Atlanta will lose its soul if it abandons DEI

City will lose its soul if it abandons DEI

Institutions like Emory University and Georgia Tech have retreated from DEI programs, but Atlanta officials should not follow their lead.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported recently that Atlanta may have forfeited tens of millions in federal funds rather than betray its values and decades of success in diversity and equal opportunity.

Roughly $37.5 million for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport may be permanently gone, the Federal Aviation Administration said. But if Atlanta caves, it will lose more than money: It will lose its soul.

Mayor Andre Dickens says his administration is weighing whether to alter the city’s vaunted minority and female business enterprise program to protect future federal dollars. Yet the stakes go far beyond the airport’s balance sheet.




If Atlanta shutters its MFBE program, the ripple effects would be felt nationwide. To abandon it would cost Atlanta credibility as an incubator of democracy, a drum major for justice and a Black mecca that gave birth to the modern civil rights movement. It also would send the wrong message to private companies like Apple, Delta and Costco, which have publicly affirmed that DEI programs are good for business.

Trump’s anti-DEI edict causes Georgia institutions to cower
Civil rights and equal opportunity are part of the city’s DNA, as deeply ingrained as Coca-Cola or Peachtree Street. This matters because Atlanta’s brand has real value. There are about 13,000 Black-owned businesses in metro Atlanta, second only to New York City.

That brand helped secure the Centennial Olympic Games, host three Super Bowls and win the right to host matches in the 2026 FIFA World Cup. It has made Atlanta a magnet for investment, technology and improved race relations. Protecting equal opportunity is not just morally right; it is economically smart.

The city’s MFBE program has survived repeated legal challenges — from the American Subcontractors Association in 1989 to the Southeastern Legal Foundation in 1999. Each time, the city made court-mandated adjustments and kept the program intact.

Now, the Trump administration is attempting to use the Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action in higher education (the Harvard and UNC cases) to dismantle diversity programs everywhere, even those with different legal foundations.

At the same time, Atlanta’s higher education institutions are retreating. Georgia Tech, where I once taught a young Andre Dickens, has scrubbed the words “diversity,” “equity” and “inclusion” from its websites.

Earlier this month, Leah Ward Sears — interim president of Emory University — announced the closure of the university’s DEI offices, suggesting diversity could be achieved without formal structures. Alumni and community leaders were stunned.

Meanwhile, some institutions — George Mason University in Virginia and the University of California system institutions — are fighting back, even in court. They know that giving away your lunch to a bully before he asks only encourages more bullying.

Big Atlanta companies should double down on diversity commitment

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