“Movement, not a moment — Utahns unite behind a common goal to create equal opportunity. We affirm our commitment will not just be a passing moment, but a legacy movement of social, racial and economic justice.”

That was the closing statement of the Utah Compact on Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion that was presented by Gov. Herbert and signed by government, business and community leaders across the state in December 2020. That moment did, in fact, feel like a movement. Marginalized voices were finally getting a platform. Innovative policy solutions were being discussed that could help close racial gaps in health, wealth and education in our local community and broader country. NBA players boycotted a playoff game with the support of league officials. In a brave and bold move, WNBA players protested their own owner who spoke out against Black protest. People in our community who had never given much thought to the racial injustices that exist all around us (including myself) were reading books like “White Fragility,” “How to Be an Antiracist” and “The Sum of Us.” Many of us found ourselves at our first protest or march for racial justice. This was a movement.

But, like any great movement, it has spawned an unfortunate backlash that we are living through today. On Monday, many in our communities of color were once again mobilizing to make their voices heard. This time they were waking early to make the snowy commute to a committee room in the state Capitol where Sen. John Johnson was trying to outlaw the words that brought our community together just three years earlier. Sen. Johnson’s proposed legislation, “Prohibiting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Higher Education” (S.B. 283), would cement the backlash to hard-won racial progress into Utah state law.

Emancipation brought segregation and the Jim Crow South. Desegregation brought the rise of backlash politicians like George Wallace, Strom Thurmond and Spiro Agnew. And 2020’s united movement for social, racial and economic justice has brought us Sen. John Johnson, who is determined to make that movement nothing more than a passing moment. The words of Johnson’s bill echo those of politicians like Wallace who stood in the path of progress shouting, “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!”

In a victory for those communities of color who voiced their opposition, Sen. Johnson was forced to amend his bill prohibiting diversity, equity and inclusion to a bill that “studies” diversity, equity and inclusion. To my fellow citizens in Ogden, my neighbors in North Ogden, Eden, Huntsville, Morgan and others, let us prove that the movement that brought us 2020’s racial compact was not a passing moment by rejecting politicians like John Johnson.

Kevin Lundell serves as vice chair of the Ogden City Diversity Commission. He is an Ogden resident, community advocate, doctor of chiropractic, and owner of Lundell Chiropractic and Roy Community Fitness.

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