Elon Musk, conservative journalists and commentators, and numerous others on social media are blaming the L.A. fires on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts despite providing no evidence to verify their claims. During a time at which fire suppression and disaster recovery ought to be the highest priorities, DEI attackers are recklessly seizing this opportunity to advance an agenda that ultimately aims to further divide Americans. I live in Los Angeles. We don’t need more disinformation about DEI, especially right now.
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Scientists have demonstrated how the Santa Ana winds and dry grounds are principally responsible for the devastation of the fires. Instead of acknowledging the relationship between the fires and climate change, conservatives are blaming individuals whose representation and strategic efforts make the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) diverse.
For instance, Karen Bass, our city’s first woman and second Black mayor, has been erroneously criticized for cutting the fire department’s budget by 17%. The inaccurate claim on Fox News, as well as on social media, is that Bass and LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley reduced the budget and redirected those funds to DEI initiatives. The truth is that while Mayor Bass’ first 2024-25 budget proposal called for a 2.7% reduction in spending at the LAFD, the department’s operating budget ultimately increased by 7% when $53 million in pay raises for firefighters and $58 million for new fire trucks and other department purchases were later approved by the Los Angeles City Council.
Unfounded assumptions also are being made about Crowley prioritizing DEI over more important firefighting activities. “First line of her bio, touting her gayness and the fact that she’s a woman —no one cares,” conservative host Megyn Kelly exclaimed in an episode of her SiriusXM show. It’s actually the second line of Crowley’s online bio that mentions her identities. And there is good reason to include those details on the LAFD website. When she was promoted in 2022 by then-Mayor Eric Garcetti, Crowley became the first woman and the first openly queer person to lead the nation’s third-largest municipal fire department in its 136-year history.
In a CBS Evening News interview, Crowley noted that emergency call responsiveness, firefighter well-being, and fostering a positive work environment have been her three highest priorities. And Los Angeles Fire Commission President Genethia Hudley-Hayes has credited Crowley with establishing the department’s Office of Equity and Human Resources last year. Yet actor James Woods claimed in his interview on Kelly’s show that the chief has been too focused on DEI, not enough on ensuring the city’s water reservoirs are filled. Woods didn’t say how he or others determined what had been atop Crowley’s leadership agenda.
The suggestion seems to be that any time spent on ensuring that LAFD is diverse, equitable, and inclusive occurs at the expense of other seemingly more essential activities, even though it’s entirely possible that the chief appropriately balances numerous priorities. Highly unlikely, though, is that an irrefutably accomplished woman who spent decades serving LAFD as a firefighter, paramedic, engineer, fire inspector, captain I, captain II, battalion chief, assistant chief, deputy chief, and chief deputy before ascending to the department’s top leadership position has massively deemphasized public safety in exchange for any version of so-called wokeness.
These attacks on DEI follow a common pattern. For example, despite having been Attorney General of one of the largest law enforcement agencies in the nation (second only to the U.S. Justice Department), a U.S. Senator, and our country’s first female vice president, Kamala Harris has been repeatedly referred to as a “DEI hire.” When the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed last March, Brandon Scott was called Baltimore’s “DEI Mayor.” Predictably, Bass’ and Crowley’s impressive resumes haven’t exempted them from being called DEI hires on social media and elsewhere. On a Fox News show panel, Jessica Tarlov, one of the network’s contributors, defended Crowley’s credentials after her colleague Greg Gutfeld claimed that L.A. has “downgraded competence for complexion and for sexual identity.” Gutfeld went on to say that, “DEI makes everybody suspect.”
Embedded in the DEI-hire label are three problematic assumptions: people only got their jobs because of their race and gender; those leaders don’t care about anything but DEI; and those professionals don’t really know how to lead, especially in moments of crisis. Each of these logics is racist, sexist, and homophobic given that they tend to only be applied to women, people of color, and LGBTQ leaders.
No fire department in America, including LAFD, puts anything above responding as swiftly and as excellently as possible to emergencies. Elon Musk posted to X, “They prioritized DEI over saving lives and homes,” and he subsequently asserted, “DEI means people DIE.” Using the catastrophic fires here in L.A. to further advance baseless claims about DEI is disgustingly opportunistic, divisive, and distracts us from the issues that impact L.A. residents whom the fires devastated.
It’s also beyond offensive to firefighters who place their lives at risk while bravely attempting to save people and structures.
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