(Daily Signal)—Another big step was taken to eliminate workplace DEI, and it came via a notoriously left-wing appeals court.
On Monday, a three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled in favor of a white former City of Seattle employee, Joshua Diemert, who said he had been the victim of racial harassment in the workplace.
Specifically, the court ruled that his hostile-work-environment claims could proceed under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and Washington state law. That’s a big deal since a lower court had previously thrown out his case.
I’m no lawyer, but it seems Diemert—a former employee in Seattle’s Human Services Department—had more than legitimate gripes against his employer and coworkers.
Diemert attended an “Undoing Institutional Racism Workshop” in 2019, and it was as absurd as one could imagine. The workshop was part of the so-called Race and Social Justice Initiative that the city had implemented all the way back in 2004.
According to court documents, one of the trainers launched into a rant about how it was a “lie” that some of the indigenous people Christopher Columbus encountered in the Caribbean were cannibals and that “the real truth is … that all white people are cannibals.”
Other trainers said that “‘racism is in white people’s DNA,” and that “white people are like the devil.”
Look, I’ve tried a few weird things in my life, but I can’t say human flesh is on the list of things I’d like to try now or at any time going forward. What I can say is that cannibalism was maybe even more common in the New World before the arrival of Europeans than is commonly known.
What’s remarkable, beyond the blatant anti-white prejudice, is that the city brought in “professional” DEI trainers who sounded like the unhinged drug addicts ranting and raving on New York City streets late at night.
Apparently, Diemert’s problems didn’t stop with the DEI trainers. His coworkers called him a “white supremacist” for comments he made during the training sessions. In 2020, Diemert reported his supervisor, Shamsu Said, for enrolling family members in the utility assistance program.
According to the court, Said “physically accosted” Diemert, called him a “colonist” who had “white privilege,” and said he “was to blame for all injustices in the United States.”
In another 2020 incident, Diemert said he interjected when a group of coworkers were discussing “white privilege” in the lunchroom. The coworkers told him he “did not have a right to speak about black oppression.”
“Diemert also heard coworkers openly discuss the need to lay off white employees during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the court documents read.
This wasn’t even the end of it.
Judge Mary Murguia, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, wrote that “workplace training programs designed to address racial barriers are not inherently discriminatory.” However, she acknowledged that “race-conscious training programs may violate Title VII when they create a racially hostile work environment.”
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission called the 9th Circuit’s decision a “huge win” for colorblind civil rights.
I agree. Even if this case only revolves around workplace harassment, there’s a better chance that DEI programs like the one in Seattle will end up at Supreme Court. And when you combine that with the Trump administration’s focus on weeding out DEI in schools, government institutions, and the workplace, it’s a genuine sea change compared to how things were just a few years ago.
Still, the work is far from finished.
The issue is making its way through the courts, but in the meantime, racist, “anti-racist” discrimination continues at many employers and governments despite the increased legal threat.
In fact, according to Diemert’s attorney, the Race and Social Justice Initiative that sparked the lawsuit in Seattle is still in effect.
“Last year, I believe there was a YouTube video they posted celebrating the anniversary of the Race and Social Justice Initiative, and in that YouTube they openly were talking about the benefit of racially segregated trainings,” Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Laura D’Agostino told Seattle-based radio host Jason Rantz on Thursday. “So, from my understanding and what I’ve seen in the public records we’ve received from the city as well, it does not seem that it has gotten less. It seems like it’s continuing full force.”
DEI is practically akin to an established religion for many of our country’s institutions, legal or not. They won’t give it up without a fight. At least now there is a fight, unlike just a short time ago.
