kites-journal.org
1 April 2024
kites conducted an extensive social investigation into the workings of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices at colleges and universities across the US and Canada to learn what they are doing to dismantle systematic racism in higher education. After interviewing dozens of DEI office directors, we found that not a single DEI office came to the defense of Palestinian students or any students or faculty protesting Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza when they were doxxed, threatened, smeared with racist diatribes, and suppressed by college administrations. In fact, most DEI offices have decided to shift their focus, in the Spring 2024 semester, to combating antisemitism on campus, by which they mean any criticism of Israel.
Asked to define antisemitism, A. Tolken, director of Harvard University’s DEI office, explained that “definitions are colonial logic.” Uncle Tom, who works as a highly-paid consultant for university DEI initiatives, said that many DEI offices have now decided to include Israelis among those who deserve the label “BIPOC.” Asked how Israelis fit into the “I” in “BIPOC,” Uncle Tom revealed that “the word BIPOC was created to appeal to woke liberal whites for donations and clout, so it makes perfect sense to stretch its definition to appeal to whomever we can get funding from. The fixity of definitions is a colonial construct anyway.” Asked how Israelis who grew up in US suburbs and then, as adults, moved into the house of a forcibly displaced Palestinian family in the West Bank could be considered Indigenous, Uncle Tom responded: “The great Indigenous scholar and activist MissM8tri@rch has theorized that where you’re from is a matter of what you feel.”
Robin DiAngelo and Ibram X Kendi issued a joint statement on the future of college DEI initiatives, saying “the kind of diversity we’ve been fighting for on college campuses and in corporate boardrooms has always been about strengthening, not undermining, US imperialism. So it makes perfect sense that the DEI office directors who have read our books and attended our training sessions wouldn’t lift a finger in support of student protests for Palestine but find ways to support Israel.”
kites-journal.org 