It’s funny how some things your parents said when you were a child stay with you almost six decades later.

I grew up in the 60’s. It was an era of protests, riots, and marches to give equal rights to blacks and women. There were many nights when my father, who was a lifelong Republican, and I would have long talks at the dinner table about the news of the day.

I was a young kid trying to make sense of all that was going on. I couldn’t understand why some people thought a person was less of a human because of their skin color or why the only jobs a woman could have were teachers, nurses, waitresses, or housewives.

During these conversations in the era of Martin Luther King and Gloria Steinem, my dad would sometimes say that he “Didn’t want to live in a world of blue suits.” Which was somewhat ironic since he was an insurance salesman and had a closet filled with blue suits.

But what he meant was he didn’t want to live in a country where everyone looked and acted the same. He appreciated the different cultures. The different races. He embraced the concept that America was a melting pot where everyone should be able to live as equals.

I don’t know how many times he made the blue suit comment. It might have been only a time or two, but it really stuck with me. He taught me about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion long before it was ever called that.

Which makes it hard for me to understand why President Trump and many of his followers have such a problem with DEI. It seems un-American.

Attacking DEI has been a main focus during the reign of Trump. The president pressured some major corporations to drop their DEI initiatives. He also threatened to withhold funding from cities and states that promote DEI.

Which is why Omaha Republican city councilmembers Brinker Harding and Aimee Melton made an attempt to get all references to DEI removed from the city budget. I imagine this was especially important to Councilman Harding, who doesn’t want to be on the bad side of the administration as he runs to replace Don Bacon.

Harding and Melton were successful on one front. Keith Station had been Omaha’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. He will now be called the city’s Deputy Chief of Staff for External Affairs. Although his duties will pretty much remain the same. And while they tried to erase all mention of DEI from the city’s budget, two references to DEI will remain.

DEI is not the same thing as affirmative action. The city doesn’t have quotas to hire a certain percentage of African Americans, homosexuals, Muslims, Jews, women, transexuals, people with disabilities, or any other minority. DEI simply addresses the past disparities where qualified people wouldn’t be treated the same as heterosexual white men in the workforce. It acknowledged that a person should not be denied employment or passed over for promotion just because they didn’t fit a certain mold. They weren’t “Blue Suits” if you will.

This administration, supported by the silence of members of the Republican Party, has gone out of its way to remove any references to the accomplishments of minorities from the history books.

President Trump issued an executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” But this executive order does none of that. It demands that the Smithsonian and other museums stop showing the cold, hard truths about slavery and racism. This executive order specifically goes after museums focused on African American and Women’s history. Official government websites honoring black or gay historical figures have been altered and, in some cases, removed altogether.

The Republican Party was founded by Abraham Lincoln. This great man freed the slaves. The man who tried to bring the country together and said that a house divided against itself cannot stand. How do you honor that man if you don’t acknowledge the horrors of slavery? How do you continue his legacy of unity if you don’t support things like DEI?

I’m tired of the culture wars Republican politicians are using to divide us. I believe Brinker Harding and Aimee Melton are good people. I just wish they weren’t so beholden to a man who wants to turn America into a nation of “blue suits.”

Tom Becka is a long time Nebraska broadcaster who for over 30 years has been covering Omaha and Midwest issues on both radio and TV. He has been a guest on numerous national cable and news shows, filled in for nationally syndicated talk radio programs and Talkers Magazine has recognized him as one of the Top 100 talk show hosts in the country 10 times. Never afraid to ruffle some feathers, his ‘Becka’s Beat’ commentaries can be found online on Youtube and other digital platforms.

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