The Strange Fear of DEI

North Carolina Legislative News & Updates by Nelda Holder –

DEI. Just a little twist, and you have “DIE.”

It couldn’t be that simple, could it? It couldn’t be why so many adults exhibit fear and trembling at the clump of letters that says “DEI.”

And isn’t it odd that North Carolina House Republicans are so afraid of it that House members voted 68-45 (along party lines) to abolish its presence in hiring by state agencies and schools, and to withhold state funds (and avoid federal grants) that would support DEI programs or comply with DEI policies. You might want to take a peek at this piece of work: HB 171 (An Act Eliminating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Initiatives in State and Local Government…).

Of course, the distinguished representatives were only following the NC Senate’s lead, where “Eliminating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusions (DEI) Initiatives in State and Local Government…” was introduced in early March, intending to ban diversity/equity/inclusion programs in public schools and establishing new rules for classroom discussion of racism and sexism. DEI offices, if they exist, would be required to be dismantled under the Senate bill.

Let’s think about that for a minute …

First, perhaps it is “progress” that they are writing down such rules. When I was growing up, racism and sexism had the sort of freedom that our illustrious Republican majority is now trying to codify, and I’m not at all sure the word “equity” was in anybody’s vocabulary.

Yes, I’m talking about North Carolina—my home state. And you betcha—there was no racism or sexism in MY all-white school and certainly no discussion of it from my teachers. Diversity? Probably the most noticeable was financial—you could tell from the clothes and shoes. Skin color, however, only grew vaguely diverse when it was warm enough for beach trips for those who could afford them. Or, on the other hand, when faces and necks turned red from field work on farms for a certain segment of the class.

Equity? Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever tried to apply “equity” to my high school education, and certainly not to junior high or elementary classes. Let me strain my brain for a minute. Equity. All my mind can see is the striking dissimilarity of school clothing—the well-heeled with good shoes and clean, bright clothing. The “middle class”—clean, worn clothes with less style and attraction, maybe some of it home-sewn. The “other”—worn clothes, ragged shoes, body odor, unkempt hair. Nope—no equity visible there!

Diversity? Are we talking about diverse backgrounds and income levels? Because there was diversity there. They pretty much matched up with the “equity” divisions. Because you couldn’t be talking about diversity in race or probably even religion. I knew ONE Catholic student in my (very Protestant) entire class. Come to think of it, he was sort of considered to be of another “race.”

But to put it pointedly, this was before forced integration in North Carolina public schools, when my Black friends from our farm neighborhood went to an entirely different and totally segregated school system. Ours was a small-town milieu; I recall no “foreigners” from other countries, so we were damnably homogeneous at the school I attended.

Inclusion. Just what were we to include? It’s hardly a word that seems to apply to my classrooms. Oh, they included a mix of family-income levels, obvious from the “diversity” of clothing and haircuts and even cleanliness. (You could see diversity in the lunchroom, too—bag lunches instead of money to buy hot meals.)

You might get extra “inclusion” if you were really smart, or if you were a particularly good athlete, or a talented member of the marching band. I got included in a very special club—the school bus drivers. We were a force in our own right. We truly needed the pittance we were paid monthly (less than $30), and we were proud of our driving records and our esprit de corps.

Yeah. Inclusion. I’m not really sure how you apply “inclusion” to any public school, to tell you the truth. There will always be cliques and social segregations of one description or another. But the whole “DEI” development grew out of an ambition to grease the skids more appreciably. The fact that certain legislators are willing to run screaming from the initials tells us how much further we have to go if we really have a goal to be a more equitable society. I find their fear completely odd. Ill-founded. Unjust. I would add uneducated and cowardly, but I’ll let you do that for yourself. I hope.

Meanwhile, the Cross Legislature Crosses Over

All the little bills had their lives on the line the first week of May. If sponsored by a Democrat, the patients didn’t survive, or were left alive but mortally wounded. The NC Senate has a veto-proof Republican majority; the House has a Republican majority that only lacks one for veto-proof status.

Here are some of the more ballyhooed bills and topics that sailed across the great divide on schedule. We may see others pop in as the lawmakers sort through and curry supporters, normally under the disguise of an entirely different bill that undergoes some radical editing.

Sailed

HB 47 – “Disaster Recovery Act of 2025 – Part 1” (now ratified) to appropriate $524,000,000 from the Helene Fund for home reconstruction/repair, crop loss compensation, and other major recovery needs in western North Carolina.

