Beware belonging the sneaky word companies use to keep up their DEI discrimination

Since President Donald Trump took office in January and announced his intent to dismantle divisive diversity, equity and inclusion policies nationwide, many companies leaped to claim that they, too, have rejected the once-trendy movement.But in truth, a large number are not actually ending their DEI activities — they’re simply rebranding them with the pleasant-sounding term “belonging.” Workplace DEI policies base hiring, promotions and other key decisions solely on race, gender and sexual orientation.Such discriminatory practices are illegal — and harmful, prioritizing a person’s immutable characteristics over his or her hard work and achievements.But for the committed woke activists burrowed into countless HR departments, the power to push identity politics on everyone around them is hard to give up. That’s why my organization, Consumers’ Research, predicted this widespread rebranding maneuver about a year ago, when public backlash against DEI began gaining momentum.In fact, “belonging” is one of the words we suggested companies might use, after it got a test-run on many college campuses. The only surprise is just how many corporations are taking the same lockstep approach to the effort.Kohl’s, for example, declared in March that it had dropped DEI from its messaging.But in fact the company just swapped out its “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” web page for an “Inclusion and Belonging” page instead.Michelle Banks, Kohl’s former chief DEI officer, is still there doing the very same work — now under her new title of Chief Inclusion and Belonging Officer.

For Kohl’s, DEI has not waned, merely disguised itself. Amid pressure from Trump, insurance company Nationwide removed all mentions of DEI from its website and rolled out the phrase as “Belonging, respect and fairness” in its place.But despite shedding its skin, DEI’s vital organs are very much present there, including Nationwide’s Associate Resource Groups that “...