As everyone knows by now, the terms “diversity,” “inclusion,” and “equity” all mean one thing: quotas. Despite sounding like noble terms, these words denote that their proponents support the idea of hiring, promoting, grant-giving, and university admissions based not on merit but on reverse discrimination and quotas based on race, ethnicity, and sex. Significantly, people using these terms to support quotas do so in spite of the fact that quotas are US specifically forbidden under US law. For example, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 states:
“It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer –
(1) to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin; or
(2) to limit, segregate, or classify his employees or applicants for employment in any way which would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect his status as an employee, because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.”
One courageous person, however, has taken a strong stand against discrimination based on race, ethnicity, and sex. David Duvall, who was fired from his job because of his company’s “commitment to diversity, inclusion and equity for all” and replaced by two women (one Black and one White), was just awarded $10 million from a jury due to illegal discrimination.
Duvall had been the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Novant Health based in North Carolina. Novant Health, which operates in four states, has 30,000 employees and annual revenues over $5 billion. In 2018 Duvall was terminated from his senior leadership position because of Novant’s diversity policies which, as noted above, are just smokescreens for quotas.
On October 26, a jury in North Carolina awarded Duvall $10 million in damages due to his company illegally discriminating against him based on “his race (Caucasian) and/or his sex (male)” in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Significantly, the jury included in such amount punitive damages, which are not based on actual injury but rather awarded to specifically punish a party for engaging in egregious behavior and hence serve as a deterrent to similar actions in the future. As reported by Fox News, Duvall’s attorney declared: “We believe the punitive damages award is a message that an employer cannot terminate and replace employees in order to achieve greater diversity in the workforce.”
Novant, however, remained defiant. In reaction to the judgment, it stated: “It’s important for all current and future team members to know that this verdict will not change Novant Health’s steadfast commitment to diversity, inclusion and equity for all.” Norvant’s defiance is eerily similar to that of racist companies in the 1960’s that attacked judgments against them for discriminating against Black people. It will probably take similar suits against Novant to get it to rescind its discriminatory policies that clearly violate the law.
David Duvall has done an extremely brave thing; standing up to the monolithic “diversity, inclusion, and equity” monster and showing that it indeed can be slain. All it takes is some courage and a commitment to the American creed that “all men are created equal.” Let us hope that Duvall’s action will encourage other people to likewise stand up to blatant discrimination and push companies supporting such discriminatory policies to reconsider their illegal actions.
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