Petty Patriarchy: VP Kamala Harris Breaks Political Glass Ceilings Only To Be Labeled A ‘DEI Hire’

The term “DEI Hire” has been dubbed the latest way to insult Black people, and Vice President Kamala Harris is the new target.

DEI — an acronym used to shorten diversity, equity, and inclusion — refers to policies and practices in workplaces and educational institutions designed to support people of color and provide resources for them to succeed. But lately, it has been used as a way for Republican leaders to insult the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and those who look like her: Black people.

Several attacks against Harris, labeling her as a “DEI hire” or a “DEI candidate,” highlight the new ways racism can be used against Black people in power, regardless of their impressive resumes.

In early July 2024, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) used the term to call her a “DEI Vice President” during an impromptu interview with CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju. “Biden said, first off, he was going to hire a Black female for vice president,” the legislator said. “What about white females? What about any other group? When you go down that route, and you take mediocrity, and that’s what they have right now as a vice president,” he said.

When Raju suggested that Harris was “DEI hiring,” Burchett agreed. “One hundred percent,” he said, “she was a DEI hire.”

Rep. Harriett Hageman (R-Wy.) also thinks Harris is a “DEI Hire.” “I think she’s one of the weakest candidates I’ve ever seen in the history of our country,” Hageman said.

“I mean intellectually, just really kind of the bottom of the barrel. … I think that she was a DEI hire.”

A resume check by Forbes says the opposite of Harris. The 59-year-old former prosecutor once held the appointment of attorney general and U.S. Senator for California, as well as a graduate of Howard University and the University of California College of Law in San Francisco. She also holds the title of the first Black and Asian woman in history to serve as Vice President of the United States.

Colleagues of Harris and top-level legislators ask what would happen if people would think or say such things about a white man in politics. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican and former Senate colleague of the vice president, says simply, “No.” “What, are they just going to say if you’re not a white male, it’s a DEI candidate? I’m sorry. No,” she said.

Susan Rice, a Black woman, U.N. ambassador, national security adviser, and adviser to President Joe Biden, says that being called a “DEI hire” by GOP leaders means they don’t think the person deserves to be there. “You didn’t get there on merit. You got there because you got some unfair advantage,” Rice said. “That is incredibly insulting to the vast majority of Americans who fall into all of those categories.”

Even former President Donald Trump has called Harris “dumb as a rock,” and members of his team have supported his comments. “Kamala Harris is, by all accounts, dumb as a rock. Even minorities like myself know that. She is weak, failed, and dangerously liberal,” Steven Cheung, Trump’s communications director, said.

While DEI efforts have been scrapped from educational institutions and corporations nationwide thanks to GOP efforts, not all Republican leaders share the same ideology. Samuel Rivers Jr., a former Black conservative South Carolina state representative, admitted that he doesn’t agree with some of Harris’ policies but says her track record is proven, whether his colleagues like it or not. I’m a hardcore Republican, and I don’t agree with Kamala Harris’ policies, but in fairness, the woman just didn’t wake up yesterday and become vice president,” Rivers said.

“There’s a track record of her being elected multiple times, and so I believe people pick their VPs based on what they want them to do for them.”