Calling Dibs to Hostilities: Impact of DEI Pedagogy
whose latest target is the North American Hindu Community
In late November 2024, the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI), in partnership with the Social Perception Lab at Rutgers University, released a report titled "INSTRUCTING ANIMOSITY: How DEI Pedagogy Produces the Hostile Attribution Bias" that highlighted the deep negative impact of DEI material, particularly that which traces its sourcing or inspiration from Ibram X Kendi, Robin DiAngelo, Equality Labs, or similar, on the people who receive such instruction material.
The report raises significant concerns about the unintended consequences of contemporary Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. From a Hindu advocacy perspective, the report highlights critical issues that align with concerns about the representation of Hindu traditions and the propagation of prejudicial narratives within DEI frameworks. The study found that DEI interventions, particularly those emphasizing “anti-oppression” pedagogy, often foster hostility and divisiveness rather than inclusivity. This includes the use of caste sensitivity training materials, which, as the report reveals, not only amplify misconceptions about "caste" but also unfairly portray Hindu practices and communities as inherently oppressive.
The findings are alarming, as participants exposed to certain DEI materials exhibited increased hostile attribution biases, perceiving discrimination where none existed and endorsing punitive measures against perceived oppressors. For Hindus, this means that such training materials, particularly those originating from organizations like Equality Labs, risk perpetuating harmful stereotypes and scapegoating, as evidenced by increased perceptions of caste-based bias and punitive attitudes toward Hindus. Moreover, the report critiques the methodological flaws of widely cited studies on caste discrimination, questioning their validity and the narrative of pervasive caste-based oppression in North America.
The report validated what many feared, particularly the Hindu community that has been at the receiving end of the "caste" narrative. This trope has often been thrown at the Hindu community to portray them as irredeemably racist and oppressive. The economic prosperity of the community, in general, makes it easy to paint a target on their back for an ideology that is a cocktail mix of diving the world into binaries - oppressor vs oppressed - and asserting that economic prosperity is a zero-sum game (i.e. if you are poor then it's because "that rich guy" stole your money/job" and if you are rich, you must have oppressed someone, so you must pay back - not to the poor but to us who are accusing you coz we want to buy that villa at Beverly Hills). However, the real danger of the Equality Labs instructions is that they increase the propensity of the consumers of that instruction to take punitive action against the perceived culprits. The reason this cannot be taken lightly is because the severity of the punitive actions is always a factor of the power in the hands of that individual or the action they think they can get away with. And if history is any indicator, they often get away without any repercussions, as evident in the Cisco case of California.
In Canada, "Caste" is often the introduction of the Hindu faith in the textbooks and the supplementary material. As young as class 4, students encounter material that projects Hindus as backward, regressive, and oppressive of certain communities. The extra-Abrahamic philosophy and a belief in what they call "idolatry" don't help. There are attempts to bring "caste" into the discussion even when there is no necessity just to demonize the Hindu community further as "oppressors" and a group that should be extra surveilled by the state.
For instance, in February 2023, the biggest school board in the country by student population, TDSB (Toronto District School Board), targeted its Hindu students under the garb of the "South Asian" banner to bring the "caste" motion. While the motion cleverly did not use the word "Hindu," the word "caste" is always used in the context of Hindu religion everywhere else, making it a loaded term and definitely not religion-neutral. After a significant pushback from the community, the motion was amended to be referred to OHRC (Ontario Human Rights Commission) for further guidance. During the next meeting in March 2023, when asked to produce an instance or some data relating to the presence of "caste" based discrimination in the TDSB trustees, pushing the motion hid behind "just because we don't see it, doesn't mean it's not there." How scientific! Later that year, the OHRC issued a policy statement that confirmed that "existing grounds in Ontario’s Code provide for the necessary protections to deal with any potential form of discrimination related to a person’s caste or descent."
In February 2023, while the TDSB drama was unfolding, the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary collaborated to start a “Mitigating Caste-Based Discrimination Initiative” that featured an FAQ loaded with Equality Labs (a rabid anti-Hindu organization) references and language. In April 2023, Burnaby voted to add "caste," already protected under other categories, as a protected category in its equity policy. In May 2023, Brampton City Council unanimously passed a resolution to work with the OHRC to ban caste classifications and add caste discrimination to the city’s anti-discrimination policy. In September 2023, an anonymous group, in an open letter, demonizes “Rath Yatra” - a historic Hindu festival to commemorate the trip of Lord Krishna (Jagannath), Devi Subhadra and Lord Balarama to their aunt’s place and blessing the devotees on the way – calling it a symbol of “mass violence,” anti-Muslim, and casteist. In October 2023, the Toronto Star published a hit job which denied Hinduphobia, saying, “'Hinduphobia' is a reverse-racism-type narrative, manufactured to delegitimize the fight against casteism and oppression of minorities in and by India.” In June 2024, NDP MP Don Davies introduced a private member’s motion, M-128, in the House of Commons to “end the caste-based discrimination,” demanding to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act to add "caste" to the list of prohibited grounds of discrimination.
The report also critiques the broader DEI industry's lack of transparency and scientific rigour, noting that these initiatives often operate without accountability, leading to unintended harm. For Hindu advocacy groups, these findings underscore the urgent need to challenge such one-sided narratives and advocate for balanced, evidence-based approaches to diversity training. The report’s broader conclusions about the divisive and authoritarian tendencies of certain DEI frameworks also call for reevaluating how inclusivity and social cohesion can be genuinely fostered without vilifying specific communities.
The DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) industry has faced significant backlash from both the political class and the corporate world in recent years. Here are some recent examples: In the United States, there have been legislative actions targeting DEI initiatives. Conservative activists and politicians have been vocal against DEI programs, arguing that they promote division rather than unity. This has led to increased scrutiny and pressure on companies and institutions to scale back or eliminate their DEI efforts. Several major companies, such as Walmart, Molson Coors, Ford, Southwest Airlines, Target, Caterpillar, and United Airlines, have recently scaled back or dissolved their DEI departments due to various pressures, including legal challenges and public backlash. Even universities such as the University of Michigan scaled back its DEI department and will no longer ask for diversity statements from faculty when considering hiring, promotion, or tenure. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced it would end its promotion of DEI starting next year.
DEI, as a concept itself, has been receiving blowback from some corners of society, gradually becoming mainstream. Even the communities that the DEI industry claims to represent have started to become vocal against it as they realize that DEI is nothing but a money-making machine for those who claim to champion social justice. While the Khalistani (NOT Sikh) terror in Canada has brought forth the issue of real physical danger to the Hindu community in Canada, where Hindus don't feel safe even in their places of worship, even in the absence of Khalistani violence, the "caste" trope would have been used continuously to demonize the Hindu community, eventually leading to the same result (physical danger).
The only ray of hope, and it's perhaps sad to say this, is that if there is a change of guard after the next elections in Canada, the DEI bandwagon will see some breaks applied against the rot being caused in Canadian society. Of course, this will not be without strong pushback from a society that has internalized white guilt, the saviour complex, and performative politics. God Bless Canada!