Erasing DEI at MCCCD is Erasing Us!
I am Black. I am female. I am gay. And I am deeply disturbed by the efforts to strip Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives from Maricopa Community Colleges. The decision to remove DEI isn’t just about policies or politics. It’s about people. It’s about students who walk onto our campuses and wonder if they belong like I did when I went to college. It’s about faculty and staff who have fought to make education more inclusive, only to see those efforts dismissed as “unnecessary” or “divisive.” It’s about me.
Let’s be clear: the push to dismantle DEI is not neutral. It is not about fairness. It is about erasing the progress we’ve made in acknowledging and addressing systemic inequities in education. When institutions remove DEI programs, they are sending a message, one that says the success and well-being of marginalized students and employees are not priorities. They are telling Black, brown, LGBTQ+, disabled, first-generation, and other underrepresented students that their experiences don’t matter. That their barriers to success aren’t worth addressing. That their presence on these campuses should be tolerated but not supported.
Take Black history, for example. Every February, colleges, including MCCCD colleges, acknowledge African American History Month with events, guest speakers, and discussions that bring attention to the depth and complexity of Black contributions to this country. Black history is American history. But even that is being threatened. With DEI under attack, colleges are mandated to erase these programs, making Black history an afterthought rather than an essential part of education. And let’s be honest, most students in this country already learn very little about Black history. Ask the average person what they know, and they’ll give you the same names: Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman. Maybe Malcolm X if they had a teacher who strayed from the sanitized version of history found in textbooks. Beyond that? Silence.
They don’t learn about the countless Black scientists, inventors, and writers whose work shaped the world. They don’t learn about the thriving Black communities that were systematically destroyed, like Tulsa’s Black Wall Street, or the racist policies that shaped housing, education, and criminal justice in ways that still impact us today. They don’t hear about the long tradition of Black resistance, innovation, and excellence beyond the narrow lens of slavery and civil rights. DEI was one of the few institutional efforts pushing back against this erasure, ensuring that students, Black and otherwise, got a fuller, more honest education. Now, that effort is being ripped away. Are they coming after my African American literature class next?
We’ve heard the arguments against DEI. That it’s divisive. That it gives “special treatment.” That it lowers standards. These are convenient lies told by those who are uncomfortable with confronting the reality of inequity. DEI does not give unfair advantages; it ensures that opportunities and resources are accessible to everyone, not just those who have always had them. It does not lower standards; it recognizes that different students face different obstacles and works to remove those barriers. And if you think DEI is divisive, ask yourself: who actually benefits when it is removed?
The answer is simple. The removal of DEI benefits those who have never needed it. It benefits those who have always been represented in leadership, in curriculum, in hiring, in decision-making. It benefits institutions that don’t want to be held accountable for disparities in who gets hired, who gets promoted, and who gets to succeed. It benefits politicians and administrators who pander to anti-DEI rhetoric while ignoring the real harm they are causing.
So what happens now? Do we just accept that MCCCD is willing to silence and erase its marginalized students and faculty? Do we quietly watch as years of hard work and advocacy are undone? No. We speak up. We push back. We make it clear that the removal of DEI will not go unnoticed and that the people it is harming will not be ignored. They can erase DEI from our web pages, but they can’t erase us!
MCCCD should be a place where all students, regardless of race, gender, sexuality, or background, feel valued and supported. If the institution refuses to uphold that mission, then it is failing its students. And failure is not something we should accept.
Note: I started Write6x6 in 2015. I own this domain, write6x6.com, and champion all the diverse individuals who have shared their stories and experiences with our GCC community and beyond. So, MCCCD can’t erase us or this very diverse and inclusive blog.
