After Anti-Racism: Trading Guilt for Growth

On seizing the opportunity for a better DEI.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) practitioners face a reckoning amid political pushback and doubts about efficacy. The retreat prompts a question as well as an opportunity: Is there a better way to engage with social justice and diversity education? For me, this question is not new. It’s one I’ve been wrestling with long before DEI became a ubiquitous acronym in 2020, sweeping across corporate America and academia.

As a multiracial individual, my investment in racial healing and justice in America is personal. As a K-12 educator, college student affairs administrator, and reconciliation speaker and trainer, it’s also been a professional calling. My interest in the subject took a new turn around 2011 when I noticed a troubling pattern—students emerging from diversity training sessions often carried heavy burdens of anger or guilt, yet they lacked the tools to process these emotions constructively. In the conferences and workshops I attended, no one seemed to be addressing the emotional fallout. It struck me as a critical oversight—one that begged deeper inquiry:

Can you build a more just society on a foundation of unresolved guilt and anger?

I’ve come to believe the answer is no. Unresolved guilt festers into self-hatred and depression; unresolved anger hardens into bitterness and cynicism. Neither emotion, left unchecked, fosters the kind of progress we claim to seek. This realization set me on a decade-long journey to design training programs that confront these deeper issues—hurt, injustice, and the tangled emotions they evoke—while offering a path forward through forgiveness, reconciliation, and hope.

My approach found a natural home when I joined the Prohuman Ambassador program. Its core values—Growth Mindset, Positive Connections, and Social Harmony—mirrored the principles I’d been cultivating in my work. Rather than stoking division or dwelling solely on past wrongs, my programs emphasize storytelling as a bridge to compassion, courage, and connection. The results speak for themselves. 77% of participants in my workshops reported being “highly engaged” during the sessions, while 82% said they were “highly likely” to apply what they’d learned. Their written feedback illuminated some of the reasons why:

Only session of the day that wasn’t politically one-sided and offered some semblance of hope.

The most balanced session I attended. Offered documented and proven methods for moving forward. Not just a historical perspective, but a vision for a better future and a method for getting there. Very humbly presented and well researched.

I appreciated the balanced perspective. Mostly, it was nice to have a session that provided a sense of hope and some tools for addressing pain.

Cameron’s stories of hope and additional emphasis in this workshop on shared stories made me feel like some of the difficulties facing so many people today are possible to overcome.

This session filled me with hope. There are a lot of reasons to feel despair at this time, but Cameron’s session made me realize that we should and CAN have hope. We need this for ourselves, our students, our colleagues.

People crave real solutions to conflict and tangible pathways to genuine community. They sense, intuitively, that there are better ways to move forward than with guilt and anger.

Contrast this with the anti-racism framework that underpins many DEI initiatives. It casts human existence as a perpetual struggle between oppressor and oppressed—a worldview that constructs an inescapable caste system. Is this a compelling vision for the future? Has it ever demonstrably advanced justice, social harmony, or human flourishing? History suggests it has not. In America, the arc of progress bends toward greater freedom, with more people liberated today than at the nation’s founding—a testament to the agency inherent in all individuals, an agency that “anti-racist” frameworks often overlook or subvert.

Still, the decline of DEI programs has left many uneasy. Some see it as a loss—a step backward. But what if it’s an opportunity? These programs aren’t fading simply due to political shifts; many are being abandoned because they haven’t delivered. Organizations cite a lack of return on investment or, worse, an exacerbation of the very problems they aimed to solve. A building with a faulty foundation cannot be salvaged with a fresh coat of paint. When new information reveals a flaw, it’s not only acceptable to change course—it’s essential.

Social harmony, where fairness, understanding, dignity, and the humanity of all are honored, should be the goal. The Prohuman approach offers a blueprint. It speaks to meaning, knowing, and problem-solving in ways that transcend division. Consider Daryl Davis, a black man and Prohuman Foundation co-founder, who has spent years engaging in dialogue with those who hate him for the color of his skin. Through positive connections and a belief in the capacity for change (a growth mindset), he has forged unlikely friendships, leading many to abandon hate.

In the end, it’s about people—all people. Moving toward healing, wholeness, and community is what matters. As C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity:

We all want progress. But progress means getting nearer to the place where you want to be… If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.

The retreat from divisive anti-racist approaches to DEI could be our chance to turn back toward our shared humanity. Let’s not lose this opportunity to make sure we are on the right road.

Cameron Cox is a Prohuman Ambassador candidate. He holds a Master's in Higher Education and creates programs for students and faculty that bring a hopeful lens to racial and social reconciliation.

Opinions expressed by guest authors do not necessarily reflect those of the Prohuman Foundation. We value diverse perspectives and invite submissions from those who can enrich our understanding of topics close to our mission: to promote the foundational truth that we are all unique individuals, united by our shared humanity.