Wake school board member says DEI opponents are protecting ‘mediocre white men’
A white Wake County school board member is gaining attention for a speech defending diversity, equity and inclusion and accusing DEI critics of being losers who want to support “mediocre white men.”
President Donald Trump has signed executive orders removing DEI policies and staff from federal agencies and threatening to withhold federal funding from schools that promote “discriminatory equity ideology.”
In response, Wake school board member Sam Hershey said during Tuesday’s board meeting that it’s a good time to talk about DEI since February is Black History Month. He noted that 2026 will mark the nation’s 250th birthday.
“For 250 years I think it’s really important to talk about people being hired based on their skin color and for 250 years it has been mediocre white men who have been hired based on their skin color, and those are facts,” Hershey said.
“I’ve heard people say DEI is racist. If that’s what you believe, you know nothing about diversity, equity and inclusion and you know nothing about racism, and that speaks to you as a human being.”
Hershey, 47, was first elected to the school board in 2022. He was re-elected in November to represent a district that includes much of central Raleigh. The board is officially non-partisan but Hershey is a registered Democrat.
People who say DEI hires are ‘losers’
“Diversity, equity and inclusion ensures that our kids who need more help get more help,” Hershey said. “It ensures that kids — our Black and Brown kids who’ve not had the same educational opportunities over the course of the 249 years of this country — get those opportunities,” Hershey said. “And it’s without lowering standards.”
Hershey criticized people who use the term “DEI hire,” which some people have applied to minorities and women to say they’re unqualified for the position.
“People who throw around DEI hire is they’re just replacing the (racial slur against Black people) with DEI hire,” Hershey said. “That’s what they want to say. We get it. You guys are all losers.”
Hershey cited how some people, including Trump, have questioned whether DEI policies were responsible for the fatal crash between a Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines flight near Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.
“When we had the plane crash and you had people on TV questioning ‘should I see a Black pilot do I think they’re a DEI hire?’ No, that’s racism to think that way,” Hershey said.
‘A slightly better than mediocre white guy’
Hershey went on to defend Wake County school employees, saying people who believe they were hired based on lower standards “could not be more wrong.” He said Wake’s staff is “supremely qualified” and that the district is looking “for the best and the brightest.”
“We’re not turning away people because they’re white,” Hershey said. “That’s one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard. Sorry, I feel like it’s my job as a slightly better than mediocre white guy to say this.”
Hershey said he was bringing this up due to people like Darren Beattie, a former Trump speechwriter who has been named acting undersecretary of state for public diplomacy.
Beattie posted on X in October that “competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work” and that “our entire national ideology is predicated on coddling the feelings of women and minorities.”
“For those of you that think DEI excludes white women, it does not,” Hershey said after reading Beattie’s comments. “Those mediocre white men don’t want anything to do with you either.”
Reaction on social media
The response to Hershey’s speech has drawn opposition on social media from conservatives.
“Wake County School Board member Sam Hershey needs to be removed based on his racist comments and his lack of intelligence,” Allen Mashburn, a 2024 Republican candidate for North Carolina lieutenant governor, posted Tuesday on X. “@WCPSS is a failure in this State — more so than many districts. They continue to fail because they have failures leading them. It’s an epidemic of ignorance.”
But liberals have praised Hershey on social media for taking a stand on the issue.
“About damn time people start saying the truth,” Judy Brannon, a local activist posted Wednesday on Threads. “It’s not DEI! It’s damn racism and wake up and start fighting against it now before it’s too late! May be too late now!”
This story was originally published February 6, 2025 at 12:32 PM.
