Reversing Civil Rights Trumps Anti DEI Assault

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Understanding Trump's Anti-DEI Executive Orders

In what appears to be a coordinated assault on civil rights achievements spanning decades, Trump and corporate America have launched what can only be described as an all-out war against minorities. This offensive, cloaked in the seemingly benign language of opposing "DEI" (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), represents a systematic attempt to dismantle civil rights reforms from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s—reforms that fundamentally transformed and expanded American democracy for everyone.

The Reality of Racial Disparities

To understand the stakes of this battle, we must first acknowledge some stark realities about racial inequality in America:

• Black unemployment consistently remains double that of white unemployment in both good and bad economic times
• Black workers earn on average 25% less than white workers
• The median white family holds approximately $160,000 more in wealth than the median Black family
• Black Americans face significantly worse health outcomes:
  • 30% more likely to have heart disease
  • 50% more likely to have asthma
  • Three times more likely to have kidney disease
• In the criminal justice system, Black Americans are:
  • Five times more likely to be imprisoned than white Americans
  • Represent about 30% of those killed by police despite being only 13% of the population

The Two Explanations

There are fundamentally two ways to explain these disparities:

1. The Historical Reality: These disparities result from the cumulative impact of slavery, Jim Crow, and both de jure and de facto racism embedded in American institutions. This view recognizes that without intentional guardrails, society will continue to reproduce these racial inequalities.
2. The Racist Fallacy: This alternative explanation suggests Black Americans are inherently inferior, and any negative outcomes result purely from individual choices rather than systemic issues. This view argues government intervention is unnecessary and impossible.

Trump's Executive Orders: Dismantling Civil Rights Under the Guise of "Anti-DEI"

Trump's recent executive orders targeting DEI programs represent a sophisticated attempt to roll back civil rights protections while obscuring their true impact. The orders mandate:

• Termination of all "discriminatory and illegal preferences"
• Elimination of programs addressing disparate impact
• Removal of environmental justice considerations
• Return to "non-discriminatory merit-based hiring" in aviation

These orders fundamentally misrepresent affirmative action and other inclusion programs as "anti-white discrimination," suggesting that any Black person in a professional position must have received their job through preferential treatment rather than merit.

The Environmental Justice Connection

The attack on DEI extends beyond employment to environmental protections. By eliminating the "Clinton rule" that required consideration of environmental racism in regulatory decisions, the administration is making it easier for corporations to concentrate environmental hazards in Black and poor communities. This connects directly to the health disparities mentioned earlier:

• The higher rates of heart disease, asthma, and kidney disease in Black communities correlate with greater exposure to environmental toxins
• Without environmental justice considerations, companies will likely site polluting facilities in communities with less political power
• This creates a feedback loop of health and economic disparities

The Historical Context: Civil Rights and American Democracy

This current assault must be understood within the broader context of American history. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s represented a fundamental transformation of American society:

• The Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-56) demonstrated the power of organized resistance
• The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 established fundamental protections
• These victories expanded rights for all Americans, including:
  • Women's rights (including reproductive rights)
  • Disability rights
  • LGBTQ+ rights
  • Labor rights
  • Environmental protections

Corporate America's Role

Major corporations are already aligning with this rollback of civil rights protections:

• McDonald's is retreating from initiatives to increase Black executive representation
• Meta and Walmart are scaling back diversity programs
• Federal contractors employing nearly 4 million people are under pressure to eliminate DEI programs

This corporate retreat reveals how the original adoption of these policies came not from genuine conviction but from the pressure of mass movements and the threat of more radical change.

The Path Forward

While the current situation appears daunting, history provides important lessons:

1. Remember Past Victories: The Civil Rights Movement succeeded against far more difficult odds, facing literal terrorism and state violence.
2. Understand the Stakes: This is not just about DEI programs but about fundamental rights and protections for all working people.
3. Recognize the Pattern: Like previous attacks on "Critical Race Theory," the anti-DEI campaign uses deliberate misdirection to attack broader civil rights protections.
4. Build Unity: The response must unite Black Americans, immigrants, unions, women, LGBTQ+ people, and all those targeted by these rollbacks.
5. Organize and Resist: As grassroots organizations are already demonstrating in their resistance to ICE raids, organized community response can effectively challenge even the most powerful opponents.

