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Calls To Boycott Delta Airlines Grow After Woke DEI Initiatives Are Revealed

Published

3 months ago

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Delta Airlines is scrambling to respond to a wave of criticism the airline is receiving after X users uncovered DEI policies that it says are discriminatory.

Fox News Business reported that Delta has jettisoned the use of the phrase “ladies and gentlemen” during its boarding gate announcements, a change that came in response to an overhaul of its diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives implemented under DEI & Social Impact Officer Kyra Lynn Johnson. The executive previously promised to “boldly pursue equity” since being elevated from a communications role in 2016. Describing her intent during a February 2021 panel with other DEI implementors, Johnson explained, “So we’re beginning to take a hard look at things like our gatehouse announcements. You know, we welcome ‘ladies and gentlemen.’ And we’ve asked ourselves, ‘Is that as gender inclusive as we want to be?’ You know, we’re looking at some legacy language that exists in some of our employee manuals. And getting to the root of the way some things are described and saying, ‘Does that actually send a message of inclusivity?’”

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The change went unnoticed originally when in December 2020, Johnson released new company guidelines discouraging boarding gates to refrain from using the phrase “ladies and gentlemen” and reminded Delta employees that there are more than two genders. “Use gender-neutral language and pronouns. Do not use language that suggests a gender binary (male-female),” the Delta guide said. A spokesperson for the company told Fox News that it stands by Johnson’s recommendation. “Delta encourages our people to use language that is inclusive of everyone as our global customer base includes a broad range of diversity in cultural backgrounds, identity and experiences,” the spokesperson said. Delta CEO Ed Bastian has indicated his support as well.

Speaking at that same panel in 2021, Johnson stated that she is focused on ensuring Delta transitions its corporate agenda toward being “antiracist,” a change that came roughly six months after the death of George Floyd and nationwide Black Lives Matter protests. “To really come out and say, as an organization, that we are an antiracist company was really important to us,” she said at the time. “We are going to actively seek diversity. We’re also talking about how we’re going to boldly pursue equity. And we’re talking about the steps we’re taking to consciously promote inclusion. So, we realize, like many of you have, that it’s not enough just to say, ‘We aren’t racist,’ but to say that you are antiracist.”

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Changes to hiring policies across the airline industry, especially for its pilots, have drawn scrutiny from conservative corners over what they say amounts to putting flyer safety on the back burner. The changes are part of a “top-down” realignment under Johnson of Delta’s talent pipeline. “We said we’re going to reimagine and redefine our talent strategy,” Johnson said in 2021, with a focus on being “intentional about the representation that we need.” She added that metrics would track whether Delta is ultimately successful in the total transformation of its workforce through DEI initiatives. “We’re starting on a quarterly basis to specifically measure those representation gaps at every level of the company. So we’re looking at the front line representation gap,” she said.

More recently, conservative boycotts have focused on Fortune 500 companies that have implemented similar DEI policies, and they have seen some success as corporations have backtracked under pressure. Tractor Supply and John Deere, which both cater to a rural and conservative base of customers, recently announced they would be repealing DEI guidelines that drew national attention.

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