Meaningful Equity Requires Meaningful Loss

Meaningful equity requires meaningful loss. What then are we willing to give up? And how in our hearts do we become willing?

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Equity. It’s so hot right now. Everyone wants a piece of the action. Give me a D. Give me an E. Give me an I. What’s that spell? Diversity, Equity, Inclusion! Hurayyyy! I survived 2020! I didn’t get canceled and donated my quarters into the DEI merry-go-round, the one with the rainbow horses. I should save that receipt for tax season right?

No. Not right (well, I guess you can save the receipts). It’s not that easy. Equity requires loss. To be specific, it requires privileged people to give up power. Here’s the real challenge. Meaningful equity requires meaningful loss.

Meaningful

As someone in the business of discussing moral masculinity and principled leadership — not to mention independent school education in New England — it’s on brand to be woke. However, staying on brand can be a most dangerous game. It’s easy to become a hot air balloon. To be meaningful is to be significant.

For example, I just dropped the term woke. Like many people (particularly of the white hue), I’ve grown suspicious of the word over the last couple of years — “Woke activists hurt cause with ‘self-righteous toxicity’: left-wing think tank.” The more I saw in the media and heard in conversations about social justice, the more I was convinced that woke should never be used seriously and without a hint of sarcasm.

In joining the ranks of wholesale woke haters, I was a hot air balloon. I joined a conversation without saying anything of value or meaning (full of hot air) because my understanding of woke was built on what I was seeing and hearing. My limited perspective missed several critical facts, like the origins of “woke” (it was a watchword for Black Americans as early as 1938 and was a basic survival tactic). Who knew it wasn’t intended for liberals and conservatives to replenish their ammunition for an eternity of stone throwing? Though I didn’t know it, my input lacked meaning and was invalid.

Equity

Meaningful equity requires meaningful loss. It’s not just being alert. It’s an…