Affirmative Action This response seems too simplistic. You say the problem is old school.racists, but where is the evidence of that? Not that I've sat in important board rooms to know much, but all I hear from my seat is how everyone needs to promote diversity. The US is a diverse nation and diverse employment is good for business. — Hanover
Yes, old school racists. If you're not actively anti-racist, you're still a racist. Biden, Trump, Gingrich, the whole lot of white dinosaurs are racist to the bone. They pander in symbolism to then turn around and either do nothing or generally make life worse for minorities. As Street would like to say: it's not a shortcoming, it's a feature. "But Biden was VP to Obama who was black", is just another "I'm not a racist because I've got a black friend", or innocence by association, which amounts to saying "I'm not a sexist because I know my mum".
I don't buy it to describe it as a systemic issue. That is also an issue but these people are actually in a position to change the systemic rules many are operating under. Unless, of course, you think it's a systemic issue that white old men in power select/groom/nurture/support other more white old men to get into power - which can be argued but I think is a bit semantic or about interpretation at least. I think there's a lot of agency involved there, where actual people could make different decisions.
And what you just agreed on as a fact between us with respect to diversity being good for business, is not believed by a large majority of people, who think "personal qualifications" are the only thing that matter. That is another expression of individualism taken too far.