You are being naive.
The best don't always get the job.
The higher you go up in your career the more it depends on who you know and what connections you have. Networking.
That is the issue that is being fixed with DEI initiatives.
Most of America's corporate culture is a "good ole boys club".
You could be the most talented, minority person, but there is a glass ceiling one is often unable to break through.
Hence DEI.
DEI ensures that the best qualified minorities, are chosen for jobs that they would have otherwise not been able to get, because the people currently employed exhibited subconscious bias.
You cannot thought police people especially when they are not actually looking to discriminate but are subconsciously doing so.
So you need DEI to bring structure.
You want to ensure that people of different backgrounds are represented.
This does not mean people are chosen just for their skin colour but for their skills.
Having said that, there are "good ole boys clubs" today, where they infact do just that.
They will create a role or two just for show, and appoint people of colour in inconsequential roles and use that as a PR initiative. Internally nothing much would have changed.
This I agree is bad.
But there are organizations where they do this earnestly and research has proven that it actually results in higher revenues.
Fortunately I have seen more of the latter than the former.
Therefore, if anything the push should be for more DEI, with refined processes so that it is not just for show and we ensure that the talented best performing minorities get opportunities that might otherwise be difficult for them.