The Democrats’ Quiet DEI Rollback: How SCDP Did It First—Before Trump Made It Popular

• Post by: Michael R. Bailey
• March 19, 2025
• No Comment

I recently came across a post by Dr. Johnnie Cordero, the former chair and founder of the South Carolina Democratic Party’s Black Caucus. In it, he announced that he is introducing a resolution to abolish the Caucus Subcommittee on Organization, Operation, and Bylaws (COOB). His resolution calls out COOB’s role in restricting and suppressing the independence of caucuses within the party.

After reading both the resolution and COOB’s bylaws, it became clear that this is bigger than just internal party politics. This is about how DEI is being quietly dismantled from within. The same kind of structural suppression that Republicans and conservative extremists have been pushing at the national level has already been happening right here, inside the South Carolina Democratic Party—long before DEI rollback became a national agenda.

That’s why this article is necessary. Dr. Cordero’s resolution is more than a policy dispute; it’s a fight to restore the independence of minority-led advocacy within the party. This is about power. About control. And about how the South Carolina Democratic Party was attacking DEI before Trump’s war on diversity even had a name.

The South Carolina Democratic Party’s Quiet War Against DEI

There’s a dangerous illusion that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is only under attack from the right. That Trump’s culture war is the singular force dismantling racial progress, and that the Democratic Party stands as DEI’s unwavering champion. But in South Carolina, the Democratic Party has been practicing its own form of DEI rollback—long before the movement had a name, long before the backlash was branded as part of the conservative agenda.

In 2021, the South Carolina Democratic Party (SCDP) quietly established COOB. At the time, there was no national rallying cry against DEI, no wave of legislation explicitly targeting racial equity programs. And yet, SCDP was already moving to restrict, control, and neutralize internal advocacy groups representing marginalized communities.

It didn’t carry the anti-DEI label back then, but looking back, we now see it for what it was—a strategic effort to silence independent caucuses, limit grassroots organizing, and ensure that advocacy within the party remained tightly controlled by leadership. This wasn’t reactionary. This wasn’t a response to the right-wing assault on DEI that would later take shape under Trump.

This was preemptive.

SCDP was rolling back DEI before the term “anti-DEI” had even entered the political lexicon. Before conservative think tanks launched their coordinated attacks on diversity programs, before corporate America started abandoning its post-2020 commitments, before right-wing politicians began pushing bans on racial equity initiatives, the South Carolina Democratic Party was already creating internal mechanisms to suppress minority-led organizing within its own ranks.

The creation of COOB wasn’t about efficiency. It wasn’t about accountability. It was about control. And now, in hindsight, we can see that it was part of a much larger trend—a quiet, calculated move against the very principles of DEI, disguised as party governance.

The Purpose of Caucuses: Political Leverage for the Marginalized

Caucuses exist to amplify the voices of marginalized communities within the political system. Their primary function is not simply to exist under a party’s umbrella but to advocate for policies, challenge leadership, and hold political institutions accountable when they fail to address the needs of underrepresented groups.

Historically, caucuses have served as internal organizing hubs for Black voters, Latino communities, LGBTQ+ rights advocates, labor movements, youth engagement, and women’s rights initiatives. These groups form the backbone of the Democratic electorate, yet they remain politically sidelined without dedicated advocacy structures pushing for their interests from within the party itself.

That’s why the formation of COOB in 2023 marked a major turning point—not just for the South Carolina Democratic Party, but for how caucuses function within it. COOB was not created to strengthen these advocacy groups. It was created to rein them in. By instituting new bureaucratic controls, imposing leadership approval mechanisms, and restricting messaging, COOB transformed caucuses from independent bodies into subsidiaries of party leadership.

Before COOB, caucuses could operate with relative independence, choosing their own leadership, shaping their own messaging, and pressing the party on issues that directly impacted their constituencies. Now, every step must be approved. Every move must align with leadership. Every challenge to the party’s status quo is met with procedural roadblocks.

This is not just a shift in party governance. It is a calculated move to neutralize internal dissent. When caucuses lose their autonomy, marginalized groups within the party lose their most effective vehicle for political leverage.

COOB’s Rules Are an Anti-DEI Playbook in Action

The restrictions imposed by COOB don’t just hinder internal organizing—they function as a blueprint for rolling back DEI within the party itself. By forcing caucuses to align with leadership, limiting their ability to communicate independently, and imposing bureaucratic hurdles on their operation, SCDP has ensured that these groups can no longer function as autonomous advocacy voices.

What’s happening in South Carolina is part of a broader pattern. Across the country, DEI initiatives are being rolled back under the guise of neutrality, fairness, and standardization. COOB’s rules reflect the same playbook: erase autonomy, restrict advocacy, and maintain control over narratives that challenge the status quo.

Final Call to Action: Who Will Stand Against This?

We must support Dr. Johnnie Cordero’s resolution to abolish COOB and restore the independence of caucuses. If we fail to act, this won’t stop with South Carolina—it will spread to other Democratic state parties, further weakening minority voices across the country.

Because make no mistake: this is how white Democrats within the party are aligning with Trump’s anti-DEI movement. And they’re not acting alone. Some Black Democrats, trapped in the politics of Plantation House Syndrome, have chosen to stand with them—protecting the same power structures designed to suppress Black political organizing.

COOB is the Democratic Party’s version of anti-DEI in action. This is what anti-DEI looks like within the Democratic Party itself—a deliberate, bureaucratic assault on Black political organizing disguised as party governance. This is DEI rollback in disguise, and if we don’t fight it now, we will see its impact far beyond South Carolina.

Final Thoughts

The fight for DEI isn’t just happening in Republican-led legislatures or corporate boardrooms—it’s happening inside the Democratic Party itself. The same party that claims to champion diversity and equity has been quietly rolling back those very principles under the radar. And if we don’t stop it now, we will watch the same suppression spread to national Democratic organizations—just as we saw it happen here first in South Carolina.

The question now is: Who will stand against it?