An ‘Inclusive’ DEI Sacramento

The City of Sacramento has – like sooo many other cities – an Office of Diversity and Equity and it wants you to know – to start with – exactly what that means.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are, of course, typically meaningless buzzwords bandied about so a city’s bureaucracy can expand in both power and personnel.

Sacramento, though, is very clear about what it thinks those words mean.

Here’s what “diversity” means:

“Each person has layers of diversity that make his/her/their perspective unique. The City of Sacramento defines diversity as the variety of human differences and similarities among people, such as: age, belief system, class/caste, culture, disability, education, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, generation, geography, job role and function, language, marital status, mental health, nationality, native or indigenous origins, parental status, personality type, race, religion, sexual orientation, thinking style, work experience, and work style.”

Pretty much covers everything, doesn’t it?  Well, not everything – while it mentions “thinking style” it does not mention thought itself.  The city’s definition does not include diversity of ideas, which is very convenient if you want to make sure the system chugs along smoothly for the benefit of the bureaucracy, not the residents.  Different ideas can cause different actions, actions that are not in the pre-approved bundle of the permissible.

How about “inclusion?”

“This is an active state of being valued, respected, and supported. Inclusion focuses on the needs of every individual and ensures the right conditions are in place for each person to achieve their full potential. Inclusion should be reflected in an organization’s culture, practices, and relationships, which are in place to support a diverse workforce…An inclusive environment ensures equitable access to resources and opportunities for all. It also enables individuals and groups to feel safe, respected, engaged, motivated, and valued for who they are and for their contributions toward organizational and societal goals.”

While it does include a passing mention of “societal goals,” –  something one would think would be at the top of public agency’s “to do” list – it is the internal organization, the staff, that is the focus of inclusion.

The definition also fails to mention the concept of competence.  Should the incompetent be “respected and valued” as much as everyone else?  It doesn’t seem to matter; in fact, such a heretical idea is intentionally exclusionary.  

And, of course, “equity:”

Regardless of one’s identity, equity is when all people have just treatment, access to opportunities necessary to satisfy their essential needs, advance their well-being, and achieve their full potential while identifying and eliminating barriers that have prevented the full participation of some groups.

Pablum for the progressives here – the definition is so meaningless as to be inoffensive, though it can be twisted in such a way as to be used as a bureaucratic weapon against anyone.

And if you want more definitions of things like “white privilege,” the office recommends you look here 

So what does the city’s Office of Diversity and Equity actually do?  It issues reports to the city council, and is the home of SCORE – the Sacramento Centered on Racial Equity initiative.

And what does SCORE do (actually there are a pair of contractors that do much of the actual work, one being Race Forward  which believes that “working within an ecosystem of social justice movements, is positioned to transform both systems and culture to steward our vision into reality.”)?

Creating “Trust Building Circles” is one of SCORE’s efforts.  Such “Circles” are “open to anyone  – presumably staff? – interested in “developing their conflict resilience skills and creating a supportive space to explore and transform conflict.”

And there are rules to participating, including:

• Respect for confidentiality: What is shared in the Circle stays in the Circle.
• Respectful communication: Speaking from the heart, using “I” statements, and avoiding blame and judgment.
• Active listening: Being fully present and attentive to the speaker without interruption or distraction.
• Commitment to growth: Being open to learning from others and willing to reflect on our own perspectives and biases.

While this sounds an awful lot like group therapy, SCORE makes sure you don’t think that, stating that “If you have a specific issue that requires professional support, please seek help from a qualified therapist or counselor.”

A great deal of the current progressive/DEI/whatever movement is, in fact, draw specifically from the therapy and/or self-help movements.  The techniques and specifically the words used are taken from groups like AA and stripped of their actual therapeutic potential.  

This usurpation gives the terms a feeling to the public of general familiarity, lending a certain comfort when encountering them.  By taking what, in many cases, was non-confrontational “feel good” terminology and warping it for their own purposes, the woke and the bureaucrats can, and so far have successfully, “Trojan Horse” their belief system into society as a whole.

“Trigger,” “safe space,” “speaking your truth” – note, not the truth – are all concepts stolen from the therapy industry.  That’s why they – and the eventual actions they generate – are difficult to criticize.  Therapy – and now DEI efforts – are about caring – if you disagree, you are an uncaring person.

The circles are run by a facilitator who is a member of something called the “nina collective” based in Madison, Wisconsin.  The collective – speaking of words, that one comes up a lot when government warrior bureaucrats are trying to herd everyone in the same direction –  “intentionally centers race because structural and institutional racism are at the core of the deepest and most harmful inequities in both our history and current reality.”    

Here’s a flower explaining their approach:

Besides, all of that, the office oversaw the “food justice grant program” and is in the process of creating a “citywide racial equity study.”

And then there’s the “WORKFORCE RACE & GENDER EQUITY ACTION PLAN 2020-2025,”    a plan based on the following “four pillars of system change:”

1) culture shift, 2) building trust 3) equipping and developing employees, and 4) connecting to purpose

The plan has a number of “performance measures,” most of which involving human resourcey-tasks like updating job descriptions, figuring out how to recruit more “diverse” people, creating “trainings” and such.

But one plan task stands out.  Under “hiring process” is the following “outcome”:

The City of Sacramento workforce reflects the racial and gender makeup of the community, creating an inclusive, effective, and competitive future. “Reflect the community we serve – to better serve the community”

And meeting that goal involves the following:  

“(ensuring)…paper application process are clear, centralized by department, and analyzed by race, gender, etc.

I didn’t think you could do that in California.