We get it now, dude. You've said it a thousand times. Your see DEI solely in terms of giving advantages to people, and particularly people you've never spoken up for on this board and to whom you have directed a LOT of animus. Of course, in order to play out this narrative, you have to consistently mischaracterize DEI programs and what they do/don't actually do. And no, I'm not doing that discussion again.
The rest of us see the value -- to everyone -- of a diverse society where most cultures are accepted, celebrated and woven into the national fabric. No, not melted in a pot. That shit is what brought us abominations like Olive Garden. When I would go the Brooklyn Academy of Music to see music or dance, I would usually eat West African food from one of the nearby West African places, run by people actually from West Africa. It was delicious. It was also pretty much the only time I would get quality West African food, as those restaurants aren't everywhere. My life became richer for the experience.
See, where you see melanin, I see culture. Where you see tits and ass, I see a valuable perspective from which I can potentially learn. Where you see undifferentiated masses, I see the distinctive qualities that make the tapestry of humankind so variegated, intricate and beautiful. Humans are at their absolute best -- on average -- when creating art and music. I've seen tons of cross-cultural concerts (e.g. pretty much the entire Silk Road concert series, klezmer musicians and jazz musicians collaborating to create New York Jazzmer, percussion festivals featuring North and South Indian drumming and usually other areas from the Middle East) and I've never seen anything other than joy from the musicians.
There's a reason why diverse companies are successful companies, and most successful companies are diverse. There's a reason that diverse corporate boards outperform companies with homogenous boards. There's a reason so much of the world's great music has a complex cultural lineage, borrowing from many different traditions.
That's the part of this whole discussion that you just toss out like unopened mail. I don't know if you can't get it or just refuse to try, but my life is way, way, way richer because of immigrants and diversity. It's richer the more I come into contact with them. The Indians who sell spices in their markets at 25-40% the cost of grocery store has allowed me to experiment and learn to cook delicious food from many traditions. The Indians who play tabla at graduation events make my life better, as tabla are (in my view) the greatest drums ever invented. My son's Chinese and Korean friends have opened his eyes to a whole culture that he hadn't seen before. Those are just a couple of many, many, many examples.
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