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Acting as judge, jury and executioner, Oklahoma Republican Governor Kevin Stitt signed an executive order Wednesday targeting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs at colleges, universities and state agencies.
Apparently, supporting an empathetic, racially conscious population isn’t what our state needs. Gov. Stitt, a White millionaire who sends his kids to private school, clearly knows what’s best for marginalized communities.
The executive order prohibits state funds and resources going to DEI positions, programs and trainings “to the extent they grant preferential treatment based on one person’s particular race, color, ethnicity or national origin over another’s.”
Specifically, the EO ensures taxpayer dollars won’t go to DEI programs that force people to participate in, swear loyalty to, or agree with activities or lessons that give preference based on race, color, sex, ethnicity, or national origin.
The EO targets DEI in Oklahoma the same way HB 1775 was passed: to protect White heteronormative students and their parents from feeling guilt due to their race.
The governor can’t provide a single instance of a DEI program at an Oklahoma college or university demonizing White students. Still, he’s right to prioritize this issue instead of getting our state education ranking out of the bottom 10.
Governor Stitt sees White Oklahomans as victims of racial progress
Of course, it’s Black students who were legally banned from attending the University of Oklahoma until Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher and George McLaurin successfully argued their racial discrimination cases to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1948.
Before that, Black and Indigenous residents faced murder, mayhem and minimization at the hands of racist Whites emboldened by a State Legislature filled with documented Ku Klux Klan members. The Tulsa Race Massacre and the Osage Murders are just two clear examples of targeted and violent attacks on Black and Indigenous communities since statehood.
I’m still waiting on Gov. Stitt to produce an example of a similar case impacting White Oklahomans. But with his decorated history of creating problems out of thin air, I have total confidence he’ll produce something.
Ultimately, it was a racist incident in 2015, in which White students of SAE chanted there will “never be a n*gger” in their fraternity, that led to the creation of the University of Oklahoma’s diversity office.
(Sue Ogrocki/AP March 11, 2015)
OU closes diversity office
The damage from Stitt’s EO has been swift. OU President Joseph Harroz announced the university will be forced to close its DEI office.
“For many of us, this news evokes deep concern and uncertainty about the future, and in many ways feels like a step backwards,” Harroz wrote to students and faculty. He promised the university will continue to be a place of belonging for all who attend.
Outrage from Democrat politicians and Freedom Oklahoma, the state’s largest 2SLGBTQIA+ advocacy organization, has been palpable.
Yet, none of that matters.
History isn’t meant to inform the present. The fact that White students are becoming more conscious of systemic racism in today’s society is why we must ensure all DEI initiatives stop.
We can’t have a racially conscious population or workforce because then we’d have nothing to distract us from the greedy, shameless state leaders misappropriating millions of our taxpayer dollars.
Oklahoma Lt. Governor changes tune on DEI two years after anniversary of Tulsa Race Massacre
Standing up as a bold leader by piggybacking the actions of his boss, Lt. Governor Matt Pinnell co-signed support for the anti-DEI executive order.
“I stand by Governor Stitt as he takes executive action today to enforce accountability from Oklahoma institutes of higher education. Let’s remove the politics from our colleges and universities and focus on what really matters–building up Oklahoma’s future workforce,” Pinnell stated.
Curiously, Lt. Gov. Pinnell is singing a different tune from just two years ago. He once “proudly” accepted an appointment on the reparations advisory committee for Oklahoma’s oldest surviving all-Black town, Tullahassee.
“I’m proud to be on the Tullahassee advisory commission and work with other leaders to foster equity and prosperity within this community,” Pinnell told The Black Wall Street Times in 2021.
His appointment to the commission came just a few months after the 100-year anniversary of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. It’s unclear why Lt. Gov. expressed support for equity then and backs attacks on DEI now. However, as a politician it’s his duty to flip flop in whichever direction the political winds take him.
Silver lining for the DEI crybabies
Despite the government intrusion into the public education environment, Gov. Stitt did allow for exceptions to the executive order.
State agencies, colleges and universities must still follow local, state and federal laws. The EO won’t impact a professor’s academic course instruction or the actions of registered student groups or guest speakers.
The EO also won’t prohibit programs specifically for:
- Military members and veterans.
- Pell Grant recipients.
- first-generation students.
- students from low-income families.
- underserved student populations.
Ultimately, crybabies worried about the impact the loss of DEI programs will have on racial progress, social progress and attracting companies to Oklahoma should relax.
Gov. Stitt is a man who laughed after he was removed from the Tulsa Race Massacre’s centennial commission.
He’s a man who has no problem demonizing families of Trans youth to score political points among national conservatives.
Stitt is a man who nearly executed an innocent Black man and only changed his mind after his daughter’s pleas.
Pesky facts from the state’s own website show Black and Indigenous Oklahomans continue to face disproportionate rates of poverty, adverse health, crime, lack of community resources and educational opportunities.
Still, White Oklahomans are the true victims because calling attention to systemic disparities is truly reverse racism.
Gov. Stitt knows what’s best for us, and sleeping on systemic injustices is better than staying woke. So what if his executive order denies our population racial empathy, critical thinking skills or good-paying jobs. Oklahoma is where DEI goes to die.
Editor’s note: This article is satire.
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