This seems to have moved on to a general discussion of race and hiring instead of answering Judith's questions, so I'm going to weigh in as a contradictory voice.
When I imagine an inner-city hospital that serves a substantially black population, and I think of a black kid getting an emergency appendectomy who sees no black doctors, I can't help but be reminded that representation matters. What life-lessons does that kid take away from that experience? And what about when it's repeated at banks and schools and city council meetings and on and on? So now, at that hospital, they're filling a slot for a new ER attending. 35 young doctors applied and they've narrowed it down to four who have essentially equal scores. The hiring board can choose the one black doctor or one of the three white doctors. Who should they pick?
To me, the social good of hiring the black doctor over the three white ones is obvious and plain.
Sometimes when it's left up to the hiring board, they realize that and make the right choice. More often (in my experience), being a bunch of white men, they're just subtly more comfortable with the white candidates and since they all have the same score, the job goes to a white doctor. If the hospital has a DEI program in place, the black candidate maybe gets an extra half a point on the rubric that helps the board pick and so they have less ability to just go with their gut.
Also, as far as I know, every government position at every level, all across the United states, and also every company that depends on government contracts, which is millions and millions of jobs, gives preferential hiring to veterans. I assume anyone opposed to these DEI programs is also opposed to veteran preference programs...right?