SB 50 – “Freedom to Carry NC” is a busy bill with several features, but primarily it would permit the carrying of a concealed handgun by “any person who is a citizen of the United States and at least 18 years old.” (Exceptions: Ineligibility to own or possess a firearm; under indictment for a felony; adjudicated guilty of specific felonies; fugitive from justice; adjudicated to be lacking mental capacity; dishonorably discharged from Armed Forces of the United States.)

HB 87 (and SB 55) – “Cell Phone-Free Education” (HB 87) would allow governing bodies of public schools to adopt a “cell phone-free education policy to eliminate or severely restrict student access to cell phones during instruction time. “Student Use of Wireless Communication Devices” (SB 55) would regulate “any portable wireless device” capable of voice, messaging, or data communication between parties.

SB 58 – “AG/Restrict Challenge to Presidential EOs” is an act that would limit the Attorney General’s participation in litigation that would result in the invalidation of any executive order issued by the President of the United States.

HB 171/SB 227 – “Equality in State Agencies/Prohibition on DEI,” eliminating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives in state and local government.

SB 153 – “North Carolina Border Protection Act,” requiring cooperation with federal immigration officials; ensuring state funds are used for benefit of persons in the state legally; prohibiting UNC constituent institutions from becoming sanctuary universities.

HB 560/SB 442 – “Parents Protection Act,” changing various laws affecting the care of juveniles and adoption of children, adding language to existing law that protects parents/ guardians/ custodians/ caretakers “who raise a juvenile consistent with the juvenile’s biological sex” shall not be subject to “a petition supporting abuse or neglect … based solely on those acts.” The act forbids denial of adoption to parents based on race, color, or national origin, or based on the adoptive parents’ refusal/ unwillingness/ lack of support to enable the child to engage in a gender transition.

HB 519 – “Parents Medical Bill of Rights,” revising laws regarding when minors can give effective consent to medical treatment on their own authority, and when parents are allowed access to minors’ medical records. Parental consent would be required in most circumstances involving care and prescriptions, closing the right of individual consent that young people have held legally since 1977.

HB 618 – “Ivermectin Access Act,” allowing pharmacists to dispense ivermectin without a prescription and be immune from civil or criminal liability. If the name sounds familiar, this is the famous anti-parasitic drug ballyhooed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

HB 781 – “Unauthorized Public Camping & Sleeping,” banning unauthorized public camping or sleeping in the state and local government units of the state. Local governments may not authorize public camping/ sleeping on any public property or right-of-way under its jurisdiction.

It’s always easy to check the status of bills you might be interested in, because fortunately the NC General Assembly has a very accessible and informative website at ncleg.gov. You can read the session bills and study the action on each. You can easily find your own or other pertinent representatives and ways to contact them. You can find audio schedules to follow particular hearings. And you can pick up facts and history and visitor or contact info. So dive in! It is our government, even when it doesn’t seem like it.

And Last, But Not Least

Remember that action the General Assembly took last November which, in what seemed a fit of petulance at the results of the 2024 state election, the Republican majority used the urgency of hurricane relief to pass SB 382, a bill that created a massive upheaval of the election provisions for this state?

Those provisions took away the power of the governor to appoint State Board of Elections members and county boards of election by transferring appointment and oversight to the state auditor, along with other election-related changes that reduced timelines for such matters as allowing voters to “cure” ballot problems, and tightening mail-in ballot timing.

Well, those provisions recently became operational with Republicans taking control of the board and not only firing the Karen Brinson Bell, board director since 2019, but (in my humble opinion) rudely refusing to acknowledge her request to speak before her exit by totally ignoring her presence. Class act, y’all.

Bell subsequently offered a statement to the media, according to Raleigh’s WRAL news report, in which she offered the observation that “elections have become toxic and lost their civility in recent years … driven by politicians who refuse to accept the losses and instead seek to spread conspiracy theories.”

Republican leadership lawyer Sam Hayes is taking over day-to-day operations of the board. Hayes has been serving as general counsel for NC House Speaker Destin Hall. The new board chair will be Francis De Luca, who promises sweeping changes in how our NC elections are run. De Luca, a 30-year US marine, is former president of the Civitas Institute and the State Ethics Commission.

If you’d like to view the changeover meeting, here’s a video link. It’s pretty entertaining.

Nelda Holder is the author of The Thirteenth Juror – Ferguson: A Personal Look at the Grand Jury Transcripts.