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Colorblind: Trump Assassinates DEI [1]
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Date: 2025-01-25
Let’s get real. Here’s the myth: if someone in a job is White, their being hired was obviously based on merit. If someone in a job is a Person of Color, they were only hired because of a DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) mandate—and they took a job that should have gone to a White person because, in this mindset, any job worth having should only go to Whites. The ugly truth in this scenario is that “merit” is often defined by being White, especially when a White person and a Person of Color are vying for the same job.
How do I know this to be true? When I was 15 years old and eating dinner with my family, this very discussion arose around the kitchen table. My mother asked me, “If you and a Black person were applying for the same job, who should get it?” I replied, “The person who is the most qualified.” My answer did not go down well. As the discussion—or rather, argument—continued, it became clear that I should get the job simply because I was White. Sixty years have passed, and we have elected leaders who perpetuate the same racist ideology my mother and stepfather espoused. Many people today continue to harbor these beliefs, often cloaked in rhetoric about “merit” and “fairness.” And I can assure you that there are many people today who are just as racist as Trump. And to frame this discussion regarding racism, the only thing that I can say about myself is that “I am less racist than some.” Others will have to say how much or little.
The truth is that if you are White and living in America, you were raised—or are being raised—to be a racist. You were taught, explicitly or implicitly, to believe that Whites are superior to People of Color simply because of skin color. Sometimes, this teaching is explicit, as it was during that discussion at my kitchen table. More often, it is implicit, woven into the fabric of societal norms and assumptions. And when someone suggests that we might harbor racist attitudes, we usually respond defensively, rejecting both the premise and the messenger. This defensiveness is what Dr. Robin DiAngelo explored in her book “White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism.” If she’s wrong, why did Texas, in 2021, pass legislation prohibiting schools from teaching that slavery and racism were foundational to the United States? Without slavery, the South—and specifically “King Cotton” Texas—would not have developed the massive economy that was foundational to the entire nation.
Florida has gone even further, distorting the treatment of slaves in America so grotesquely that volunteer “freedom schools” have sprung up in the state to teach Black history and counter the whitewashed narrative. These schools meet on Saturdays or during the summer to ensure children learn the truth about their heritage. (Source:
https://baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2023/08/09/freedom-schools-launching-to-teach-black-history-in-florida)
In the spirit of actions taken by these two states, on January 21, 2025, Trump issued this Executive Order: “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity” (See
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-illegal-discrimination-and-restoring-merit-based-opportunity/) Despite this remarkable and effective reframing by the radical right of reality, truth in advertising requires providing an accurate title: “Ending Opportunity for All and Restoring Discrimination.” It appears to revoke everything adopted by the federal government and required of their contractors regarding hiring since 1965, including revoking Lyndon Johnson’s “Executive Order 11246 of September 24, 1965 (Equal Employment Opportunity).” If the order was not enough, Trump also published a “fact” sheet. (See
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/2025/01/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-protects-civil-rights-and-merit-based-opportunity-by-ending-illegal-dei/)
This fact sheet asserts that Trump’s Executive Order “faithfully advances the Constitution’s promise of colorblind equality before the law,” except the Constitution does not promise “colorblind equality before the law.” As Ibram X. Kendi wrote, “Colorblindness is not a solution to racism. It’s a tool of racism,” and therefore a tool of White Supremacy.
DEI emerged out of the Civil Rights movement, beginning as Affirmative Action, a concept eviscerated by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2023 when it ruled against the race-conscious admissions policies of Harvard College and the University of North Carolina. The Court’s decision claimed that these policies violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Ironically, these same laws were originally intended to support the very people now being disadvantaged by their reinterpretation.
James Carville said, “It’s about the economy, stupid.” With Trump, “It’s about race, stupid.” Our Supreme Commander is the leading proponent of White Supremacy despite how he wraps his actions in his mantra, “Make America Great Again,” which is code language for so many things, including “Make America White Again.”
In his first administration, he lost it over the publication of the “1619 Project,” which asserted that the founding of America was founded on slavery long before 1776. At a White House Conference on American History on September 17, 2020, he said, “The 1619 Project and the crusade against American history is toxic propaganda, ideological poison that, if not removed, will dissolve the civic bonds.” (Source:
https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-white-house-conference-american-history/)
Trump also railed against Critical Race Theory (CRT). He said in June 2021, “Critical Race Theory is a form of child abuse. It’s a form of psychological abuse.” (Source:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackbrewster/2021/06/18/trump-says-critical-race-theory-borders-on-psychological-abuse/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)
Trump would say that those damn “uppity” Black journalists (i.e., Nikole Hannah-Jones, April Ryan, et al.), historians (i.e., Isabel Wilkerson, Ibram X. Kendi, et al.), legal scholars (i.e., Kimberlé Crenshaw, Derrick Bell, Richard Delgado, et al.), and social commentators (i.e., Ta-Nehisi Coates, Michael Eric Dyson, et al.) are trying to ruin America. Of course, what they are really doing is telling the truth about White Supremacy.
Why did conservatives wage a take-no-prisoners war on CRT? They did so because it revealed inconvenient truths. The theory explains the following.
1 Systemic Racism: Racism is not just about individual interactions but is embedded in societal structures and institutions such as education, housing, healthcare, the legal system, and the workplace.
2 Intersectionality: The experience of oppression or privilege is shaped by identities that intersect, like race, gender, class, and sexuality, which multiplies oppression or privilege.
3 Critique of Neutrality and Meritocracy: Laws and institutions are not inherently neutral. They can perpetuate inequality, even if unintentionally. Meritocracy is infected with unseen privilege.
4 Centering Marginalized Voices: You can’t understand or even imagine systemic racism if you are White because of the privilege that identity confers compared to People of Color. You can gain insight if you are willing to listen to the lived experiences of marginalized groups as they talk about the pervasiveness of racial inequality without dismissing them or making excuses.
And now Trump has destroyed DEI within the federal government, eager to give all those “Black jobs” to Whites based upon an imaginary meritocracy, the one that placed incompetent and unqualified Pete Hegseth as the Secretary of the Department of Defense. The Peter Principle could not have imagined this. This is the Trump Principle, which discounts competence and despises expertise. Finally, Trump is not very colorblind. His new cabinet has three People of Color (14%), Biden’s had twelve (55%). In 2023, People of Color, including Hispanics, make up roughly 42% of the population. Trump’s cabinet is not America; it’s White Supremacy.
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