Trump's Initial 100 Days Aim at Diversity Policies, Anti-Discrimination Measures
Rewritten Article:
Under President Donald Trump's leadership, the first 100 days of his second term have witnessed a relentless attack on diversity and inclusion initiatives, undoing decades-old policies designed to address historical injustices affecting marginalized groups in a matter of weeks.
Trump revoked a landmark 1965 executive order mandating equal employment opportunities for all, reduced environmental actions to protect disadvantaged communities, and ordered the evisceration of an agency that aided minority and women-owned businesses.
The administration asserts that diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives that grew popular over the past two decades are themselves discriminatory and hinder merit. Consequently, the government has terminated contracts tied to "illegal DEI," shuttered offices addressing civil rights violations, and frozen research grants on racial disparities in healthcare.
Critics contend that these actions undermine decades of progress in leveling the playing field for marginalized communities. Hector Sanchez Barba, president and CEO of Mi Familia Vota, a non-partisan organization mobilizing Latino voters, denounced the directives as a "white supremacist's agenda."
"He's assaulting the pillars that uphold and sustain our democracy – it's a regression to a deplorable history of exclusion of minorities from various societal spaces," Sanchez Barba said.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment. Trump has previously dismissed claims of employing racist attacks throughout his political career. Senior administration officials have defended gutting DEI initiatives, arguing they are inherently discriminatory.
"The pushback against DEI policies is the result of a perception, which I believe is grounded in reality, that the hyperfocus on race and the utilization of a racial lens to view almost everything is itself a distortion," said William Jacobson, a law professor at Cornell University.
An executive order Trump signed on his first day in office eliminated all chief diversity officers in the federal government, halted programs to eradicate discriminatory barriers, and terminated contracts related to racial sensitivity training – initiatives the administration deemed "immoral."
The administration's opposition to DEI is part of a broader effort to establish a more authoritarian structure in the U.S., argues Lawrence Rosenthal, chair of the Center for Right-Wing Studies at the University of California, Berkeley: "It displaces both institutions and established processes of the American government."
Education has been a primary target of the administration's efforts to abandon DEI programs. The administration has threatened to revoke federal funding from schools and universities that engage in DEI practices, though judges recently blocked this attempt. The Department of Education's workforce has been reduced by half, and seven of its 12 Office for Civil Rights offices, which investigate complaints ranging from racial harassment to accessibility for students with disabilities, have been dismantled.
Terri Gonzales, chief attorney in the Dallas OCR office, was suddenly placed on administrative leave after 14 years there, with connections to DEI cited as the reason for her dismissal. "I felt like I had been kicked in the gut," said Gonzales.
In executive orders targeting museums and cultural institutions, Trump accused them of fostering "national shame" and singled out the Smithsonian Institution – which includes 21 museums and the National Zoo – of promoting "improper ideology." The National Museum of African American History and Culture was criticized for portraying American and Western culture as "inherently harmful."
The administration did not specify what it meant by this, though critics have suggested the language is a reference to Trump's longstanding complaints about a focus on systemic racism in U.S. institutions promoting anti-white bias. The administration has also removed historical content about African Americans and other minorities from government websites. In one instance, after encountering public backlash, the National Park Service restored a quote and an image of U.S. abolitionist Harriet Tubman that had been removed from a website about the Underground Railroad network.
Historians express concern that the actions are part of a broader effort to suppress honest discussions about U.S. history, particularly issues of race, inequality, and systematic injustice, while promoting a sanitized view of American history. "How in the world can you teach about Rosa Parks without discussing racism? It's an attempt to reframe the past, and that matters because it reframes how we understand the present," said Mark Bray, assistant teaching professor at Rutgers University.
The Stonewall National Museum, Archives & Library in Fort Lauderdale – one of the largest LGBTQ+ libraries in the country – was informed in February that it would no longer receive federal funding, slashing its budget by 25-40%. "I'm worried about the slow death of our collections," said Robert Kesten, the museum's executive director, citing the loss of corporate donors.
The resistance to DEI has extended to corporate corridors. Many corporations have dropped diversity efforts or modified language in response to Trump's directive to potentially investigate firms that practice it. The Minority Business Development Agency, a government agency within the Commerce Department, which for 56 years helped women- and minority-owned businesses access funding, has laid off staff and lost $68 million in funding.
Alphonso David, president and CEO of Global Black Economic Forum, which focuses on boosting economic opportunities for Black and marginalized communities, states, "There are three things happening that are interrelated: it's the attempt to erase history, deny history, and remove any evidence of history."
- Critics claim the administration's actions against diversity and inclusion initiatives under President Trump's leadership constitute a regression, undermining years of progress in upholding equal opportunities for marginalized communities.
- Hector Sanchez Barba, president of Mi Familia Vota, views these directives as a white supremacist's agenda, asserting they are assaulting the pillars that sustain American democracy.
- William Jacobson, a law professor at Cornell University, believes the pushback against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies is grounded in reality, arguing that the hyperfocus on race is a distortion.
- The administration's opposition to DEI is part of a broader effort to establish a more authoritarian structure, according to Lawrence Rosenthal, Chair of the Center for Right-Wing Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.
- Education has been a primary target of the administration's efforts to abandon DEI programs, with federal funding being threatened for schools and universities engaging in DEI practices and a significant reduction in the Department of Education's workforce.
- Historians are concerned that the actions of the administration represent a suppression of honest discussions about American history, particularly issues of race, inequality, and systemic injustice.
- The resistance to DEI has extended to corporate corridors, with many corporations either dropping diversity efforts or modifying their language in response to the administration's potential investigation of firms practicing it.
