Tokenism and the False Promise of Black Success in an Anti-Black Corporate System

DEI’s collapse did not leave a vacuum. It revealed one that had always existed.

For decades, Black advancement was framed as something that would happen inside corporate and political institutions if we were visible enough, patient enough, or excellent enough. DEI became the container for that belief. When it disappeared, so did the illusion that access alone could produce power.

What DEI never offered, and never could, was infrastructure.

Power Does Not Come From Inclusion

Every group with sustained political and economic influence in the United States operates through independent infrastructure. That infrastructure includes trade associations, lobbying arms, legal defense funds, donor networks, media outlets, and financial institutions that exist regardless of who holds office or which party is in power.

Black Americans, by contrast, were encouraged to pursue inclusion rather than institution-building. We were told to diversify companies we did not own, to vote for politicians we did not fund, and to celebrate representation in systems that retained total control over capital and policy.

Inclusion produces visibility. Infrastructure produces leverage.

How Other Groups Build Power Without Asking Permission

Political scientists and economists consistently show that durable influence flows from organized, well-funded, permanent institutions, not from moral arguments or demographic size.

Ethnic and religious groups that maintain political leverage in the U.S. tend to share several characteristics:

• Dedicated lobbying organizations with full-time staff

• Pooled donor networks that fund candidates and ballot initiatives

• Trade groups that protect industry interests

• Media and research institutions that shape narratives and policy agendas

These structures exist outside corporations and government. They negotiate with power, not within it.

Black America has rarely been allowed, or encouraged, to build comparable systems at scale.

Why Black Issues Are Always Folded Into Someone Else’s Agenda

Because Black America lacks an independent economic and political infrastructure, our issues are routinely bundled into broader coalitions; “people of color,” “underrepresented groups,” or “marginalized communities.”

This dilution is not accidental. Without a unified funding base or lobbying arm, Black-specific demands lack enforcement mechanisms. They ride the coattails of movements with stronger institutional backing and are the first to be deprioritized when trade-offs occur.

Power responds to organized pressure, not moral urgency.

The Limits of Corporate and Electoral Dependence

Relying on corporations or election cycles to deliver Black progress creates instability. Corporate priorities change with market conditions. Political promises expire with administrations.

Independent infrastructure creates continuity. It allows communities to pursue long-term goals that do not reset every four years or collapse when public opinion shifts.

This is why gains secured through DEI were reversible, and why gains secured through ownership, policy influence, and capital control are not.

What Comes After DEI

Moving beyond DEI does not mean abandoning justice. It means abandoning strategies that never transferred power.

The next phase of Black advancement requires:

• Independent economic institutions that generate and deploy capital

• Permanent political organizations that lobby, litigate, and negotiate

• Policy agendas funded by Black dollars and enforced through collective action

• Media and research bodies that define Black interests on Black terms

These are not theoretical solutions. They are the mechanisms every powerful group already uses.

DEI asked institutions to change out of goodwill. Infrastructure forces them to change out of necessity.