{"id":474,"date":"2025-04-09T15:30:06","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T15:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/?p=474"},"modified":"2025-04-09T15:30:06","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T15:30:06","slug":"from-participation-trophies-to-wei","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/?p=474","title":{"rendered":"From Participation Trophies to WEI"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I guess in a sense, the concept of a \u201ctrophy for everyone\u201d isn\u2019t entirely new. At the professional level, when a team wins a championship, everyone<\/em> gets a ring. The starters, the benchwarmers, the equipment staff, even the front office. That\u2019s about recognizing contribution to a winning<\/em> system, a shared victory earned over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But participation trophies? That\u2019s a different animal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They weren\u2019t created to celebrate achievement. They were created to shield egos. To protect feelings. They were a soft landing for kids who didn\u2019t win but needed to feel like they did. And the phrase that made it all make sense was something like: \u201cYour contribution is just as important as the best player.\u201d<\/em> Or my personal favorite straight from The Help<\/em>: \u201cYou is kind. You is smart. You is important.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I grew up in Evanston, that wasn\u2019t a thing. I played competitive sports. If you didn\u2019t win, you didn\u2019t get a trophy. Period. That wasn\u2019t cruelty\u2014that was clarity. You went home empty-handed, and maybe you worked harder the next time. It wasn\u2019t about shame. It was about understanding that success had requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fast forward to the early 2000s. I\u2019m watching my own kids play in youth leagues. Some of their teams only won one or two games all season\u2014but come the end-of-year banquet, there they are: smiling, holding up shiny trophies. Celebrated like champions for little more than showing up. And I remember sitting there thinking: What message is this really sending?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

They weren\u2019t the best. Sometimes they weren\u2019t even average. But there was still a ritual around rewarding them, not for excellence, but for existence<\/em>. And that always rubbed me the wrong way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Participation trophies didn\u2019t just celebrate effort they blurred the line between striving and achieving. They told kids that being present was just as valuable as being exceptional. They taught fragility disguised as self-esteem. And now, that generation has grown up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result? A workforce (nation) full of folks with inflated confidence and limited competence. A cultural moment where mediocrity feels entitled to leadership. Where challenge is labeled as hostility, and accountability is mistaken for unfairness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which brings us to today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a growing attack on DEI\u2014diversity, equity, and inclusion across corporate America, higher education, and government. The narrative being pushed? That DEI is handing out jobs and opportunities to people who \u201cdidn\u2019t earn it.\u201d<\/em> That DEI is lowering standards. That Black folks and other historically marginalized people are only getting ahead because of quotas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But let\u2019s be honest: that\u2019s projection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s not about us. That\u2019s about them<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attorney and thought leader Lurie Daniel-Favors<\/em> said it best when she introduced the term WEI: White Entitled Inept<\/strong>. It\u2019s a brilliant, necessary response to the false claim that DEI stands for Didn\u2019t Earn It<\/em>. Because if we\u2019re really talking about people being elevated without merit, we need to start talking about the generations of white men who\u2019ve been handed roles, titles, platforms, and power\u2014not based on talent, but on legacy. On proximity. On whiteness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WEI isn\u2019t just a critique, it\u2019s a mirror. It reflects the uncomfortable truth that a lot of those screaming loudest about \u201cfairness\u201d are the ones most threatened by actual competition. Because deep down, they know they\u2019ve been protected. Inflated. Rewarded like champions when they never stepped on the court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And this is the part we need to say clearly:
DEI didn\u2019t break meritocracy. Meritocracy was never real to begin with.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been a myth upheld by those who benefited from free labor, unearned access, inherited opportunities, and the normalization of white mediocrity in positions of authority. What DEI actually<\/em> does is challenge that myth. It disrupts the illusion by forcing systems to finally consider those who\u2019ve long been excluded from the conversation\u2014not because they lacked talent, but because the gate was never open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DEI demands that qualifications matter. That performance matters. That leadership isn\u2019t determined by race, legacy, or comfort\u2014but by skill, insight, and lived experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So no, DEI isn\u2019t lowering the bar\u2014it\u2019s finally moving it off the ground<\/em>.
What\u2019s being dismantled isn\u2019t merit\u2014it\u2019s the illusion that whiteness ever equaled it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Participation trophies were the warm-up. They trained a generation to expect recognition without results. Now, as DEI holds up a mirror to the imbalance, those same fragile egos feel exposed. Because for the first time, showing up isn\u2019t<\/em> enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The truth is, we\u2019ve always had to be twice as good to get half as far. And now, even when we\u2019re better<\/em>, the system still fights to preserve whiteness over competence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So let\u2019s call it what it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DEI didn\u2019t threaten meritocracy.
It exposed that it never really existed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because if merit had always been the measure, a whole lot of folks wouldn\u2019t be in the positions they\u2019re in right now. What DEI actually<\/em> threatens is WEI<\/strong>\u2014White Entitled Inept<\/em>\u2014the comfort of being chosen without proving anything, the legacy of leadership passed down like a family heirloom instead of earned through excellence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that\u2019s the real fear:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That once the playing field is level, they won\u2019t just struggle to win\u2014they\u2019ll realize they never had the tools\/skills to compete in the first place.
Not without cheating. Not without moving the goalposts. Not without the system bending in their favor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But here\u2019s the kicker: if they do manage to cross the finish line\u2014propped up by privilege, powered by nepotism, and shielded from scrutiny\u2014they\u2019ll rewrite the history books<\/em>, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019ll cast themselves as the MVP.
They\u2019ll erase the assists, the screens, the folks who carried the weight.
When the story is told, they\u2019ll be the reason the team won. And you will be photoshopped out of the picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s not just entitlement. That\u2019s historical theft.
And DEI calls all of it into question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DEI doesn\u2019t threaten excellence.
It threatens entitlement.
It threatens erasure.
It threatens the lie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And some folks would rather burn this MF\u2019er to the ground  than face what that says about their r\u00e9sum\u00e9\u2014and their reflection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I guess in a sense, the concept of a \u201ctrophy for everyone\u201d isn\u2019t entirely new. At the professional level, when a team wins a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,14,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-race","category-rants-and-raves","category-society"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=474"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":476,"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474\/revisions\/476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blackmanwrites.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}