We need to encourage equity to achieve equality

By Emily Tseffos

Rep. Dave Murphy co-authored an amendment aiming to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts from our government entities and presented it at a public hearing (recently). He claimed the amendment would 'restore merit, fairness and equality,' and I’ve got to ask, for whom?

Equality is a utopian ideal – equity is how we achieve it.

One cannot argue that there are numerous factors that can give a person an advantage when it comes to the 'opportunities' that they find in their path. Advantages include having two college-educated parents, affording private tutoring, speaking English as a first language, or participating in sports and clubs because your family is not dependent upon you as a teen to contribute financially or act as a caregiver to younger siblings. Are those that don’t come from that privilege (through no fault of their own), really running the same race?

Equity means we recognize that each person has a different lived experience, and we allocate the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach equal outcomes. There are many factors to consider that impact equity (and thus, equality), and this is the second time Mr. Murphy has misled the public on it. We have to call him on it.

I’m tired of the GOP willingly lying about and using initiatives like DEI as pawns to further divide our communities. And if the lies aren’t willful and you don’t know better? Probably best to do some reading before offering amendments that would change our Constitution.

*Blog posts represent the views of the author, but do not necessarily reflect the views of the local, state, or national Democratic Party*