In general, do you support diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at companies?

👍 Yes (47%) – "Diversity is the reason we have a continuously evolving and relevant culture. It’s the essence of America. It’s imperative for corporations to reflect the make up of our country and benefit from its different perspectives."

• "All organizations need to add diversity of thought based on lived and learned experiences to increase innovation and change. Additionally, a key element of retention and innovation is the employee's feeling of inclusion in the workplace."

"I am a minority in my field. Walking into a room of people who do not look like me is intimidating and this feeling discourages minorities from pursuing certain careers. However this furthers a group of people monopolizing certain careers and results in fields missing out on important opinions and perspectives."

• "From a personal perspective, I live in a community that has a large Hispanic population and I have seen first hand that for a multitude of reasons members of that demographic lack resources and opportunities that are available to other members of the community. I have seen kids and adults who are smart and driven who can be successful in school and business when they are given support. With that support they can become the first in their family to attend college or own a business - to achieve things that others take for granted."

"We cannot deny that systemic racism has long been pervasive in our country. DEI programs level the playing field. Diversity of thought, opinion and education is a good thing for organizations and institutions."

👎 No (40%) – "The past's stain of inequality in America that resulted in inequity, cannot be remedied or made whole by inequality efforts of equity today."

• "No organization can be successful unless they promote or hire the most qualified people regardless of race or gender. DEI is nothing more than a racist tool that only uses race or gender to qualify people."

"I think we’re at a point in our country where companies are going to hire the best qualified person no matter their race so I don’t think we need to have something in place that dictates that you have to have a certain amount of minorities in a company."

• "The founding documents of the United States (the Declaration of Independence & the US Constitution (including the Bill of Rights)) are foundational based on the idea of citizens with expansive freedoms, and providing all citizens equal opportunities in their pursuit of 'life, liberty, and justice'. The idea of trying to manage every situation, every person, to equal outcomes vs equal opportunities is both impossible and contrary to the founding ideals of America."

🤷 Unsure/other (13%) – "Yes, with caveats. At first, our DEI training was great. We learned a lot about bias and how the brain works to perceive things. We also learned about the importance of representation and how we may be received. All good! But year after year of training and eventually, you’re burned out. I do think it’s good to seek to diversify companies, but I don’t think it’s ok to do so at the expense of qualifications and/or drive. I do think it’s good to train people, but I don’t think it’s good to drill it in all year, every year."