Republican Indiana Lieutenant Governor Micah Beckwith criticized Democrats who compared a Republican-led state Senate bill restricting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs to the Three-Fifths Compromise, saying they misunderstood American history and arguing that DEI initiatives and “woke schools” are to blame for how “we got to this place.”
Newsweek has reached out to the Senate Democrats, the bill’s author and Beckwith for comment via email on Friday.
Why It Matters
The clash over Indiana’s Senate Bill 289 reflects broader national disputes over how race, discrimination and U.S. history are taught and featured in policy. As Republican-led states move to restrict DEI programs, debates over historical interpretation and education, particularly around slavery and representation, are taking center stage in statehouses and classrooms.
Since taking office, President Donald Trump has prioritized removing DEI programs across the federal government and at higher education institutions. Many large corporations such as Walmart and Target, among others, have followed suit by rolling back DEI initiatives.
What To Know
The Indiana Senate passed SB 289, which was introduced by state Senator Gary Byrne, in a 64-26 vote. Beckwith posted a video on Thursday to X, formerly Twitter, criticizing Senate Democrats for comparing the bill to the Three-Fifths Compromise. During the session, Democrats likened the bill to the 1787 constitutional clause that counted enslaved people as three-fifths of a person for congressional representation, arguing that the bill would suppress efforts to address systemic inequality.
Beckwith said Democrats called the bill “bad,” arguing that it “actually encourages discrimination, just like the Three-Fifths Compromise,” but he countered that “the Three-Fifths Compromise is not a pro-discrimination compromise, it was not a pro-discrimination or a slave-driving compromise that the founders made. It was actually just the opposite. It was a compromise that the North made with the South.”
Many historians emphasize that the Three-Fifths Compromise preserved disproportionate power for slaveholding states and was inherently discriminatory. States gained additional representation in Congress and in the Electoral College, thereby entrenching slavery in the national political framework.
He added that Senate Democrats “think the Three-Fifths Compromise was something that was a scourge on Black people, that’s not what it was. And how did we get to this place? We got to this place because of DEI in education, we got to this place because you have professors at woke schools that will not teach the history of what happened during the foundation in our history.”
He added that the Senate Democrats called it “some sort of terrible thing in our past, it was not, it was actually the exact opposite,” arguing that the compromise was “designed to make sure that justice was equal for all people and equality really meant equality for all.”
What People Are Saying
State Representative Earl Harris Jr., a Democrat, in an April 14 statement: “This bill would undermine the progress we’ve made in making our campuses and government institutions more reflective of the people they serve. It would send a chilling message to young people, workers and businesses that Indiana is moving backward—away from fairness, away from representation and away from accountability.”
Indiana Lieutenant Governor Micah Beckwith, on X on Thursday: “Hello Indiana Senate Democrats…. This is the ACTUAL history behind the 3/5th compromise. You don’t know this because you went institutions that pride themselves on DEI indoctrination. I love you and you are welcome.”
What Happens Next
The bill is with Governor Mike Braun, who will determine if it will be signed into law.
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