By Demetrius Dillard
Since acquiring X (formerly known as Twitter) about 15 months ago, prominent businessman and investor Elon Musk has been the subject of scrutiny and controversy seemingly on an ongoing basis.
His latest controversial gesture came from a series of posts on his social media platform that were widely interpreted as racially offensive and a glaring display of ignorance.
Free speech is protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution, but if that speech dismisses the legitmacy of Black pilots or other non-White professionals in aviation, should it be tolerated?
DEI, an acronym that stands for diversity, equity and inclusion, has grown in popularity in many companies and agencies throughout the U.S. and beyond. Some industry leaders seek to build and promote more inclusive work environments, while others don’t.
In some states, conservative-leaning lawmakers are pushing to ban DEI efforts on college campuses and in government. According to an NPR report, Utah is the latest state to do so.
Musk, a tech billionaire who founded Tesla and SpaceX, has expressed contempt for DEI efforts with some of the nation’s well-known airplane corporations.
In an X post on Jan. 10, Musk said “Do you want to fly in an airplane where they prioritized DEI hiring over your safety? That is actually happening.” As of Jan. 30, the post attracted more than 35 million views and 168,000 likes.
Those remarks, which were said in a retweet of a post published by conservative user James Lindsay alleging that Boeing executives filed documents with the Security Exchange Commission that revealed “prioritizing safety was changed to reward them if they hit DEI targets.”
Additionally, Musk said “People will die due to DEI,” posting a photo that linked to an NBC story about Boeing CEO and president Dave Calhoun admitting a mistake after an Alaska Airlines accident.
The notion that “people will die” due to the implementation of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives is a dangerous and asinine generalization that seemed to indicate blatant racial insensitivity on Musk’s part.
As expected, those remarks drew criticism from civil rights leaders, namely the National Urban League and NAACP. A report by Essence noted that Musk made unsubstantiated claims that “efforts by airlines to hire more non-White pilots and factory workers put airline customers in danger.”
Also according to the report, National Urban League President Marc Morial pointed out that Tesla is facing a lawsuit from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for alleged abuse of Black employees that included racial slurs and the discovery of nooses in the workplace.
“Musk’s company not only refused to investigate complaints or take any steps to end the abuse, it viciously retaliated against employees who complained or opposed the abuse,” Morial said in an interview with NBC News. “The only thing anyone needs to hear from Musk about diversity in the workplace is an apology.”
Likewise, NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson responded to Musk by accusing his social media platform for the spread of hate speech and white supremacist conspiracy theories.
“Reminder to @elonmusk: providing a home for the proliferation of hate speech and white supremacist conspiracy theories kills people. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion cultivate a more inclusive society,” Johnson said in an X post.
“They are not the same. We are not the same.”
FOX 26 Houston’s Isiah Carey shared more troubling news regarding Musk’s social media diatribe against DEI efforts by Boeing and United Airlines.
According to Carey, Musk retweeted a post speculating that graduates of HBCUs had lower IQs than “the rest” of the population.
Oliver Brown, a Black attorney and pilot who attended an HBCU, joined Carey for an interview to share his thoughts on the controversial matter.
“It was offensive that Elon, who is in such a prominent position in the aviation industry – i.e. SpaceX and all the stuff that he’s done – for him to even think that that is realistic, it was very disappointing,” Brown said, pointing out that the tweet Musk commented on had made up statistics.
“IQ is not something that they’re testing before you become an airline pilot. What they’re testing is your hand-eye coordination, your ability to critically think during emergency situations, your ability to get along with others within a cockpit for long periods of time.”
Melissa Noel of the Essence Magazine noted that commercial aviation is experiencing all-time highs in safety with a record low number of accidents and fatalities in 2023, according to Dutch air-safety group To70.
“So I was really upset that he (Musk) would try to basically shame us and make us seem like we’re not qualified to be in the cockpit. There’s plenty of African American pilots that are more than qualified and it’s disheartening to see a leader in aviation talk like this.”
This deplorable instance involving Musk is one of the latest noteworthy cases of White privilege. This ancient phenomenon has always worked to the advantage of White men in positions of power and prestige – Musk being the epitome of such.
