Anticolonialism
Rethinking DEI: Why It’s Time for a More Transformative Approach
#UnpopularTake: Maybe it’s time for the DEI industry to die a natural death.
If you’re like me, you may have been surprised to learn just how little impact traditional DEI efforts have made historically. Lily Zheng’s DEI Deconstructed lays this out clearly, and it’s time to ask ourselves a crucial question: Are we truly advancing equity, or are we just checking boxes?
Let’s be clear: This is not an argument against resourcing Black-led and BIPOC organizations—funding for these efforts should increase, not decline. Nor is this about dismissing representation, equity, or inclusion within workplaces. These things matter. But when we zoom out, it becomes painfully obvious that most DEI initiatives are reactionary and surface-level because they never started with a root-cause analysis to begin with
This is also not an argument against funding critical services and vital research that helps policymakers shape accurate approaches/solutions to their work. But it is about helping people understand what underlies the root of it all..
The Missing Link: Anticolonialism
True antiracism and justice work are deeply tied to one key root: anticolonialism.
Most DEI efforts attempt to carve out space within existing power structures, rather than fundamentally reshaping those structures. They seek inclusion at a table that was not built with equity in mind, rather than questioning who sets the table, who writes the agenda, and who decides what’s on the menu. Without this deeper interrogation, DEI becomes another mechanism for reinforcing the very systems it claims to disrupt.
The Eurocentric and Colonialist Foundations of Our Institutions
Eurocentrism and colonialism shape how many of our organizations behave, how they define success, and how they frame equity itself. The nonprofit and philanthropic sectors, for example, often replicate extractive models where funding priorities, impact metrics, and decision-making structures are designed by those with institutional power, rather than those most impacted by systemic inequities.
Corporate DEI programs often take a similar approach—tweaking policies, providing trainings, or adding “diverse” candidates into spaces that were never built with their thriving in mind. Without shifting the underlying power dynamics, these efforts are doomed to be performative at best and harmful at worst.
A Different Approach: Moving Beyond DEI
If we want to move the needle in a meaningful way, we need to stop treating DEI as an end goal and instead view it as a starting point for deeper structural transformation.
That means:
Centering anticolonial and abolitionist frameworks in our approach to equity work.
Shifting power and decision-making to the communities most impacted by inequity.
Moving from “diversity and inclusion” to justice and liberation as our guiding principles.
Challenging the economic and governance models that sustain inequities in our workplaces, philanthropy, and public institutions.
It’s time to move past the limitations of DEI as an industry and build something that truly serves the work of justice and liberation. If we’re not actively questioning and dismantling the colonial mindsets that shape our institutions, then we’re not doing the work—we’re just repackaging the same problems under a new label.
Let’s have the conversation. What would a truly transformative approach to equity look like?
