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Enough is Enough: The DEI Crisis No One Wants to Talk About—Veterans Are Dying By Colette 't Hart
MARCH 26TH, 2025 - BY COLETTE 'T HART
Every day in America, an average of 17 veterans die by suicide. These are not just statistics—they are lives lost. Fathers. Mothers. Siblings. Friends. People who served, sacrificed, and believed they would come home to a country that valued them.
Instead, they’re coming home to silence, bureaucracy, and abandonment. And in a digital world ruled by billionaires and platforms that claim to "disrupt" for the greater good, some are now directly contributing to the crisis.
Let’s talk about DOGE—the meme coin turned cultural phenomenon—and Elon Musk, the billionaire with a platform larger than most world leaders. In 2023 and 2024, under the guise of “efficiency” and “cost-cutting,” vital public discourse around mental health, access to care, and DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) was muted across X (formerly Twitter).
Entire veteran communities lost visibility. Non-profits lost their reach. Suicide prevention messages stopped trending. The Lincoln Project reported that mental health access for veterans—already underfunded—was being digitally erased. Conversations that once saved lives are being drowned by algorithms that favor controversy over compassion.
DEI is not just about race or gender—it’s about every marginalized voice. Veterans are among the most underrepresented in corporate DEI programs, yet they are also one of the most sought-after “diverse hires.” Their service is tokenized while their needs are ignored. They are brought into companies for PR purposes, only to be discarded when budgets shrink.
And for what? Efficiency? Innovation? There is nothing innovative about neglect. There is no ROI worth celebrating when human lives are the cost.
A veteran who cannot access mental health care because a platform throttled nonprofit content is not collateral damage—they are a casualty of a system that has forgotten its duty of care.
The Human Cost of Digital Apathy
It’s time we hold tech leaders accountable—not just for their profits or platforms, but for their impact on real people. If you're reading this and thinking, “What can I do?”—start here:
To Elon Musk, and others who hold power:
Freedom of speech is not freedom from responsibility. When your platform silences the voices that protect our country, you become part of the problem. Veterans didn’t die for hashtags. They didn’t serve to be forgotten. And they should never have to fight alone once they’re home. Enough is enough.
👉 Share your thoughts—When DEI becomes a checkbox, and not a commitment, lives are lost. Let’s start the conversation.
About the Author: Colette 't Hart is the Co-Founder and CEO of Idonea, a pioneering recruitment platform leveraging semantic ontology and AI-powered matching engines to eliminate unconscious bias and empower businesses to build diverse, high-performing teams. A seasoned tech entrepreneur, UX specialist, and DEI advocate, Colette has decades of experience transforming complex challenges into innovative, user-focused solutions. Passionate about redefining recruitment, she is committed to fostering equitable hiring practices and revolutionizing how talent and opportunity connect. Connect with her on LinkedIn.
