What DEI Needs to Learn from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the man with a dream. Would DEI meet his standards of unity?

Writing my first book has been a journey of self-discovery, emphasizing what truly matters: the courage to stand in truth, even when it challenges the systems we’ve built or the way we honor legacies like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In Black is NOT a Credential, The Corporate Scam of DEI, I share many personal stories–from my childhood to experiences of tokenism in corporate America and defying societal boundaries. 

I’ve had Black colleagues and friends who have been offended by my audacity to think as an individual and not share the popular beliefs or victim and villain. I’ve had white colleagues and friends praise and try to hi-five me for taking a stance. Both responses reduce my perspective to a symbol of either identity defiance or validation—neither of which captures the truth or what I stand for. 

Here’s the truth: we have a serious race problem in this country. And sadly, I think we always will. These various conversations and experiences have revealed a raw truth: standing for my beliefs often places me outside collective narratives that mirror our country's larger divisions.

We’re six weeks away from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday. This year, it will also serve as the inauguration day for our 47th President of the United States. The irony of the word “united” and the birthday of a man whose legacy is so intricately tied to unity, equality, and peace seems like the storyline of a movie. But it is all too real. Reflecting on this, I realize how far we've fallen from Dr. King’s message and replaced it with performative activism.

Today, we live in a world where disagreement equals hatred. Agreeing equals love and unity applies to those who share your beliefs or ideology–not at all what he stood for. Messages are dominated by left or right narratives, both believing their way is correct and failing to accept their roles in contributing to the nationwide division. 

My book challenges both positions and sheds light: In trying to create ‘unity,’ we achieved the opposite by failing to take accountability for our individual roles in amplifying racial issues. We have neglected to acknowledge the legacy of a man who dedicated his life to seeing everyone on equal ground. We shut down banks, close government buildings, and throw parades to ‘honor’ him. But in truth, we’ve reduced his wisdom and strategy to a symbolic gesture—ignoring the actionable principles he fought for. Call me crazy, but this is not the definition of honor.

So I concluded: if our largest-scale efforts to honor Dr. King (the man of unity) have become symbolic, it’s no wonder that corporate DEI commitments have followed suit, replacing practical business decisions and substance with box-ticking gestures. Most of those retreating from their DEI adopted policies that elevated race over qualifications. That was the problem, not the ambition of creating inclusive environments. True inclusion means aligning ambition with action, not elevating identity and ignoring capability. And that’s where many have gone astray.

In the famous words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, “Judge a person by the content of their character, not the color of their skin.”

Here's what DEI needs. When was the last time we judged someone by the content of their character? It’s time we ask and answer that question.