Michel Maisonneuve: Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream sacrificed on the altar of DEI

Book excerpt: In today's world, people are judged not on the quality of their character, but on the colour of their skin

National Post will be running three excerpts from a new book by Lt.-Gen. (retd.) Michel Maisonneuve. In part one, he discusses the conflict between DEI and meritocracy. 

Diversity, equity, and inclusion is a successor to affirmative action, first put into practice in the United States by an executive order issued by President John F. Kennedy in 1961. The order included a provision that government contractors “take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and employees are treated (fairly) during employment, without regard to their race, creed, colour or national origin.” This was a good idea and necessary at the time of the burgeoning American civil rights movement aimed at righting the wrongs perpetrated on Black Americans since the end of slavery. Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is different. It is a rampant and dangerous ideology having negative effects on every facet of society.