We Democrats are continuing to struggle to figure out how we lost the support of the white working class in the 2016, 2020 and the 2024 presidential elections. I think that part of the reason rests with their perception that in general we libs look down on them and part rests with “political correctness”, including our emphasis on “diversity, equity and inclusion” or DEI, which naturally I am in favor of and guilty as charged.

I now understand why. I confess: I am one of casualties of DEI orthodoxy! In the early 2000s I was fired by the University of Maryland for being “a sexist and a racist” and was warned by the Department of Public Policy where I was a lecturer never to set foot on, or even come close to, the University of Maryland campus again.

Here is my story, which I have told before but it is probably even more prescient today with the high stakes midterm elections coming up this year and the need for us Democrats to try to reach some of those who voted for him because they felt dissed by people like me.

When I sold Howell Associates in 1998 (which provided technical assistance to developers of affordable housing and seniors housing), I began to slow down and was looking for some ways that I might contribute. I had done some college level teaching before (when in 1981 I was the Benjamin Banneker Professor of Washington Studies at GW, a one-semester, temporary assignment, and enjoyed the experience) and thought I might be able to somehow get back into academia. Someone suggested the University of Maryland where I was able to land a position as lecturer in the School of Public Policy where my class was on affordable housing finance as part of a larger course on housing. I only lectured a few times a semester but enjoyed the experience and liked the students, many of whom were already working and taking the course as part of their required continuing education.

In my fifth or sixth year of lecturing, I got a voicemail message from the administrator overseeing the program, which stated the following: “Mr. Howell, there is no place at the University of Maryland for racists or sexists like you. You are fired! Do not come to class and do not set foot on university property again.”

I immediately dialed the callback number and was put into her voicemail. I said that I enjoyed the classes and was sorry hear I had been fired but could she please explain why I am a racist and a sexist.

The next day I received another voicemail message from her stating simply that it was because of the racist and sexist story I told in class this week. Having no idea what she was talking about I immediately got her voice mailbox again and said, “What story are you talking about?”

The following day I received another voicemail message from her stating, “I am not sure but think it was the racist thing you said about the Chinese people.”

I immediately returned the call and got her voicemailbox again. “Why was the story racist and sexist?”

The next day I received her reply in my voicemailbox, “I don’t know, but call the student that complained about you and do not bother me again. You must apologize to her, and do not come on campus again. Ever! And do not call me again!” She gave me the name and telephone number of the student, whom I called immediately. Her name was Elmeda. She answered the phone immediately. What a relief, I thought, at least I am getting a chance to actually talk to a real, live human being. I started off by saying that I understood that I had upset her about something I had said in my class and would like to apologize and then asked her to tell me exactly what I said that offended her. She replied that she would not accept my apology and that what upset her was the racist and sexist story that I had told in class.

This story is the story I had told:

I was at a board meeting of one of my clients, the Chinese American Retirement Elderly Nonprofit or CAREN Inc. There were six or seven people at the meeting, all Chinese Americans, all young, in their late 20s and 30s, and very enthusiastic and very smart. After I explained to them what one of the obscure HUD regulations was attempting to say, I added, “I know it may sound confusing, but it is not all that complicated. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure this one out.”

One of the women, smiled, blushed and replied, “Mr. Howell, don’t worry. We get it. We actually are rocket scientists, all of us. We work at NASA.”

I could not help asking Elmeda what about the story made me a racist. She replied that it is a racial stereotype that the Chinese are smart. “Ok,” I replied, “I guess I understand why I am a racist but why am I a sexist?”

“You are a sexist because you said a young woman asked the question. You should have said young person. And you can apologize all you want to, but I will never accept your apology.”

I tried calling the Maryland administrator back to assure her I had done my duty and understood why someone as racist and sexist as me should never be allowed on the Maryland campus but of course only got her voicemail. We had never talked in person or over the phone during the entire ordeal.

But as luck would have it, a couple of years later I got a desperate call, not from the administrator but from her assistant, saying that the person who had replaced me had quit and they were having trouble finding someone to lecture about affordable housing finance. She was pleased to report that they had concluded that by now I must be rehabilitated enough to come back. Could I be there for the class next week?

I chuckled, accepted, and soldiered on for several more years. Eventually the administrator and I reconciled though neither of us ever brought up the unpleasant ordeal and I have been careful not to tell that racist and sexist story again.

Until now.

But does anyone not understand how we libs might have taken the DEI stuff a little too far and the price we have paid is called Donald J Trump?

 

 

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