I understand and sympathize with where you're coming from. I don't have all the counter arguments, but one that stuck with me while I was devils advocating it with two of my friends is pretty convincing I think. (Mind you, I'm drunk on a Friday night at 3 AM, so just posting this before I forget to do it tomorrow).
One of your arguments (not all!) is built on an opposing side abusing the cultural impact of CRT/DEI. However, that can be applied as a premise to a slew of other political efforts with the same mechanics where the singling out of a group can be twisted into discrimination of an adjacent group:
- Americans with Disabilities Act
- Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) for Alaskans
- Shelters and Services Program for Immigrants
- Any policies surrounding Native Americans
In all the above programs, one could make the case that there are adjacent groups that do not, but maybe should, receive those benefits. CRT/DEI is the easiest target to gather people around. It doesn't exist in a vacuum, it's just the most prominent and easily targetable policy.
All that doesn't invalidate CRT/DEI or any of the other policies, and even with political opposition one could still argue for their benefit. So, my point is this: Bad actors abusing and misrepresenting a program that focuses on specific groups is not an argument against that policy. If it didn't exist, they'd latch on to something else. So you're letting a policy be ruined, not based on its merits, but on how others can twist a narrative around it.
Again, you have made other points that I'm not addressing at all in this argument. I'll let others argue against those.
I love that the search results end. Like, "nah bruv, that's it, and I'm not going to make shit up to get you to click ads"