NEW YORK – At the National Action Network (NAN) Convention in New York City, social justice leaders gathered to discuss the impact of anti-Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) legislation introduced or signed into law in states like Texas, Florida, and Alabama. Public institutions in these states are firing DEI-focused employees or redirecting their roles in an effort to comply.
“It’s clearly an all-out attack, and it’s an effective attack. We have to be more effective,” said Dedrick Asante-Muhammad, president of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a Black think tank focused on the future of work and the quality of life in minoritized communities.
The panel, moderated by higher education journalist and professor Dr. Jamal Watson, consisted of prominent thought-leaders like Kimberlé Crenshaw, whose work pioneered the field of intersectionality and Critical Race Theory (CRT), and journalist Stephanie Ruhle, host of The 11th Hour on MSNBC. Crenshaw said she was eager to speak at NAN because of the network’s reputation for active organizing on the issue.
The Rev. Al Sharpton started NAN in 1991 to continue to promote civil rights in the spirit of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. NAN has chapters all across America. Lately, NAN members have been protesting every Thursday at the New York office of Bill Ackman, a billionaire hedge fund manager who has become the face of the anti-DEI movement.
Dr. Jamal Watson leads panel discussion about the attacks on DEI at this year's National Action Network Convention sponsored by the Reverend Al Sharpton.
Crenshaw urged attendees to participate in the Freedom to Learn (F2L) National Day of Action on May 3. F2L — a group of educators, artists, advocates, and policy makers opposing the book bans and attacks on educational curriculum — wants everyone to resist anti-DEI movements on that day and be loud about what they do, whether that’s reading banned-book author Toni Morrison or engage in a more active demonstration.
“Let [May 3] be the first day of Freedom Summer 2024,” said Crenshaw, acknowledging this year represents the 60th anniversary of Freedom Summer, a voter-registration drive that “turned around the civil rights movement.”
“We’re hoping this summer is where we draw the line in the sand, where we push back,” said Crenshaw. “We save this democracy, but after that, we want something more. We want a real democracy where our votes really count. We cannot save our democracy and leave anti-racism on the side of the road. The two have to come together.”
