Trump rolls back bedrock civil rights measure in sweeping anti-DEI push
Russell Contreras
Emily Peck
President Trump issued a sweeping executive order revoking decades of diversity and affirmative action practices in federal government.
Why it matters: This takes the current pushback on diversity, equity and inclusion into the next stratosphere — abolishing decades of government standards on diversity and equal opportunity, and seeking to crack down on the same in the private sector.
Zoom out: Trump’s order revokes one that President Johnson signed on September 24, 1965, more than two years after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have A Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial.
LBJ’s order gave the Secretary of Labor the authority to ensure equal opportunity for people of color and women in federal contractors’ recruitment, hiring, training and other employment practices.
It required federal contractors to refrain from employment discrimination and take affirmative action to ensure equal opportunity “based on race, color, religion, and national origin.”
The order came more than a year after Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and just months after he signed the Voting Rights Act following violent attacks on voting rights advocates in Selma, Ala.
Where are the Blacks for Trump? Where are the Coons for Trump?
What say you, now?
CJ G (@cjgproduxions) posted at 7:14 AM on Wed, Jan 22, 2025:
Trump has revoked the EEO of 1965 … https://t.co/h9vju788Ai
(https://x.com/cjgproduxions/status/1882054110025043976?t=-HQfJk8VBTGwx9i3Tixf1g&s=03)
CJ G (@cjgproduxions) posted at 2:02 PM on Wed, Jan 22, 2025:
This is the playbook … So many tried to claim it wasn’t real Project 2025 https://t.co/u3aPzzga94
(https://x.com/cjgproduxions/status/1882156835832299764?t=vXXGZn_zBd67OokJN_VcYQ&s=03)
The Chanteezy Is Real ♉️💛🪷 (@iamchanteezy) posted at 2:22 PM on Thu, Jan 23, 2025:
Shout out to Sunny for schooling Alyssa on the purpose of DEI Initiatives and Programs and implications it can on both Public and Private sectors jobs. #TheView https://t.co/Q9UZQgQDr2
(https://x.com/iamchanteezy/status/1882524434164264977?t=2wZtDbufRpIr2DqzvHor2g&s=03)
Chicano Marine 🇲🇽🇺🇸💙 (@elchicanomarine) posted at 3:18 PM on Thu, Jan 23, 2025:
The Trump administration is arguing IN COURT that Native Americans r not Citizens bc they are beholden to their tribes before the US, and if they aren’t citizens, children of undocumented parents definitely are not…
Hey dumb fucks, The Navajo Code Talkers would like a word. 🤨 https://t.co/bfrTxc0nRC
(https://x.com/elchicanomarine/status/1882538315423093078?s=03)
Michael Steele (@MichaelSteele) posted at 1:02 PM on Thu, Jan 23, 2025:
Through his executive orders rescinding civil rights protections for minority contractors, Trump’s federal government now openly permitted to discriminate.
@rolandsmartin spells it out.
MAGA: DEFUND BLACK AMERICA | Trump revokes executive order BANNING DISCR…
(https://x.com/MichaelSteele/status/1882504179475939575?t=qQvgvSEtGpPVuFj0EGcwmw&s=03)
The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) posted at 11:59 AM on Thu, Jan 23, 2025:
Trump ordered the National Institutes of Health to cancel their review panels on cancer research.
If you or someone you know has cancer, heart disease, diabetes, or one of many countless illnesses that needs a cure — this could have devastating effects.
https://t.co/XLMP5KQfGY
(https://x.com/ProjectLincoln/status/1882488300008792239?t=dWlTdA-VNDMyNXRhkLqEhA&s=03)
Acyn (@Acyn) posted at 11:18 AM on Fri, Jan 24, 2025:
Jeffries: Diversity, equity and inclusion are American values. Perhaps I can explain. The motto of the United States of America is e pluribus unum. Out of many, one. That’s diversity. The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution—one of the most influential important amendments in our country—provides equal protection under the law. That’s equity. In this country, we pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. A flag that we just presented to the new President and Vice President. And in that pledge, we promise, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. A-L-L. That’s inclusion. Not complicated. Diversity, equity and inclusion are American values. It’s about economic opportunity. It’s about merit for everyone, based on what you know, not who you know.
https://t.co/p4HbqCH7Xn
(https://x.com/Acyn/status/1882840407215579364?t=DouWP94fEFQ90ZfGdUJRKQ&s=03)
No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen
@NoLieWithBTC
Trump has ordered the National Institutes of Health to cancel their review panels on cancer research.
