Pollak: What Joe Biden Means by ‘Equity’

President Joe Biden has used the word “equity” frequently in his statements and executive orders.

The dictionary defines “equity” as “the quality of being fair or impartial.” The word also means “ownership”: stocks are “equities,” for example.

However, Biden uses “equity” to mean something far more radical.

Biden defined the term “equity” on his first day in office, in the “Executive Order On Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government”:

The term “equity” means the consistent and systematic fair, just, and impartial treatment of all individuals, including individuals who belong to underserved communities that have been denied such treatment, such as Black, Latino, and Indigenous and Native American persons, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and other persons of color; members of religious minorities; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) persons; persons with disabilities; persons who live in rural areas; and persons otherwise adversely affected by persistent poverty or inequality.

The definition is inherently contradictory. On the one hand, equity promises “impartial treatment.” On the other, equity is aimed at specific groups of people, and not others.

The word “impartial” suggests that “equity” is similar to the word “equality.” Equality before the law is a fundamental principle of our legal system. The Judeo-Christian ideal is that the law should be “no respecter of persons” — that is, it remains the same regardless of identity or status.

However, as noted above, Biden’s definition of “equity” specifically recognizes identity and status. The words “fair” and “just” also hint at the goal “social justice” — that is, at equality of outcomes.

“Equity” therefore does not mean treating all individuals the same. It means that the government will treat individuals differently, so that all groups might be brought to the same level, especially in terms of material wealth.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.