Tesla removed a line from its annual 10-K report this year that centered around the automaker’s majority-minority workforce and Tesla’s support of employee resource groups after Tesla CEO Elon Musk publicly denounced Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives on Twitter, his social media platform. Musk has previously endorsed anti-semitic conspiracy theories on Twitter and has made offensive remarks about many other minority groups, and community uproar surrounding his platforms’ complacency with racism resulted in many advertisers pulling out from Twitter.
Regarding the removed 10-K line, Automotive News reports,
In its latest 10-K filing released early Monday, Tesla omitted a line from a year ago that read: “With a majority-minority workforce, empowering our employee resource groups to take charge in driving initiatives that attract, develop and retain our passionate workforce is vital to our continued success.”
Musk has repeatedly denounced diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in recent weeks on social media, calling them “literally the definition of racism.” In another post on X, the social network he owns, Musk said “DEI must DIE,” referring to the acronym for diversity policies.
Musk went so far as to quote a tweet from an account called “EndWokeness” that cited an excerpt from Johns Hopkins University’s DEI department explaining the word privilege, and said “This must end.”
The January 2024 Monthly Diversity Digest from Johns Hopkins University defined privilege as, “a set of unearned benefits given to people who are in a specific social group. Privilege operates on personal, interpersonal, cultural and institutional levels, and it provides advantages and favors to members of dominant groups at the expense of members of other groups.”
Musk is under the false impression that DEI efforts are intended to hold down the dominant cultures that experience privilege, when in reality the importance of these efforts is to move toward a more level playing field for minorities in a system that’s inherently sexist, racist, ableist, and classist.
Maria Felice Cedeño, a professional DEI Facilitator said,
DEI provides the definition of racism, but we are diving deep into how it’s present in our everyday lives. Whether you want to come into awareness of these issues is up to you.
DEI decolonizes the structures of white supremacy, breaking them down so we can build up from a place of equity and show folks that all of their experiences matter and are valid.
Awareness is important – when you don’t assign importance to awareness, you’re telling numerous groups of people that they don’t matter.
People with lighter skin get subconsciously preferential treatment. Able-bodied people get subconsciously preferential treatment. Rich people get subconsciously preferential treatment. DEI initiatives are in place to empower minority groups and protect them from a system that has historically not welcomed minorities or celebrated them the same way that majority groups are celebrated.
One of the toughest parts about privilege is that people who have privilege don’t understand the challenges that face folks in minority groups, which is even explained in the “This must end!” tweet that Musk quoted. Musk does a great job of proving the point that privilege is invisible to those who have it, but anyone can learn the importance of inclusivity if they want to.