Miss: Diversity Fire
If you know Maria Garciaz, you probably wonder, “WTH?” If you don’t, you need to be enraged by the mindless attack on diversity, equity and inclusion. Maybe you don’t know her because you have never needed the services she has made possible for communities on the west side of Salt Lake City and for the health of the city as a whole. For almost 40 years, Garciaz worked as CEO of NeighborWorks Salt Lake, a nonprofit working with youth and the communities they live in. She co-founded University Neighborhood Partners, building bridges with university staff. But a legislative committee didn’t like her—an educated Latina who advocates for the underserved and who, God help her, used the word “equity” and even the term “DEI” in her answers. Lawmakers refused to reappoint her as a University of Utah trustee. She apparently hasn’t been focused enough on the real underdogs—the white conservatives who simply cannot succeed in an atmosphere of, yes, diversity, equity and inclusion…