Fort Worth city officials are looking for “Diversity Matters Champions” for their “Celebrate Diversity” initiative led by the Diversity & Equity Employee Committee, which was created by the city manager’s office and supported by the Diversity & Inclusion Department.
A Celebrate Diversity flyer encourages attending at least five of six “cultural awareness programs,” either in person or online, to “become a Diversity Matters Champion.” Attendees must sign in to receive credit.
Those who choose to watch online must “send a comment” to [email protected] about something they learned or liked from the program to receive credit.
The six cultural awareness programs are on:
- Black History Month (February 15)
- Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month (May 9)
- Juneteenth (June 13)
- Pride Month (June 27)
- Hispanic Heritage Month (October 3)
- Native American Heritage Month (November 7)
Blaze TV personality Sara Gonzales posted the flyer on her X account and wrote, “Fort Worth has fallen.”
The Diversity & Inclusion Department was formed in 2019 to “eliminate racial, ethnic, and gender disparities in criminal justice, economic development, education, governance, health, housing, and transportation” following a report by the Fort Worth Task Force on Race and Culture.
“We were created to bring equity, not just to the delivery of municipal services, but also workforce development and to ensure that all residents in Fort Worth can thrive. So that’s kind of it in a nutshell,” Christina Brooks, chief equity officer and director of the department, told Fort Worth Report in 2022.
The department’s website states that to achieve the goal of “equity,” it uses city council-approved bodies such as the Human Relations Commission, the Mayor’s Committee on Persons with Disabilities, and the Business Equity Advisory Board. “Additionally, the Civil Rights Enforcement Assistant Director also serves as the city’s liaison to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community,” reads the website.
Tarrant County Republican Party Chairman Bo French has criticized the Department and called on the City of Fort Worth to disavow the DEI programs.
“More and more, we keep finding out that our beloved red county is promoting radical Marxism. Diversity and inclusion programs do the opposite of what they claim. They only seek to divide us and promote racism against white people. I call on the City of Fort Worth to immediately disavow these programs, or the good people in this community will mobilize like never before to run the Marxists out of office,” French told DX.
DX contacted the Diversity & Inclusion Department for comment but did not receive a response.
In a defense of DEI, Anika Rahman, CEO of the National Diversity Council, wrote a brief op-ed published by The New York Times.
“DEI seeks to ensure that individuals embodying these intersecting identities are provided with equal opportunities to succeed in all walks of life, including in our education system and workplaces,” wrote Rahman. “DEI programs are about realizing the hallowed American dream. It is a shame that conservative activists seek to shatter a bedrock principle of our nation: equality.”
