Dismantling DEI from the Inside Out: Reclaiming the Heart of Equity Representation

As Principal of Kindred Communications, I work with organizations committed to equity and social justice—helping them shape language, clarify purpose, and communicate with integrity. This series grows from that same commitment: to make meaning, invite dialogue, and hold space for what often goes unsaid in this work.

We are living in a moment where the language of equity is being publicly questioned and politically targeted. DEI programs are under attack, policies are being rolled back, and institutions that once proclaimed their commitments are now going quiet.

And yet, for many of us who have been engaged in this work for years—decades even—the truth is more layered. The public pushback is real, yes. But so too is a quieter, more insidious challenge that’s existed long before this backlash:

Even inside equity work, erasure happens.

It doesn’t always come through opposition. Often, it comes through invitation—inviting your presence but not your power, your insights but not your leadership.

I’ve worked with incredible partners—people and organizations who live their values, share decision-making, and build mutual trust. But I’ve also encountered relationships that, while cloaked in collaboration, left me questioning whether inclusion was the goal or whether it was simply optics.

Over time, I’ve learned to name what I was feeling:

• That being invited in is not the same as being honored.

• That being consulted is not the same as being trusted.

• That being visible is not the same as being valued.

  
  

Some equity-centered relationships have been reciprocal, nourishing, and full of integrity, and I hold those with deep gratitude. But I’ve also encountered a different pattern: relationships where I’ve been invited in, not to shape vision, but to legitimize it. Where my presence was welcomed, but my leadership was never fully aligned to benefit. Where equity was framed as shared, but practiced as symbolic.

Proximity to equity language is not the same as commitment to equity practice.

And while this may not be said aloud in many spaces, it’s understood deeply by those of us who have felt it: that even in justice-centered circles, performance can replace partnership, and silence can be the condition for belonging.

This blog is not an indictment. It is an invitation.

An invitation to those who recognize these dynamics in their own lives—not to despair, but to reclaim discernment. To know the difference between flattery and alignment. Between being praised and being supported. Between being seen and being respected.

I no longer mistake admiration for alignment. I no longer offer access without accountability. And I no longer stay quiet in relationships that ask for my excellence while avoiding my truth.

This is not a rejection of the work. It’s a deeper call to integrity within it.

Let’s not just defend DEI against external threats.

Let’s embody it more fully within the work we claim to be committed to.

Let’s ensure that the people called to this work aren’t left behind in it.

Angelle C. Fouther, Principal & Lead Strategist, Kindred Communications LLC

Denver-based strategic communications for equity and social justice