“The impact of [Trump’s] collective executive orders appears devastating,” one senior NIH employee says.
https://x.com/NoLieWithBTC/status/1882461037037048222
Dr. Allison Wiltz (@queenie4rmnola) posted at 8:54 AM on Thu, Jan 23, 2025:
“Racism is not only morally wrong, but it also has massive detriments to our economy. In a recent study by Citigroup, “Closing the Racial Inequality Gaps,” economists state that in the last 20 years, racism has cost the U.S. economy $16 trillion.
(https://x.com/queenie4rmnola/status/1882441871223632143?t=xMpfoHNpTj7IfiW0Ii7SMg&s=03)
Dr. Allison Wiltz (@queenie4rmnola) posted at 8:31 AM on Thu, Jan 23, 2025:
We were called alarmists. But all of what the black community said would happen has come to pass.
(https://x.com/queenie4rmnola/status/1882436120098840687?t=wbwnV-Ku8vgvSUxzYfkJ0A&s=03)
Dr. Allison Wiltz (@queenie4rmnola) posted at 8:31 AM on Thu, Jan 23, 2025:
You’re being told not to worry as they destroy civil rights protections
(https://x.com/queenie4rmnola/status/1882435911297925499?t=lcdMASc5dz9zcyzOgtl7fA&s=03)
D’Epitomee of The 92% 🐝🖤🧡💛 (@epitomee) posted at 9:28 AM on Thu, Jan 23, 2025:
Nope! Black Democrats who voted for Kamala and warned clowns 🤡 about the consequences of not voting for her, owe nothing. We’re not organizing or protesting or anything. Get to cracking…
(https://x.com/epitomee/status/1882450455630086473?t=rej_cHLihJFMe4aQYb1hzg&s=03)
Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) posted at 0:40 PM on Wed, Jan 22, 2025:
Republicans spent the last two days declining to make comments about Trump’s Jan. 6 pardons because they want to look forward, not back.
Now the House has announced a committee to re-investigate Jan. 6. https://t.co/9LTgeskf1J
(https://x.com/kyledcheney/status/1882136315938136516?t=YBXB9k4m0cjLUB5s-nHMZg&s=03)
Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) posted at 2:04 PM on Wed, Jan 22, 2025:
NEW: Judge CHUTKAN is now weighing in on Trump’s mass dismissal of Jan. 6 cases, saying it “cannot whitewash the blood, feces, and terror that the mob left in its wake.”
https://t.co/WnV5snNFWU https://t.co/AKdq7X1gk4
(https://x.com/kyledcheney/status/1882157287252341120?t=Z6dPKsMSzUrkTizjoYrKsA&s=03)
Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) posted at 1:29 PM on Thu, Jan 23, 2025:
JUST IN: Judge Amy Berman Jackson — who sat in the courtroom during Trump’s arraignment in Washington — becomes the latest federal judge to speak out on Jan. 6 pardons.
“Patriotism is loyalty to country and loyalty to the Constitution – not loyalty to a single head of state.” https://t.co/WZZrV4pg8Z
(https://x.com/kyledcheney/status/1882510902030954837?t=1VAEAsUKOifXLy3ZfTTe6Q&s=03)
Amene (@Ange_Amene) posted at 4:32 PM on Sat, Jan 18, 2025:
And you know who’s upset?
The folks who didn’t bother to vote.
The folks who sat on this app and said Kamala Harris put Black men in jail don’t support her.
The folks who said Kamala Harris isn’t a real Black woman.
Those folks have some fucking nerve.
(https://x.com/Ange_Amene/status/1880745091469545521?t=yGa4IOvT-jAVYz4AucS8WQ&s=03)
Amene (@Ange_Amene) posted at 10:03 AM on Sun, Jan 19, 2025:
Immigration is officially on the chopping block as a Democratic issue the party focuses on.
In fact it was chopped off election night.
Going forth folks are going to have to grapple with that.
There’s not going to be campaigning and supporting it. It’s clearly a losing issue.
(https://x.com/Ange_Amene/status/1881009668396556457?t=gNTaBs077EdBsQgvrQU-MQ&s=03)
Amene (@Ange_Amene) posted at 4:30 PM on Sat, Jan 18, 2025:
Folks want me to feel sorrow for those who Trump will be going after all while ignoring the anti-Blackness that was present while Harris ran TWICE.
Please miss me with that bullshit.
It’s nonsense.
