Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is a Human Right

In 1619, 20-30 enslaved Africans arrived against their will on the shores of Port Comfort (today's Fort Monroe, VA) shackled, starved, and afraid. Thus began the official Transatlantic Slave Trade. In 1863, 246 years later, the Emancipation Proclamation legally abolished slavery and the descendants of enslaved Africans began to emerge from the horrors of human destruction and displacement. Four million newly freed enslaved peoples would now enter an America who had created an ecosystem and an economic structure solely dependent upon the cotton, sugar cane and tobacco picked and harvested on their backs. 

A people who were classified as property, dependent on the whims of those who saw them as 3/5 of a person, who were frequently sold and separated from their loved ones, and knew no other life than serving a master were finally granted legal protections by the U.S. government to be treated as full citizens under the Emancipation Proclamation. For the first time in 246 years, they were free to determine their own destiny and thrive.

During Reconstruction, the Black community achieved several milestones, which included:

• The establishment of the Freedmen's Bureau, which helped formerly enslaved people, including education and healthcare.
• The passage of the Reconstruction Amendments (13^th, 14^th, and 15^th) aimed at securing civil rights for African Americans.
• The election of African Americans to public office, such as Hiram Revels, the first African American senator.

From 1865 to 1877, the United States government began to focus on rebuilding America by reintegrating the Confederate states (enslavers) into the Union and addressing the legacy of enslavement. The key aspects of this 12-year period included the ratification of the 13^th, 14^th, and 15^th constitutional amendments abolishing slavery, granting citizenship to formerly enslaved people, and extending voting rights to Black men.

Unfortunately, this was short-lived. Former enslavers immediately acted to block as much progress as possible and regain control by:

• Establishing Black Codes in 1865-66 to reassert control over freed African Americans.
• Founding the Ku Klux Klan in 1865 to terrorize African Americans and their allies.
• Inciting riots in Memphis, TN (1866), killing 48 primarily freed African Americans/Black people and injured seventy-five. injuring 75; and in New Orleans (1866), killing 38 and injuring 146.

The terror had begun again, just when formerly enslaved African Americans were beginning to gain some independence. Sadly, these events marked the beginning of a pattern that persists today.

The roots of Jim Crow laws began as early as 1865, with the ratification of the 13^th amendment (abolishing slavery) and the creation of the Black Codes which continued into the 20^th century. Following World War I, a new period of oppression plagued the South and the North. Lynchings and race riots increased across the United States over several months in 1919, a time some referred to as "Red Summer."

In retaliation, white authorities charged Black communities with conspiring to conquer white America. Although Jim Crow in the North was not as harsh as in the South, it was systemic and institutionalized. Some states in the North required Black people to own property before they could vote. Some businesses displayed "Whites Only" signs in the North, just as in the South. Well-known legal covenants across the country did not allow Black families to obtain mortgages for homes in "red-lined" neighborhoods.

The struggles of the early 20^th century quickly morphed into a fight for civil and human rights in the mid-1950s to late-1960s, especially in the South. Even as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed, it was clear that these laws would not be readily adopted by those who opposed this progress. Their reaction to the progress of the Civil Rights Era was similar to their ancestors' reaction to the 13^th, 14^th, and 15^th amendments.

Watching the arc of history unfold as it has, has made it apparent that an operational approach is needed to make sure the hard-earned victories of the 1950s and 1960s led to continued progress. Modern diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives are not just legal rights, but human rights.

Centuries ago, early DEI efforts focused on racial equity because of the direct assault on People of Color in general and Black people specifically. It quickly became increasingly apparent that DEI initiatives should also offer protections based on gender, disabilities, religion, national origin, and equity.

The Union for Reform Judaism's vision, mission, and values call us to be present in this moment and support the work of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. This is what it means to be Jewish and support those in our communities and beyond as they bring their true, authentic selves into our spaces. The work of diversity, equity, and inclusion are the nuts, bolts, and struts of a strong foundation that will support the bridge to communities of belonging. If there is no focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion, the idea of belonging is transactional as opposed to transformational.

As we watch executive orders, book bans, and an outright war on removing justice-focused language, we know that this is only temporary; the moral arc of the universe is long, but it tends to bend toward justice.

As we approach Juneteenth this year, I am reminded just how important it is to seize the moments we have in front of us. As I look back over history, the patterns of undoing progress and attempts to re-write history are all too apparent. I am also humbled by the idea that with progress comes struggle.

As we prepare to commemorate Juneteenth, we must pause and realize that we must constantly work to maintain our freedoms and liberties. If not for us, then in service to our descendants and their descendants. Our ancestors did it for us, now it is our turn to pay it forward.