Before Glenn Youngkin was a cultural warrior, he cheered for the demise of diversity, equity and inclusion programs, a treasurer who feared the lack of diversity in his field.
“One of the broad challenges in the financial sector is racial and gender diversity,” Mr Youngkin told Bloomberg Markets in 2018.
He pointed out seriously that his company has worked for years to address differences in representation.
He added: “We’ve joined the role for the second time and we stress that this approach is not only going to continue, but that it will be one of our key priorities.”
Seven years later, Mr. Yangkin is the Republican governor of Virginia, an ambitious conservative who has raised concerns about classroom teaching in the competition and has energetic acceptance of President Trump’s hostility to the DEI initiative.
He recently announced: “Dai died in Virginia.”
His transformation was shocking, more dramatic than usual, based on the tone and focus. Since then, the leading Carlyle has been with the review of company statements, official documents and other documents.
But in many ways, the evolution of Mr. Yangjin (some Republicans want to run for president) reflects the more typical party nature of the second Trump era.
If just a few years ago, the Republican Party still had a lot of people who sympathized with social justice causes or supported diversity initiatives, Mr. Youngkin’s trajectory shows how the space was replaced by growing loyalty against anti-gay politics. This view demanded by the Trump administration has increasingly attracted attention in American companies and academia, as well as among some Democrats.
“I thought he wanted to learn,” said former Virginia Governor L. Douglas Wilder, the country’s first black-elected governor and a moderate Democrat who served on Mr. Youngkin’s transition team after his 2021 victory.
But Mr Wilder has since criticized the Yang Jin administration's attitude towards issues concerning diversity and equity, calling him “disappointed with many people”.
Of course, many Americans say they support the concept of diversity, while also believing that some formal DEI programs or more broadly democratic focus on identity is too far. For example, in some universities, the DEI program was initially an initiative to turn student groups into huge and lightning-fast bureaucracy that critics say is free speech and over-focusing on left-wing ideology.
In an interview on Sunday, Mr. Youngkin suggested there was no contradiction between his support for Carlyle’s workplace diversity and now a broader opposition to the DEI program.
Mr. Youngkin, who renamed the Virginia DEI office to the Office of Diversity, Opportunity and Inclusion, suggested that the appeal for “equity” provisions are rooted in “equality outcomes” in identity politics rather than ensuring access to opportunities. But he still believes that “the diversity of ideas, the diversity of experience, contributes to the best talent.”
“This is the radicalization of those concepts of diversity, equity and inclusion,” he said.
Whit Ayres, a Republican pollster in Virginia and a fan of Mr. Yang Jin, warned against comparing the positions of the private sector with the public office record, noting that these are “two completely different roles.”
But in American politics, he said, “'diversity' contains, “all of these are left-wing vocabulary. This is not a Republican vocabulary. ”
However, there was a time for Mr. Yang Jin.
Despite “a long way”, the progress of diversity
Mr. Youngkin was promoted to Carlyle's ranks over 25 years, leading the company during a period of radical cultural change.
He became a co-director in 2018, when many companies were competing to emphasize their qualifications to social justice and diversity. Mr. Youngkin seemed to embrace the moment.
“At Carlisle, we believe that a wide variety of teams and experiences bring great value to our company,” a document signed with Mr. Yang Jin in 2019. “We are committed to growing and fostering an environment that promotes gender, race, race, sexual orientation, sexual orientation, sexual orientation, religion, religious and cultural context and ideas, and fosters a variety of environments.
With the layout of filing, this is not empty talk.
The document said that in 2013, Carlyle established a diversity and inclusion committee – “We think this is the first committee of our kind in our industry,” the document said – Mr Youngkin and his CEO, Mr Kewsong Lee, were chairs of this effort when he led the company.
In October 2018, they also announced a new role: Chief Inclusion and Diversity Officer.
That executive, Kara Helander, told Leaders that she joined Carlyle the following year because she believes “a commitment from the top to diversity and inclusion.”
“It’s not just words, but very obvious action seen by my co-CEO and other leaders of other companies,” she said, describing the metrics the company uses to assess progress on such issues.
Ms. Helander did not respond to the interview request. Mr. Li declined to comment on this article.
Internally, Mr. Youngkin did not abandon it in buzzwords related to diversity, but he was considered to promote a career in senior women.
“The big step we need to take is to make diversity and inclusion not in Carlyle’s plan, but embed it in the way we think about how to grow,” he said in a webcast in May 2020. “We have a long way to go, but I think we’ve made very, very good progress. The key to doing this is that it’s about diversity in experience and diversity of thought, not picky.”
During his tenure as co-supervised executive, Carlyle also received a 100% Corporate Equality Index rating, an assessment by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation that highlights the workplace policy of LGBTQ employees. The criteria Carlisle meets include “the equal health coverage of transgender people without the need for medical care.”
Mr Youngkin pointed out that such reports reflect national-level requirements. But the rating is also obviously a pride in his company, which is often promoted.
Asked if he was satisfied with the coverage, Mr Youngkin said it was the job of management to maintain a “inclusive environment, believing in seeking talent and complying with the law.” ”
However, as governor, Mr. Youngkin provided some accommodation for LGBTQ students and participated in an executive order signed by Mr. Trump to prevent transgender women and girls from participating in the women's movement.
“Soulless” Killing Against George Floyd
After George Floyd's murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020, Mr. Yang Jin and Mr. Lee (like many other companies and civic leaders) tried to communicate, and they seized on the pain of the moment.
They wrote to colleagues: “Carlyle intentionally builds a partnership structure with diversity of experience and perspectives to grow and thrive.”
These include a new matching funding program, “supporting organizations that are being offered for social justice and reform of the U.S. criminal justice system, including the Southern Poverty Law Center and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
Less than a year later, Mr. Yang Jin left the letter in the Republican junior campaign for governor.
On Sunday, he said he didn't remember where he donated and encouraged staff to follow up. Mr Youngkin's spokesman Rob Damschen later said he did not donate to the Southern Poverty Law Centre.
“What we are against is the fact that George Floyd’s violent, meaningless death is the fact that we have riots in the streets and our Asians have suffered hate crimes,” he said. “This letter expresses the unacceptable violence.”
Questions of critics and admirers
Mr Youngkin's evolution has confused some of the people he works with, none of whom will speak publicly, citing professional restrictions or fear of alienating a man they say they respect.
Some mused that perhaps he had a distinction between conservative private beliefs and the maintenance of more culturally progressive plans that shaped his workplace.
Others wonder if ambitions have prompted a wider shift. During the interview, Mr Youngkin insisted that he had been consistent.
“I always think we are a society built on equal opportunities that all people should use,” he said. “I always believe that excellence and elite politics are at the heart of our country.”
He added: “The basic premise of Dei.”
However, for some of Mr. Pooh's supporters, the Republican emphasis on fighting the DEI distracted Mr. Trump Washington's chaos, where leaders of some of the most powerful institutions in the United States took a weak focus here, and the president's tariffs shocked the stock market.
“Well, we don't have any more dei,” said Barbara Comstock, a former representative of the anti-Trump Virginia Republican, who is supporting former representative Abigail Spanberger. “What do we have? Are we capable?”
Kitty Bennett and Sheelagh McNeill Contributed to the research.