I refuse to be curled up bawling tears for the next four years.
(https://x.com/Ange_Amene/status/1880744668205658471?t=krApJo7SpFwLV09BHuKMoQ&s=03)
Amene (@Ange_Amene) posted at 3:59 PM on Sun, Jan 19, 2025:
So much smoke for me this weekend and not enough for the white voters of this country who are racist and throwing the rest of us to the wolves.
Until y’all can figure out how to band behind BLACK people we’re always going to keep going in circles.
(https://x.com/Ange_Amene/status/1881099272936140819?t=5xlAeiLact_9DuVPJ7BTMg&s=03)
Amene (@Ange_Amene) posted at 9:35 AM on Mon, Jan 20, 2025:
White people are absolutely the group keeping Republicans in power and if the support of white women collapses then So does the party & it won’t matter how much Trump gains with other demographics.
But y’all need to redirect your anger. Not at me.
He made gains everywhere.
(https://x.com/Ange_Amene/status/1881364883855597660?t=D105SBRPW_-vZeqM70E6Mw&s=03)
Amene (@Ange_Amene) posted at 9:07 AM on Thu, Jan 23, 2025:
Don’t stress about Trump.
It’s pointless.
We were outvoted and the country as a whole doesn’t care about his crimes & stupidity to care.
Focus on yourself and stay out of whatever trouble he’s gonna cause.
(https://x.com/Ange_Amene/status/1882445036383850656?t=Hw3Tf9W4K4SdMkIqje3nfg&s=03)
Amene (@Ange_Amene) posted at 9:19 AM on Thu, Jan 23, 2025:
One thing I’ve noticed is once you pull back from caring about what this admin does people are off of sudden really offended by it.
People are really offended by you choosing to disengage with what and who Trump is/represents.
People are very offended that you don’t care.
(https://x.com/Ange_Amene/status/1882448171496092149?t=7If3vkfQZ5lTyPcvV1Yumw&s=03)
BMB Empower Network (@BmbEmpower) posted at 10:28 PM on Wed, Jan 22, 2025:
From 2018: American-born BLACK citizen sues sheriff after he was nearly deported to #Jamaica
Peter Sean Brown, who was born in Philadelphia, was detained by #Florida authorities and flagged for deportation after a request from #ICE, according to a lawsuit.
To #FBA, #trump https://t.co/ZTfLMpyn8v
(https://x.com/BmbEmpower/status/1882284178990903560?t=SXteQQXgB57piTrB3B2p6Q&s=03)
Childless Cat Lady for VP Kamala Harris (@thefreaknlady08) posted at 10:27 AM on Thu, Jan 23, 2025:
THIS. What people in general, but specifically, non-Black folks fail to realize, when something helps Black people, it actually helps everyone else TOO. Which, in turn, means that when it harms us, it will eventually harm you too. IDIOTS
(https://x.com/thefreaknlady08/status/1882465275951321585?t=S-bMRsmAx8ugPXoqE_Pa7g&s=03)
Longtime Black Man Here (@groove_sdc) posted at 1:40 PM on Thu, Jan 23, 2025:
The Black lives being impacted through federal discrimination practices being rescinded, the decimation of diversity initiatives and the unleashing of unchecked police power is never enough for these folks.
Can’t muster an inkling to care.
We always reap what they sow.
(https://x.com/groove_sdc/status/1882513712835399930?t=iYLauETtX5QTs0pTP7RY2A&s=03)
Dr. Allison Wiltz (@queenie4rmnola) posted at 9:03 AM on Thu, Jan 23, 2025:
Study the Reconstruction Era. Then, you will know precisely how white backlash operates in America. Any racial progress or even too much noise about potential progress will be followed by White people using the law and violence to suppress racial progress.
(https://x.com/queenie4rmnola/status/1882443971953361224?t=dwg6QUe-euQRyVjukkZrTw&s=03)
I have said this for a long time.
So many on the left resent…completely resent the right-wing grift machine. They long for one on the left. I’m glad that she actually admits it…because too many just talk around it, but, yeah, they want the equivalent to the right-wing grift machine and are mad that Democrats won’t fund one.
Saw this on Bluesky:
Kaitlin Has Had Enough
Deep down I really resent the way that Republicans have invested in their online presence, their commentators, bloggers, and messaging platforms to the point where Curtis Yarvin is a fucking thought leader, but I’m terrified that I won’t be able to make rent next month.
https://bsky.app/profile/gothamgirlblue.com/post/3lgggbeqbs22s
Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