Giving Voice to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Principles

Floor Speech

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Mr. FIELDS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and including me in this very Special Order. In fact, I remember the first day we were here. The late Sylvester Turner and I were sitting right on this floor, and the gentleman from Illinois invited us to be a part of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Caucus.

Let me just tell the gentleman that I am so proud to be a part of this caucus. When the President signed an executive order to do away with diversity, equity, and inclusion, it was, in my view, totally wrong, and I think people need to stand up for what they really believe in.

I was going through the dictionary today, Mr. Speaker, and I was looking at all three of these terms.

First, diversity. Diversity simply means the quality or condition of having or being composed of different elements, such as forms, types, and ideas. There was a time that our military wasn't diverse, and then the American people said there is nothing wrong with African Americans serving in the military. There is really nothing wrong with women serving in the military. There were some folk all across the country who said, oh, you are going to weaken the military. Did it make the military weaker? No, you bet it didn't. It made the military stronger. When we became diverse, it became the most fierce fighting machine in the world.

We need to talk about what is good about diversity, equity, and inclusion and not talk about all of these scare tactics that we have heard from people all across the country.

Second is equity. What is equity? The quality of being fair, just, especially in a way that takes account and seeks to address existing inequities.

Let's be honest about it. There are people in this country who have been facing all types of inequities from the day they were born.

We used to debate affirmative action, for example. Folk used to say affirmative action is two parallel lines where you take somebody who is unqualified and elevate them to the level of somebody who is qualified. That wasn't affirmative action. Affirmative action should be viewed as a circle instead of two parallel lines. When you take a certain person out of the circle, they are all equally qualified. We have been fighting those battles all along.

There has been some talk that there is no need for equity. Businesses across America have decided to end their diversity, equity, and inclusion programs as a result of the Executive Order No. 14151 signed by the President on January 20, 2025.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, inclusion. Who can be against inclusion? Inclusion means inclusion. People of all walks of life. There was a time in this country that Blacks weren't able to even register to vote. This Nation said that was wrong, and they changed it and passed the 15th Amendment.

Did you know there was a time in this country that folk did not even allow women to vote? How crazy is that? This country said no, we need to include everybody. Every single person, every single U.S. citizen, should, when they reach a certain age, be eligible to vote. It didn't make our democracy weaker. Inclusion made our democracy stronger.

Mr. Speaker, I urge the gentleman from Illinois to keep on fighting for diversity, equity, and inclusion because it is not a bad thing. It is a good thing.

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