The rhetoric around Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is everywhere. Politicians and pundits claim that DEI is “divisive,” “woke,” or even “anti-American.” They argue it gives “special treatment” to certain groups or is part of some Marxist agenda. 

Most of the political debate around DEI is deceptive and points to a history that the ILWU knows all too well. There are also valid critiques that exist. Looking at the question of diversity, equity and inclusion through the lense of labor helps us sort through the issue.

Pono Principle or Corporate Scam? 

The truth is, DEI can be used for good or for bad. In principle, DEI stands for exactly what it says, diversity, equity, and inclusion. Are there three words that can better describe the history and impact of the ILWU? Or Hawaiʻi for that matter? And if we are to be honest, whatever diversity, equity, and inclusion that exists in this union or in Hawaiʻi, was achieved through hard-fought struggles against a very powerful ruling class of corporate racists. More on this in a moment. 

However, labor should also understand the ways that corporations use D.E.I. to flaunt righteous values to the public while acting hypocritically on the shop floor. Take Target and Krogers, for example. Both corporations adopted D.E.I. programs in recent years. And both have been notorious union-busters. In fact, as this article is being written, Krogers, who doubled down on their D.E.I. program in recent weeks has 10,000 workers on strike in Denver. If workers have to walk off the job for fair pay and working conditions, does a company really believe in principles of equity and justice? Or are they just using them to bring more shoppers through the door?

Unfortunately, the current prevailing critiques of D.E.I. are not coming from a labor perspective, but a corporate one. How can you tell? Because it’s dividing the working class. And this should be a red flag to any union member.  Because the fact is, we have been here before. Racial equity is only a rallying cry because the corporate class has continuously used race to divide their most formidable opponent - the workers. 

The Path of Division: The Plantation Oligarchy’s Playbook

In Hawaiʻi’s early sugar plantation days, the white plantation owners were part of an oligarchy—a small group of wealthy people who controlled all aspects of society, from government to education, to industry, and more. This oligarchy was known as the Big 5, made up of owners of the top 5 largest plantations. The Big 5 knew exactly how to keep workers divided. They segregated labor camps by race: Filipinos in one camp, Japanese in another, Portuguese elsewhere. They paid different wages based on ethnicity, ensuring no group felt equal to another. They spread rumors and lies to stoke racial tensions and prevent unity.

National origin was also weaponized. Native Hawaiians, still grappling with the overthrow of their sovereign nation, and workers themselves, faced the impact of mass immigration for expanding plantations and the resulting wage suppression across industries. This stoked resentment among Native Hawaiians toward the immigrant workers. 

The Hawaiʻi oligarchy didn’t stop at workplace division—it built an entire system to keep non-whites “in their place.” They controlled most of the courts, the medical system, and public education, including the University of Hawaiʻi. 

The Territorial oligarchy also promoted “race science” at UH. They were dazzled by the eugenics movement - a movement to promote reproduction among the white race and to slow reproduction among non-white races. The race science they supported at UH was meant to prove racial difference and justify the most “advanced races” running society and the lower races providing labor with no real power in society. This science has since been debunked and students have demanded that the UH take responsibility for producing such research. 

The Racism of the Sugar Planter: Justifying Empire

These attitudes and tactics were used prior to Territorial Hawaiʻi. In fact, they fueled the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, which made such a high level of control over Hawai’i in the early decades of the twentieth century possible. 

When sugar planters, led by men like Sanford B. Dole and Lorrin A. Thurston orchestrated the 1893 overthrow of Queen Liliʻuokalani, profit was their motive. But racial superiority is the story they told to justify their actions.. Dole, who became the first president of the Republic of Hawaiʻi, once said, “The Hawaiian is a race of children… They are incapable of governing themselves.” Thurston was even more explicit, describing Native Hawaiians as “a race of barbarians” who needed to be “civilized” by white Americans.

This mindset was shared by certain U.S. expansionists to justify taking control of Cuba, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico. Late 19th-century political cartoons in the magazines Puck and Judge portrayed Queen Liliʻuokalani, Filipinos, Cubans, and Puerto Ricans as savage, childlike, or grotesque—imagery designed to convince Americans that these nations needed to be “saved” through colonization. 

These are all examples of how race has been used to serve corporate interests at the expense of regular people. But our history in Hawaiʻi also tells another story - one of an uphill resistance against these divisive tactics.

The Path of Unity: The ILWU’s Fight for Solidarity

In the 1940s, ILWU organizers like Jack Hall, Harry Kamoku, and countless rank-and-file leaders saw through the oligarchy’s lies. They knew that workers could only win by uniting across racial and national lines (the reason “international” is in so many unions’ names).

They taught workers that their real problem wasn’t each other—it was the employer class who was exploiting them.

The oligarchy fought back hard. They accused the union of being communist, of colluding with Joseph Stalin, of trying to overthrow the U.S. government itself. Just like with the anti-DEI rhetoric of today, they used fear of Marxism to vilify the union and manipulate public opinion. 

And here’s the hard truth: many workers believed them.

The sugar oligarchy’s power relied on working-class buy-in. Even in 1954, during the “Democratic Revolution” when the united working class in Hawaiʻi unseated the oligarchy-run Republican Party, some workers still voted to keep the party of the employers in control. In all cases, corporate power only succeeds with the allegiance of the working class.

The ILWU persisted through these very difficult and very real divisions. They did the relentless work of uniting enough workers to shift power. They organized historic strikes like the 1946 Sugar Strike and the 1949 Longshore Strike—two pivotal moments that reshaped Hawaiʻi’s labor landscape.

These union leaders often found themselves fighting against the grain of public opinion. They knew that improving workers’ lives required confronting racism and standing together as one union, one working class—even as they were branded “un-American” and “Marxist.” 

Perhaps we should take pause when we hear the most powerful men in the country today using the same tactical messaging that the Big 5 used on our strongest union leaders not that long ago.

Call to Action: Choose the Past of Unity

We are at this crossroads again and the work toward true equity is not over. Look around your workplace. Do wage disparities exist that just so happen to fall along racial lines? Have we solved the wealth gaps that fuel our housing crisis in Hawaiʻi? Does every keiki have access to three meals a day?

It is important that union members assess and comprehend debates around race through a union lens. Be steadfast for justice and equity. Be suspicious when corporations flaunt values around justice and equity but treat their workers poorly. And be on high alert when the richest people in the U.S. and the world make a boogey-man out of solid union principles like diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

So let’s get real. Let’s have the tough conversations. Let’s challenge the lies. And let’s do what we’ve always done—unite, organize, and fight for what’s right. Because when we stand together, we win. The choice is ours.