What, Exactly, is “Equity”?

Biden’s not sure, but he has to decide

Did you catch Biden’s recent Executive Order on equity in the federal government? You did not, because it was announced on a Friday afternoon in the middle of summer. Biden basically mumbled it under his breath while everyone was headed to the beach. Friday afternoon is when the White House (any White House) breaks news about botched ATF raids, me-too’d White House staffers, indicted presidential relatives, and First Dog attacks on foreign dignitaries. And also wedge issues. Wedge issues most of all.

“Equity” is a Democratic wedge issue even though -- or maybe because -- there’s no agreement on what the word means. The entire left side of the political spectrum has decided that “equality” is passé -- it’s like saying “oriental”, you simply don’t -- but the successor word is a fuzzy grey cloud of nobody-knows-what. You can find definitions of “equity” that say it basically means “different resources for different people”, you can find ones that use it as a synonym for “impartiality”, and you can find ones that are bullshit self-fellation that prove, yes, it is possible to have too much education. 

But, ultimately, Ibram X. Kendi’s definition is the one that’s causing all the trouble.

I’ve avoided writing about Kendi and Robin DiAngelo on this blog. Kendi and DiAngelo are the human growth hormone of Substack; a quick injection will make your performance numbers skyrocket. If you’re familiar with this newsletter, you’ve surely noticed that I reject concepts like popularity, success, or writing things that people enjoy. But you can draw a straight line between Kendi’s definition of equity and policy decisions Biden has to make in the near future, so...here we go.