DEI – Under Attack Because It Works!

Cynthia Featherson, California CASA DEI Manager
3/1/25

As Cynthia Featherson, California CASA’s DEI manager, I have spent the past 30 years as a DEI leader and consultant, working to create meaningful change. Through this work, I know we can continue to improve our country because I have been a part of historical change. I am often asked about my perspective on what’s currently taking place on the DEI front, and I want to share a bit of history with you based on factual events from the 1st and 2nd Reconstruction Eras.

The 1st Reconstruction Era occurred after the end of the Civil War. It was the first federal law in the United States to define citizenship. It protected the rights of all citizens equally and was passed to protect the rights of formerly enslaved people by providing a

framework for Black people to enter into contracts – in other words, make money! But, after the Great Compromise of 1877, the Reconstruction period ended, and the Jim Crow period began.

The 2nd Reconstruction Era in American history—the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s— was to end state and local laws that enforced racial segregation, a.k.a. “Jim Crow.” This period saw significant legal and social changes to achieve racial equality, fulfilling the promises not fully completed during the original Reconstruction era. With a focus on Civil Rights, this period saw significant legal battles against segregation and discrimination through landmark cases like Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965. Having been born in 1953, I do not take for granted how I benefited from all that was accomplished during this era.

Commentator and host Roland Martin suggests we are currently experiencing our 3rd Reconstruction Era, a modern movement to address systemic racial and economic injustices in the United States. It calls for policies that combat voter suppression, poverty, and racial inequality through a fusion of moral activism and grassroots organizing.

Through Executive Order 14151, the current administration has dismantled DEI initiatives and programs, rolling back decades of social, economic, and justice reforms. Moreover, new policies have targeted LGBTQ+ protections, restricted transgender care, and threatened funding for institutions promoting DEI.

If this is the 3rd Reconstruction Era, it will take generations to recover. We must prepare for changes in the available resources for the children we serve, band together, and collectively agree on our wants and needs. Then, we’ll need to work together to rebuild.