
An immigrant’s perspective
You see, it’s all about perspectives.
Here are some photos of young children in Hong Kong and Macau, in the 1950s and 1970s, respectively. It wasn’t uncommon to see kids selling vegetables and newspapers in the streets or helping their mothers work on sewing jobs to earn a few extra dollars for their school tuition.
Some commentators of the FB Group where people share vintage Hong Kong photos used these photos to criticize how spoiled today’s kids are. They said that harshness in life — as what these kids in the photos experienced — can toughen us up.
While this may be true, nobody wants to go back in time.
The reality is that each generation is trying to make life better for the next.
My parents, who lived through famine and wars, came to American to make life better for their kids. But before that, I also went through my formative years in a world where the majority of people weren’t privileged.
What most Americans complain about, I consider improvements to my previous life. What most Americans take for granted — to me it’s luxury.
The luxury of driving everywhere with a car, swimming in a pool, living in a one-family house with a lawn, drinking water directly from the tap. The luxury of only having to speak one language without having to constantly run an internal simultaneous interpreter for every second of being alive. These are the privileges that Americans take for granted.
It’s important to remember the path on which we’ve walked. As an immigrant, to be able to do the “normal” things that every American does without thinking, represents years and years of hardship, struggle and effort.
One of these struggles is my ability to speak and write English. Even though I started learning English from the time when I was in kindergarten, I didn’t grow up speaking it in my daily life, so I had to learn how to speak American English from scratch when I arrived here at the age of 18 — and the learning and perfecting never stops.
So when I get hired for an editing job that required excellent English skills, in my own world it was a huge achievement. Perhaps to Americans, it’s no big deal. I don’t know.
To be able to survive… and thrive is no small feat. In fact, it’s extraordinary when immigrants and immigrant kids end up living an ordinary American life. Anything beyond that deserves extra accolades.
In her Presidential nominee acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, Kamala spoke about her experience as the daughter of immigrants, highlighting how her mother “made it” in America with great effort and hardship as a single immigrant mom, and how she paved the way for Kamala and her sister Maya to live to their highest potentials.
One important thing to note, is that Kamala’s parents received university education in America. I don’t have the data, but I believe most immigrant parents don’t have this kind of educational background, and came here without speaking a word of English. Their children often have to become interpreters, constantly switching between at least two languages and two worlds.
This takes up extra mental energy — something that America kids don’t need to do. I can attest how much my brain hurts to be the family translator. However, Kamala did end up having to learn a second language — French — at the age of 12 when her family moved to Canada, so I imagine she might have had to play the role of the family interpreter as well.
Immigrant kids also are given the responsibility to help their parents figure out how society and technology work because they often pick up the new country’s language faster. In addition, they are expected to be high achievers so they can fulfil the unlived dreams of their parents and earn, on their behalf, the respect that they don’t have as immigrants.
In addition, immigrant kids often have to take the abuse from their parents because their parents have gone through tons of trauma (wars, political persecution, poverty, violent crimes, etc.) in the countries they fled from. This is how intergenerational trauma is passed on.
To be able to survive all of these and thrive is no small feat. In fact, it’s extraordinary when immigrants and immigrant kids end up living an ordinary American life. Anything beyond that deserves extra accolades.
I haven’t read Harris’ memoir “The Truths We Hold: An American Journey” yet, so I don’t know the details of her upbringing. But I imagine that to be able to get to where she is today, she must have put in an extraordinary amount of effort, courage, and grit.
I hope all Americans stretch their imagination a bit to understand the fortitude and dedication behind all her achievements thus far, and give her the genuine credit that she’s due.
We just need a little ‘lift’
I’m also talking to those who don’t understand what DEI really means.
While some dismiss DEI as a new rendition of affirmative action and that it gives unfair privileges to the underprivileged people of color, I believe this is the bare minimum society can do to help lift us up from an uneven playing field.
Recently when I was practicing swimming, I was “stuck” at the section of the pool where the depth of the water just exceeded my height. I was scared even though I had a flotation device. At that time, I really wished there was someone who could pull me out of the area so I could use my limited swimming skills to swim back to the shallow end. But, since I wasn’t drowning, my fear and temporary inability to move to the shallow end didn’t warrant help by the life guard.
Similarly, our society is set up in such a way for immigrants that they don’t get that lift to safety unless they are in destitute. DEI is like that lift. White allyship is also like that lift. What an ally can do, is to be curious, listen, expand your understanding, and engage by proactively asking if we could use some help.
Some of us feel ashamed to ask for help, because we believe that we’re “supposed” to be able to handle things independently. After all, that’s the American spirit, isn’t it?
I value independence. I’ve also been forced to become highly independent, as I seldom have anyone to have my back — not even my family.
Yet, sometimes, I really wish that I had an allies who not own listen but speak up for me with the privilege that they have. And I’m sure that countless immigrants and marginalized folks in this country would like that too.
Let’s chat! In the comment section, tell me if you’ve ever benefited from DEI initiatives. What do you think of them? If you’re not part of the immigrant/BIPOC community, have you ever been an ally? I would love to hear your experience.
I’ve always suspected that I was part of DEI (though it wasn’t called that back then) when I was accepted to grad school. Although I might not be giving myself enough credit.
I think people who use "DEI" as an insult are trying desperately to ignore their own fear and feelings of inadequacy. That, coupled with racism, sexism, etc., makes it intolerable to them to accept that maybe that "DEI" candidate was just better suited for the job. They don't want to accept the truth, which is that white, cis-het, men born in this country still have an unfair advantage. As the saying goes, when you're used to being privileged, an even playing field feels unfair. These whiners don't get that even when someone really is a "DEI hire," they got the job because the playing was a bit more level, not because they were given an unfair advantage.