Big U.S. companies taper or abandon diversity pledges
Some of the biggest companies in the U.S. from Walmart to Meta Platforms have rolled back their diversity, equity and inclusion programs, known as DEI.
Retired educator Dave Markward never thought a single question about whether his friends had experienced racial profiling would force him to examine his own white privilege and prejudices.
In 2018, Markward, then-68, visited Selma, Alabama, where he and others marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to commemorate the 53rd anniversary of Bloody Sunday. When he returned home to Moline, Illinois, he asked friends and acquaintances about their experiences with racial profiling as Black Americans. Their stories about being careful where they jogged, shopped and lived struck a nerve.
“That one question really let me see that pretty much on a daily basis, when those folks would get up, men and women, there were things that they had to think about that I did not,” he said.
On March 7, 1965, police, state troopers and citizens attacked Civil Rights protesters who were crossing the bridge into Selma.
Markward — who was born and raised in Dubuque — admits that as a high school student he would have answered “yes” to the question “Did I think the white race was superior to all other races?”
“I had not had the experiences with other folks to see that” this worldview was wrong, said the former Cedar Rapids Community School District superintendent.
As a student at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, he joined a fraternity that had members of color and played football and baseball with Black teammates. For more than 40 years, the father of four was an active part of various communities through his work as a teacher, coach and administrator. The 2018 racial profiling discussions made it obvious how little he knew about the impacts of systemic racism on the people in his life.
Markward set out to learn how he and others contribute — even unknowingly — to systems of oppression.
He interviewed people of color about their experiences and read everything he could on the topic, including The New York Time Magazine’s “The 1619 Project,” created by Waterloo-native Nikole Hannah-Jones.
In February 2024, he self-published “From Dubuque to Selma and Beyond: My Journey to Understand Racism in America” as a way to share what he had learned.
“I think it would be unfair of me to say I completely understand,” said Markward, 75. “I have a clearer understanding today; it’s motivated me to write and act and go out and talk to folks about this. To stand up when (I) see things that, maybe in the past, I wouldn’t have said something or written something.”
As a white man, Markward questioned whether he was the right person to do an in-depth look at his own privilege and the complicated history of racism in the United States. The feedback he received from the people he interviewed kept him going.
Markward — who has given talks on his findings in Illinois and Iowa — has found people are open to learning and exploring their own privilege.
“It’s just the belief that I have that the first criticism starts with self,” he said. “We live in a society that’s quick to point fingers and not look internally. I think if you’re ever going to … teach, coach, lead in any fashion, you should have a pretty good understanding of your own beliefs and be willing to have those challenged.”
Growing concerns around white nationalism and the Trump administration’s pushes to keep refugees and immigrants from entering the country and deport people who are undocumented has shown Markward that the United States’ systemic problems persist.
“It’s frustrating, disappointing,” he said. “I thought we were further along on our journey together. There’s certainly setbacks now, and it’s going to take a lot of effort to get back on track and continue some of the progress that we have seen in the past.”
Samantha Hernandez covers education for the Register. Reach her at (515) 851-0982 or [email protected]. Follow her on X at @svhernandez, Bluesky at @svhernandez.bsky.social or Facebook at facebook.com/svhernandezreporter.
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Publish date : 2025-02-18 22:01:00
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