Chick-fil-A Doubles Down on Commitment to ‘Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’
Popular fast-food chain Chick-fil-A has faced an onslaught of backlash after a tweet went viral exposing the company’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
“We have a problem,” Joey Mannarino posted to Twitter. “Chick-fil-A just hired a VP of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.” Hundreds of comments lamented the loss of a once-great food establishment, known for its Christian values, conservative-leaning stances, and peak-quality chicken nuggets; however, not many noticed that the Chick-fil-A we all once knew hasn’t existed for some time.
The company appointed Erick McReynolds as Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in November of 2021, but the department existed long before this.
McReynolds has been employed with Chick-fil-A since 2007 and worked within the DEI segment since 2020 before he was selected to head the department which aims to “promote equal opportunity,” “understand and honor” “unique experiences and perspective” and “inspire a community by meeting people where they are.”
“Chick-fil-A restaurants have long been recognized as a place where people know they will be treated well. Modeling care for others starts in the restaurant, and we are committed to ensuring mutual respect, understanding and dignity everywhere we do business.”
Erick McReynolds, VP, Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
The company also created community groups for employees to “help provide both a sense of belonging and tailored development.” Women in Business (WIB), Black Employee Resource Group (BERG), Young Professionals, and the Chick-fil-A Green Team are a few of the groups offered to employees.
Chick-fil-A’s website has a page highlighting its DEI initiatives, beginning with a statement confirming its “commitment” to progressive mantras and standards.
“‘We are better together’ — one of our core values at Chick-fil-A — means when we combine our unique backgrounds and experiences with a culture of belonging, we can strengthen the quality of care we deliver,” the statement began. “Chick-fil-A, Inc.’s commitment to being Better at Together means embedding Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in everything we do.”
Charlie Kirk, TPUSA’s CEO, and Founder, commented on the controversy by saying that he has been “warning people about Chick-fil-A for some time.”
“They are an anti-white company in what they believe,” Kirk said, “which is very strange because they are owned by white people — but DEI is flat-out antiwhite bigotry and racism.”
Chick-fil-A’s CEO Dan Cathy, a proponent of the institutional racism and white guilt narrative, went viral after a bizarre, three-year-old video surfaced of him shining a black rapper’s shoes at a church. In the video, Cathy claimed that white people should shine black people’s shoes with a “sense of shame, a sense of embarrassment,” and “an apologetic heart.” He also claimed to have sent 1,500 shoe shiners to Chick-fil-A managers and staff with the intended message that racism is a prevalent evil in our society.
DEI initiatives may sound positive, but it is rooted in cultural Marxism, which aims to dismantle societal norms. Diversity means hiring and promoting based on skin color rather than merit, equity means equality of outcome, which is simply an impossible goal to achieve without cutting others who are more successful down, and inclusion means excluding employees with Christian faith who do not believe radically progressive ideas on gender.
Corporations seemed to have stopped caring about the values of their customer bases, which is why they have leaned into the leftist doctrine. However, conservatives’ recent stand against Bud Light and Target may have caused some companies to rethink their positions on culture-war issues.
