‘We’re not just playing defense’: Minnesota elected leaders push back on federal rush to end DEI
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President Donald Trump’s move to dismantle the federal government’s diversity, equity and inclusion programs isn’t being met with a similar response in Minnesota, where government leaders and agencies are pressing ahead.
In his swift effort to tear away DEI initiatives, Trump has called the anti-bias training and funding programs for minorities discriminatory. Minnesota leaders counter that they’re helping bring down systemic barriers.
Recent job postings at the state also suggest inclusion efforts aren’t halting.
There’s an open position for Director of Strategic Inclusion at the Department of Management and Budget. There have been recent postings for inclusion management positions in the Department of Children, Youth and Families and at the Department of Employment and Economic Development. The Department of Health is working to fill a “diversity, inclusion and belonging supervisor” role in the agency’s health equity unit, with the application period closing last week.
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The person will help run a unit that “provides leadership in advancing diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) and anti-racism efforts across the Minnesota Department of Health,” according to the posting.
The Department of Natural Resources recently solicited for vendors to help with DEI training and strategic planning to help expand cultural competence of staff, foster career pipelines and build better relationships with diverse partners. The “customized natural resource conservation-specific” trainings should cover “unconscious bias, allyship, anti-racism, microaggression, strategic DEI and inclusive leadership,” the request for proposals says. The strategic plan is aimed at bolstering equitable access to DNR programs.
DEI initiatives at the state level are out of Trump's reach but Minnesota's swim against this new political tide could be tested.
Defenders of the programs say they’re standing firm.
“The efforts to roll these back at the federal level, let's be really clear, are efforts to re-segregate society,” said Sen. Erin Maye Quade, DFL-Apple Valley.
Maye Quade noted many core DEI initiatives stem from decades-old efforts to undo segregation. She said there are strong protections under the Minnesota Human Rights Act.
Maye Quade said with a one-seat DFL majority, she and her caucus colleagues are not just going to “hold the line.” She’s already introduced a bill meant to persuade employers to diversify their workforces by hiring people with disabilities.
“We're not just playing defense,” Maye Quade. “We're going to continue to advance a multicultural, multiracial, multi generational society where everyone can grow, live and thrive.”
That hasn’t stopped various institutions and companies in Minnesota from rolling back their DEI policies. The University of Minnesota Law School is pausing its search for a new assistant dean of diversity, equity and inclusion. Minnesota-based Target recently faced public backlash for backing away from its diversity efforts.
Republican leaders in the Senate didn’t bring up cracking down on DEI in the state during a press conference last week where they rolled out their session priorities.
“That hasn't been a focus of what we're working on,” said Republican Senate Leader Mark Johnson. “The president has his own agenda.”
Monday was Black Entrepreneurs Day at the Minnesota Capitol. While the focus was on connecting business owners from across the state with each other and state lawmakers, national headlines from the Trump White House were front and center.
DFL Gov. Tim Walz touted programs passed under full DFL control including the Emerging Entrepreneurs Act, which funds loans to businesses owned by minority or low-income people, and the Expanding Opportunity Fund, which provides long-term loans to non-profits.
“That's not DEI, that's good business,” Walz told a Monday morning crowd gathered in the Capitol Rotunda. “The fact of the matter is, there were and are systemic barriers to success for Black communities.”
Attorney General Keith Ellison blasted President Trump for comments he made blaming a plane crash in Washington and the fires in Los Angeles on DEI programs.
“We’ve got to make the case for DEI, friends,” Ellison said. “We’ve gotta say that we are better as a society when everybody gets to participate.”
Sheletta Brundidge organized Monday’s event and turned down money from Amazon to sponsor the event after learning the company was rolling back internal DEI efforts.
Democratic House members were not present at the event as they continue to boycott showing up at the Capitol over a power dispute. But several House Republicans showed up to talk with Black entrepreneurs about their needs.
“My career here at the Capitol has been one to get rid of cumbersome and stupid regulations,” Rep. Jim Nash, R-Waconia said. “Because that cuts against all communities of color, and it just makes it easier for them once people can remove these things to allow them to succeed.”
Black entrepreneurs used the event to network. That included Shontel Booker, who runs the Dream in Color Healing yoga studio in the Twin Cities.
“Sometimes, as a Black business owner, you feel like you kind of pushed to the side,” Booker said. “With the changes in DEI it kind of feels just like that nobody's really trying to see us to try to help us build our businesses and amplify our voices.”
