FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Alethea Duncan, center. | Source: X screenshot
In today’s episode of DEI Is The New N-Word, white conservatives have proven, once again, that they will take any event — no matter how irrelevant the subject of diversity, equity and inclusion is to said event — and make it about DEI hiring the second they find out someone in a top position of authority is involved who is not a white man.
At around 3 a.m., a maniac intentionally rammed his truck into a crowd of people on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing 15 people in what authorities now have confirmed is being investigated as a terrorist event. But in the early beginnings of the investigation, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell and FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Alethea Duncan made contradicting remarks during a news conference regarding whether or not the attack was, at the time, officially classified as a terrorist attack. During the early-morning press conference, Cantrell referred to the attack carried out by 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, who was shot and killed during a standoff with police, as a “terrorist” attack. Later during the conference, Duncan remarked that the attack was not, at the time, considered a “terrorist event” by the FBI and that the investigation is still underway. She also mentioned that investigators found an “explosive device” on the scene and that the FBI is trying to determine if the device is viable. Later on, the FBI confirmed that the attack is being investigated as a terrorist attack.
Now, if you’re a smart, non-bigoted person, you’re probably asking yourself a couple of very obvious questions: What’s the big deal considering mayors and top law enforcement officials get their messaging mixed up during the initial reporting of an event all the time? More importantly, WTF does any of this have to do with DEI?
Well, the answer to the latter question is simple: Alethea Duncan is a Black woman.
Duncan could have just as easily been a white man who made a statement that contradicted a statement made by the mayor. If that had been the case, no one would have assumed the assistant special agent in charge unilaterally makes the decisions on how an event is classified during the initial investigation. They also wouldn’t likely assume the initial mixup was a clear indication that the investigation was being mishandled, especially considering the news conference took place just hours after the killing occurred.
And white people certainly wouldn’t jump to the conclusion that the FBI’s assistant special agent in charge was a “DEI hire” based on virtually nothing with no reason at all to assume the agent was underqualified. But Alethea Duncan is a Black woman — so here we are.
Some on social media got fake-mad at Duncan because she initially appeared on camera wearing a nose ring, which people remarked violated the FBI dress code. (As if that’s remotely relevant to anything. Do these people understand that 10 innocent civilians were killed? Is this really where their focus is?)
“FBI DEI” is now trending on X, not because a single person on social media has offered a shred of evidence that Duncan is underqualified for her job or that the FBI isn’t conducting a thorough investigation — but because Alethea Duncan is a Black woman. That’s it and that’s all.
For another example of how easy it is for white conservatives to disrespect and disregard Black women no matter what position they hold, here’s U.S. Sen. John Kennedy (R-Louisiana) nudging Duncan out of the way without so much as an “excuse me” or even making eye contact as he stepped in front of her at the podium where he took the opportunity to make politically-charged wisecracks at media reporters — during the news conference regarding the deadly terrorist attack.
In 2022, Kennedy responded to President Joe Biden’s pledge to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court by saying: “No. 1, I want a nominee who knows a law book from a J.Crew catalog. No. 2, I want a nominee who’s not going to try to rewrite the Constitution every other Thursday to try to advance a ‘woke agenda.’” (Apparently, he heard “Black woman” and imagined Angela Davis but also Hilary Banks from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.)
Biden would go on to nominate Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown-Jackson, who has decades of experience in the American legal system, including her time as an appellate court judge and a federal trial court judge — but that doesn’t matter, because that was never what the white conservative complaints were really about.
Here’s what I wrote about Kennedy’s remarks at the time:
The Republican outrage over President Joe Biden‘s pledge to nominate a Black woman for the next Supreme Court Justice isn’t about their fear that someone unqualified will end up on the bench—they’re just racist.
They’re also sexist, but not so sexist that they had any issue when Trump pledged to pick a woman for the position before nominating Amy Coney Barrett, or when Ronald Reagan pledged the same before nominating Sandra Day O’Connor. They didn’t have a problem with celebrating Sarah Palin being a heartbeat away from the presidency despite her constantly demonstrating that she doesn’t actually know anything about anything.
Donald Trump didn’t have a single day of political experience when he was first voted into the highest position in the country, and now, after four years of lies, bigotry, observable incompetence, and the spreading of propaganda that inspired a terrorist event on Jan. 6, he has been elected back into the White House by the same people who believe Jackson and Duncan are “DEI hires” for no other reason than they are Black women.
These people are racist. It’s really that simple.
SEE ALSO:
Trump Wrongly Suggests New Orleans Attacker Was Immigrant Amid More Lies About The Crime Rate
Here’s What We Know About The Victims Of The Bourbon Street New Year’s Eve Attack
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