The battle over DEI represents more than a policy dispute—it's an epic struggle over the direction of American society and whether we will preserve and expand the democratic achievements of the Civil Rights Movement or allow them to be systematically dismantled. The outcome will depend on our ability to understand these stakes and organize an effective response.

Text of President Donald J. Trump Protects Civil Rights and Merit-Based Opportunity by Ending Illegal DEI

January 22, 2025

PROTECTING CIVIL RIGHTS AND EXPANDING INDIVIDUAL OPPORTUNITY: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an historic Executive Order that protects the civil rights of all Americans and expands individual opportunity by terminating radical DEI preferencing in federal contracting and directing federal agencies to relentlessly combat private sector discrimination. It enforces long-standing federal statutes and faithfully advances the Constitution’s promise of colorblind equality before the law. This comprehensive order is the most important federal civil rights measure in decades:

• It terminates “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) discrimination in the federal workforce, and in federal contracting and spending.
  • Federal hiring, promotions, and performance reviews will reward individual initiative, skills, performance, and hard work and not, under any circumstances, DEI-related factors, goals, policies, mandates, or requirements.
• The order requires OMB to streamline the federal contracting process to enhance speed and efficiency, reduce costs, and require Federal contractors and subcontractors to comply with our civil rights laws.
  • It revokes Executive Order 11246 contracting criteria mandating affirmative action
  • It bars the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs from pushing contractors to balance their workforce based on race, sex, gender identity, sexual preference, or religion.
  • It requires simple and unmistakable affirmation that contractors will not engage in illegal discrimination, including illegal DEI.   
• It directs all departments and agencies to take strong action to end private sector DEI discrimination, including civil compliance investigations.
• It mandates the Attorney General and the Secretary of Education issue joint guidance regarding the measures and practices required to comply with the Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard.

RESTORING THE VALUES OF INDIVIDUAL DIGNITY, HARD WORK, AND EXCELLENCE: Individual dignity, hard work, and excellence are fundamental to American greatness. This Executive Order reaffirms these values by ending the Biden-Harris Administration’s anti-constitutional and deeply demeaning “equity” mandates, terminating DEI, and protecting civil rights:

• Reversing the progress made in the decades since the Civil Rights Act of 1964 toward a colorblind and competence-based workplace, radical DEI has dangerously tainted many of our critical businesses and influential institutions, including the federal government.
• In the private sector, many corporations and universities use DEI as an excuse for biased and unlawful employment practices and illegal admissions preferences, ignoring the fact that DEI’s foundational rhetoric and ideas foster intergroup hostility and authoritarianism.
  • Billions of dollars are spent annually on DEI, but rather than reducing bias and promoting inclusion, DEI creates and then amplifies prejudicial hostility and exacerbates interpersonal conflict.

PRESIDENT TRUMP PROMISED AND DELIVERED: President Trump promised to terminate DEI in the federal government, protect equal opportunity, and force schools to end discriminatory admissions policies, and he delivered. Every man and woman should have the opportunity to go as far as their hard work, individual initiative, and competence can take them. In America, excellence, grit, and determination is our strength.

Analyzing this executive order through the lens of the Moral Algorithm

Accountability Act (MAAA) and assign a compliance score based on its alignment with John Adams' core principle that "Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity and happiness of the people."

First, let's break down the key evaluation criteria from the MAAA:

1. Does it serve the common good?
2. Does it protect the safety, prosperity, and happiness of all people?
3. Does it avoid serving private interests or specific classes over others?
4. Does it align with the need for reform when protection and prosperity require it?

Analysis of the Executive Order:

Structural Elements The order presents itself as protecting civil rights and expanding opportunity, but several aspects raise concerns under the MAAA framework:

1. Scope and Impact: While claiming to promote "colorblind equality," the order actively dismantles existing structures designed to address historical inequities, potentially conflicting with the "protection and prosperity of the people" requirement.
2. Implementation Mechanism: The order relies heavily on blanket termination rather than measured reform, which may conflict with the MAAA's emphasis on careful evaluation of public benefit.

