Staff
Alicia Keys accepted the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award at the Grammy Awards Sunday night, and made an impact with her words about the value of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives as Donald Trump’s administration is actively tearing them down.
Sunday was a big night for Alicia Keys at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards, with the “Girl on Fire” singer using her big platform to call out the Trump Administration’s dismantling of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs at the federal government.
In particular, she called out the perception that seems to exist within President Donald Trump’s inner circle, as well as through the Republican party and right-wing pundits and voters, that DEI is somehow dangerous or a threat.
Keys was honored with the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award at the ceremony, which was established in 2022 to honor “Black music creators whose dedication to the art form has greatly influenced the industry.”
It was created by the Recording Academy’s Black Music Collective, which was created to amplify Black Voices within the Academy and music at large as part of an overall shift following The Weeknd calling out a lack of inclusion and representation at the Grammys.
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But as the Academy is looking forward with DEI strategies, the federal government is going backwards, removing DEI initiatives from all levels of government, online and in practice.
“This is not the time to shut down the diversity of voices,” Keys argued from the stage at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. “We’ve seen on this stage talented, hardworking people from different backgrounds with different points of view, and it changes the game.”
The “Fallin'” singer praised “hard-working people from different backgrounds with different points of view” for helping to raise up the music industry, as with all industries. It is the combination of different people that “changes the game.”
She added, “DEI is not a threat, it’s a gift.”
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“The more voices, the more powerful the sound,” said Keys of diversity. “When destructive forces try to burn us down, we rise from the ashes like a phoenix.”
The industry icon urged all viewers to “keep showing up with compassion, with empathy, what I call soul care.”
Her comments come after President Trump even suggested DEI policies may have had an impact on the deadly plane crash last week in Washington, DC, while eliminating such initiatives in government. He has called DEI programs “illegal,” “dangerous, demeaning, and immoral,” and “radical and wasteful,” per NPR.
The president argued that by pushing toward representation, the initiatives are discriminatory toward non-minorities, as noted by Forbes. He instead says he supports a system based solely on “merit, excellence and intelligence (MEI)” in the workplace,.
