Forbes’s Pro-DEI Article on How to ‘Decenter Whiteness’ Draws Conservative Backlash

Lego’s set of rainbow-colored figurines to showcase diversity, on June 3, 2021. Thomas Samson/AFP via Getty Images

An article in Forbes magazine that touches on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and focuses on “actively decentering whiteness” in the workplace has drawn conservative backlash, including from U.S. lawmakers and 2024 presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy.

The article, initially titled “3 Ways to Decenter Whiteness in Your Workplace,” but since renamed “3 Ways to Transform Your Workplace to Be More Equitable,” was written by Janice Gassam Asare, who founded the consultancy BWG Business Solutions, a firm that focuses on DEI.

In the piece, Ms. Asare makes the claim that there are endless ways in which “whiteness is centered in the workplace,” and she calls for whiteness to be toppled from prominence and replaced by “equity and justice.”

“White-centering can be thought of as a system that prioritizes white dominant culture to the detriment of non-white groups and cultures,” Ms. Asare writes, claiming that there are “infinite” ways in which whiteness is “centered” in the workplace.

Examples she gives of “white-centering” include a 2004 study showing that job applicants with black-sounding names—e.g., “Lakisha Washington or Jamal Jones” compared with white-sounding names such as “Emily Walsh or Greg Baker”—got fewer callbacks, according to the study.

Remedies for the supposed problem of “white-centering” in the workplace include inviting DEI experts to “educate” employees about the benefits of DEI in part because, as Ms. Asare notes, “despite the best-laid plans of corporate America, DEI efforts haven’t been as successful as anticipated.”

Still, more than 60 percent of U.S. companies have a race- or gender-based DEI program, according to a Harvard Business Review 2022 survey, which DEI critics may argue is already far too much.

Jonathan Butcher, the Will Skillman Senior Research Fellow in Education Policy at The Heritage Foundation and lead author of a report about how U.S. community colleges have recently jumped on the DEI bandwagon, minces few words when referring to the policies.

“DEI is a racist cultural movement that puts the radical ideas from critical race theory, gender theory, and queer theory into practice,” Mr. Butcher wrote in the report, which calls for a prohibition on community colleges’ requiring applicants for campus positions to sign loyalty oaths in favor of DEI.

Reactions to ‘Decentering Whiteness’ Article

Vivek Ramaswamy, who is vying for the Republican 2024 presidential nomination, and Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), both took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share their respective takes on the article.

“There’s no reverse racism, it’s just pure racism,” Mr. Ramaswamy wrote in a post in reference to the Forbes piece.

Mr. Ramaswamy, who has emerged as a prominent anti-DEI crusader, argues that companies have veered off course to push leftist causes. He’s argued repeatedly that DEI initiatives, along with their related environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scoring systems, are wrongheaded and may even be in violation of corporations’ fiduciary duty to investors.

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy speaks at the Republican Jewish Coalition gathering in Las Vegas on Oct. 28, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Mr. Vance took to X to post his opposition to the ideas in the Forbes article. “I’m just done with this [expletive],” he wrote. “It’s racist and it’s gross.”

Mr. Vance added that he had directed his staff to investigate whether the author’s business, BWG Business Solutions, gets any public money from Ohio.

J.D. Vance, then-candidate for the U.S. Senate, speaks to supporters at a rally in Youngstown, Ohio, on Sept. 17, 2022. Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

Mollie Hemingway, editor-in-chief of the conservative publication The Federalist, voiced her opposition to the tenets of Ms. Asare’s piece.

“So sick of this anti-American hate and racism from corporate media and corporate America,” she wrote. “People who push such racism are bad people destroying the country.”

Ms. Asare, the author, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Opposition to DEI, ESG

Even though there have been regulatory moves to bolster ESG, there has been a growing backlash in some circles to the inititiaves.

After the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted last year to rescind some Trump-era rules that took some sting out of ESG, a trade group that represents some 14,000 small and large manufacturers issued a scorching criticism, vowing to fight the SEC’s “regulatory onslaught.”

In a letter to lawmakers this summer, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) criticized the SEC for giving special privileges to ESG activists, reducing oversight of proxy firms, and proposing rigid ESG mandates that burden manufacturers without benefiting investors.

The manufacturing group wants Congress to intervene and limit proxy advisory firms’ influence, reinforce fiduciary duty, and prevent activist agendas.

“Congress must step in to depoliticize the business decisions that impact the lives and life savings of millions of Americans,” the group wrote.

SEC officials didn’t return a request for comment. Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers have taken ESG into their crosshairs and look to advance legislative measures that curb activist investors.

Appetite for ESG also appears to be waning among shareholders, with recent data showing a drop in support for ESG proposals.

Data from the Sustainable Investments Institute show that proposals to compel corporations to act against climate change won approval from an average of 23 percent of shareholders, versus 36.6 percent in 2022 and about 50 percent in 2021.

Support for proposals on social justice causes is also down by about 10 percentage points from last year.