DEI the latest Republican fixation

Also: Justice in the court, please; The passing of newspaper icons

All you really need to know about State Sen. Brandon Creighton of Conroe is that he is exceptionally proud that he was able to pass his bill that ended all efforts for diversity, equality, and inclusion at Texas’ public universities.

Creighton’s warped reasoning for his effort has nothing to do with past Republican priorities, which were once rooted in saving money or reducing bureaucracy. No, he took action because DEI efforts somehow were themselves discriminatory acts.

This is the same general thought that causes some people to complain about, say, Black History Month by asking, “When do we have a white history month?” Similarly, the NAACP is sometimes called a “racist” group. Any effort to lift the disadvantaged is always viewed as suspect.

I wonder how Creighton celebrates the birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King?

Creighton is now a darling of the right. Just a few years ago, it was State Sen. Bryan Hughes, the author of the abortion law that has caused so much pain for so many women, a pain that will continue as long as the law stands.

The flagship University of Texas last week laid off more than 60 people who were helping ensure equality and diversity for minorities.

The actual goal of the program is to help those people overcome barriers to getting an education. There is not — or should not be — anything controversial about it. We should take every opportunity available that helps lift people up.

Ah, but we can’t forget that some refuse to believe that the state ever engaged in institutional racism and that it certainly is not present today. These folks don’t believe that DEI efforts are necessary. The argument is that such programs only serve to oppress white people and make them feel guilt.

The anti-DEI effort has become the latest bit of red meat for Republicans, and it isn’t just being offered up in Texas, but across the United States. Just for the record, very similar arguments can be found on internet sites run by the Ku Klux Klan and the nearby Aryan Freedom Network, headquartered in DeKalb, Texas.

This merging of interests may be unofficial, but it is not accidental. The more angst that can be pumped into voters who fearfully vote without critical thinking the better, from their point of view.

This isn’t going to go away and the upshot will be the dismantling of programs that did individuals a lot of good.

DEI efforts will continue, of course, at many non-public universities like TCU, SMU, and Rice, among others but the largest colleges, like Texas A&M and University of Texas have already taken steps to dismantle their programs.

When, or if, the tide turns more sensible heads will prevail and the programs might come back. Maybe. There’s no guarantee.

I’ve tried to determine just what it is that “triggers” some people to oppose DEI. Promoting diversity, equality and inclusion hurts no one (despite Creighton’s demagoguery) and can help people who are struggling.

I don’t think naked racism explains this. It is much more nuanced. Are people upset because one group of people is getting attention that others — who don’t need it — won’t receive?

It seems more likely that those who oppose DEI don’t understand the needs and aren’t willing to try, either. Creighton might be one of those who would benefit from listening instead of just pontificating — or passing laws.

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Texas elects its Supreme Court justices, which leaves the court open to all manner of improper influences but, given what we know about the U.S. Supreme Court justices, no method of selection is free from problems.

At least it is easier to get rid of elected justices than those appointed for life by the U.S. Senate. While it would certainly be an uphill battle to replace any of the Republican justices (they are all Republicans) on the Texas Court, it is theoretically not impossible. Try to find a path for replacing the ethically challenged Clarence Thomas.

Not going to happen.

In Texas, though, it would be a huge improvement to justice to be able to send Justice Dan Devine back home.

Devine has bragged that he was arrested more than 30 times at anti-abortion protests in the 1980s and, just a few months ago, he gave a speech at a Tea Party event in which he said he expected that Democrats will find ways to cheat to win the next presidential election.

“Do you really think Democrats are going to roll over and let Trump be president again?” Devine asked in his speech, taped at the event. “You think they’re just going to go away, all of a sudden find Jesus and there will be an honest election. I don’t think so.”

Great, just what we need, an “impartial” justice who has already decided how he might rule on a case that could come before the court.

Devine almost lost in his primary race, beating Republican challenger Brian Walker by less than 1 percent. The Democrats will run Christine Vinh Weems against him in the general election.

Here’s a chance for better justice in Texas. I wonder if voters will take the opportunity.

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I fear the general population does not quite understand what has been lost with the slow death of newspapers over the last decade.

Newspapers, which once covered just about every activity in a community, have lost staff and printing space so that is no longer possible. Many newspapers, even smaller ones, also engaged in what we knew as “enterprise” reporting, what some would call investigative stories.

That still happens among some of the larger papers but it has all but disappeared otherwise.

What this means is that stories that should be covered aren’t ever exposed to the light of day. Others get a short shrift. Those who study and write history are going to miss much of what actually happened over the last several decades and into the future.

I mentioned this because the last 12 months have seen the loss of two icons of East Texas journalism. I was fortunate enough to work for both.

The first was Joe Murray, the editor and publisher of the Lufkin Daily News. Murray and reporter Ken Herman won the Pulitzer Prize for Meritorious Public Service in 1978 for stories about a Lufkin Marine recruit who died during basic training.

That was a national story, but Murray covered local news with the same zeal and toughness. Unless circumstances change radically, there will never be another Murray working at a paper like the Lufkin Daily News.

Nor is there likely to be another Glenn McCutchen, who was publisher at the Nacogdoches Daily Sentinel, Lufkin Daily News and Longview News-Journal in a long career behind the Pine Curtain.

Unlike Murray, McCutchen came here after serving at managing editor of the Atlanta Journal Constitution, one of the best newspapers in the South.

Like Murray, whether the story was big or small, he approached journalism in much the same way: Give the people the truth. He did that without fear or favor.

How many of these kinds of people do we have working in newspapers today? I can’t say, other than I know there are not nearly as many as there once was.

We all suffer for that.