Trump reverses decades of civil rights progress with the stroke of a pen
The U.S. president’s executive orders banishing from federal government diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and practices are disappointing and disheartening. However, they are not surprising.
As the great writer Maya Angelou said, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”
Donald J. Trump told us he was against DEI long before he was sworn in for a second term in the White House. In January of 2024, Trump said, “We will terminate every diversity, equity and inclusion program across the entire federal government.” He also said he would defund colleges and universities that continued DEI policies.
So, it is not unexpected that among the slew of executive orders he signed on Jan. 20, his first day in office, were several tearing down and rolling back 1960s-era civil rights measures. He purged DEI from the federal government and the military. His orders abolished decades – more than half a century – of government standards on diversity and equality, while he continues to pressure corporations, colleges and government contractors to do the same.
Trump undoes 60 years of equal rights protections
In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed an order that gave the secretary of labor authority to ensure equal opportunity for people of color and women in federal contractors’ recruitment, hiring, training and other employment practices.
Trump signing executive orders
Johnson signed the order when Black Americans were confronted with violence and cruel “Jim Crow” laws that prohibited Black people from voting and limited them to segregated neighborhoods. While attempting to correct these injustices, the federal government forbade contractors to discriminate and pushed to ensure equal opportunity “based on race, color, religion, and national origin.”
That now appears to be all gone. Erased. Eliminated. Killed. Deleted.
Trump immediately placed on leave federal diversity, equity and inclusion employees. Agency heads were ordered to submit written plans for “executing a reduction-in-force action” (layoff plans) of DEI employees.
Making this effort even more troubling is that government employees were urged to act as informers to root out hidden programs. Yes, they were encouraged to rat out their fellow employees, even though they were losing their own jobs.
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As part of his effort to “erase Black history,” the U.S. Air Force was ordered to cease showing a video on the Tuskegee Airmen during training sessions. After a backlash, the Air Force reinstated the video on the heroic and legendary Black airmen.
How DEI actually created equal opportunity for all
In recent months, Trump and fellow conservatives have baselessly blamed DEI policies for the spread of the California wildfires and the Secret Service’s action on his assassination attempt. They also push that DEI discriminates against white men, but that also is not true. Trump himself has called DEI programs “radical and wasteful,” “illegal and immoral discrimination” and “anti-white racism.”
These terms distort and confuse the truth. No president in the past 70 years has been as hostile to civil right progress as Trump.
DEI policies are designed to help correct injustices and institutional racism that permeate every fiber of our society, including employment, education, housing and entrepreneurial opportunities. The purpose of DEI is not to take jobs away from white men or any other group of people. Rather, DEI programs were established to create equal opportunities for everyone, including minorities (Blacks, Asians, Hispanics and other cultures), women, disabled people, and those in the LGBT community.
Bishop William Barber speaks during the “Stop the Attack on HBCUs” news conference at the Tennessee Capitol on Monday, April 1, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn.
Back in the 1960s, minorities did not have equal opportunities, regardless of their education and qualifications. And that still holds true today.
This Trump move was anticipated by the civil rights community. Even before the executive orders were signed on Jan. 20, the Rev. William Barber, president of Repairers of the Breach and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, said that President Johnson’s executive order was needed to fight discrimination of that era and is still needed today.
Americans want to see corporations reflect their communities
Just days after the new DEI orders were issued, the National Urban League hosted a “Demand Diversity Roundtable” that was attended by 19 national civil rights leaders. “There is a pressing need to safeguard DEI principles, confront regressive measures, and chart actionable strategies for advancing equal opportunity for all,” said Marc Morial, the Urban League president.
Rev. Shavon Arline-Bradley, president of the National Council of Negro Women, visited the National Slavery Museum Dec. 3, 2024 as part of an delegation invited by the White House to join President Joe Biden on his first trip to Angola.
The president/CEO of the National Council of Negro Women, the Rev. Shavon Arline-Bradley, said Trump’s actions were “illegal, immoral and discriminatory,” and would significantly erode a civil rights enforcement tool that has been essential, “in particular for women’s progress.”
The Roundtable discussed a recent Harris Poll (of liberals and conservatives) that showed that about 81% of Americans agree that corporate America should reflect the diversity of the American population and 78% of Americans support businesses taking active steps to make that happen. The poll was conducted on behalf of the Black Economic Alliance Foundation, which noted that companies that value diversity are more effective than companies that don’t, and DEI programs benefit all Americans.
Corporations that have been reported standing by their DEI programs include Cisco (whose CEO has defended the value of DEI at his company), Costco, Apple, Pinterest, Microsoft, J.P. Morgan, Marriott, Proctor and Gamble, and several airlines. Among those companies reported to have scrapped or scaled back their DEI programs are Meta (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp), McDonald’s, Walmart, Target, Amazon, Ford, Toyota and Lowe’s.
Morial of the Urban League says he has spoken with the heads of several corporations who say their companies will stand by their commitments to DEI. He adds that corporate executives have emphasized to him that DEI is “good for business,” that they are offended by efforts to tell them how to run their businesses and concerned they are being intimidated by conservatives to drop DEI programs.
Trump’s orders are not the first obstacles on the road to equal rights. Even Dr. Martin Luther King wrote of civil rights progress, “… There will be agonizing setbacks along with creative advances.”
Black leaders today are determined to march forward on this issue. Elected officials must use their voices to support DEI. Corporate leaders must speak up and reject the pressure to acquiesce. Some leaders have mentioned leveraging the $1.8 trillion buying power of the Black community.
Lynn Norment
We cannot be silent and complacent as our civil rights are rolled back. We all can and must fight back, regardless of the color of our skin.
As Marc Morial says: “It’s a long battle, a long fight. But it’s a fight for what is best for our country.”
Lynn Norment, a columnist for The Commercial Appeal, is a former editor for Ebony Magazine.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: DEI is not the enemy, but equality is at risk under Trump | Opinion
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