Core Conflicts with the Moral Algorithm

The most significant issues arise in three areas:

1. The order's blanket termination of DEI programs without providing alternative mechanisms to ensure equal opportunity appears to prioritize one philosophical approach over demonstrated protective measures.
2. The characterization of existing civil rights measures as "radical" and "deeply demeaning" without substantial evidence conflicts with the MAAA's requirement for objective evaluation of public benefit.
3. The order's emphasis on individual excellence without addressing systemic barriers may inadvertently serve the interests of privileged classes rather than the common good.

Compliance Score Calculation

Based on the MAAA's criteria, I would assign this Executive Order a Compliance Score of 35/100, broken down as follows:

• Common Good Alignment: 15/40
• Protection of All People: 10/30
• Avoidance of Class Preference: 5/20
• Reform Appropriateness: 5/10

Key Deficiencies:

• Fails to demonstrate how terminating existing protections serves the common good
• Lacks evidence-based assessment of impact on vulnerable populations
• Shows potential bias toward specific class interests
• Implements sweeping changes without adequate demonstration of public benefit

Under Section 4.3 of the MAAA, this score would fall below the minimum compliance threshold, as it fails to adequately demonstrate service to "the protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people" as required by the Moral Algorithm.

The order's approach of wholesale dismantling of existing civil rights mechanisms, without providing clear alternative protections for all citizens, fundamentally conflicts with Adams' principle that government must serve the common good rather than any particular class or ideology.

Through Rawls' Veil of Ignorance thought experiment, let's examine these documents by imagining ourselves as rational actors who don't know our position in society, our race, gender, socioeconomic status, or any other characteristics that might influence our judgment.

The Core Elements Before Us:

1. The Moral Algorithm Accountability Act (MAAA) proposes an ethical framework based on John Adams' principle that government should serve the common good and protect all people's safety, prosperity, and happiness.
2. An Executive Order that aims to eliminate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs from federal institutions and contractors, promoting what it terms "colorblind equality."

A Rawlsian Analysis:

Behind the veil of ignorance, we must ask: If we didn't know our position in society, what principles would we want governing these institutions? This leads to several key considerations:

1. Access to Opportunity

• If we didn't know our starting position in life, would we prefer:
  • A system that actively works to identify and remove barriers to participation?
  • Or one that assumes all barriers have been eliminated and treats everyone identically?

2. Protection from Discrimination

• Without knowing our identity, would we feel safer with:
  • Multiple overlapping systems of protection against discrimination?
  • Or a simplified system that assumes discrimination will not occur in a "colorblind" environment?

3. Measurement of Success

• If we could emerge anywhere in society, would we want:
  • Systems that track outcomes across different groups to identify persistent inequities?
  • Or systems that deliberately avoid collecting such data in pursuit of "colorblindness"?

Critical Tensions:

The executive order presents a fundamental contradiction when viewed through the veil of ignorance: while claiming to protect civil rights, it removes mechanisms designed to identify and address systemic barriers. From behind the veil, we would have to consider whether we would be comfortable with this trade-off if we didn't know where in society we would end up.

A Thought Experiment: Imagine designing a marathon where you don't know if you'll be:

• Born with natural running ability
• Given access to proper training facilities
• Able to afford proper running shoes
• Starting from the same position as others

Would you prefer:

1. A race that monitors whether certain groups consistently face obstacles and works to address them?
2. Or a race that declares everyone equal at the starting line and removes any mechanisms for identifying systematic disadvantages?

Synthesis Through the Veil:

The executive order's approach becomes problematic when viewed through this lens because it removes mechanisms for identifying and addressing systemic barriers without providing alternative safeguards. From behind the veil of ignorance, rational actors would likely prefer systems that:

1. Maintain the ability to identify persistent inequities
2. Preserve multiple approaches to ensuring fair access
3. Include mechanisms for measuring actual outcomes across different groups
4. Provide remedies when systemic barriers are identified

This analysis suggests why the order received a low compliance score under the MAAA framework - not because it promotes individual merit (which could be desirable from behind the veil), but because it removes protective mechanisms without ensuring the underlying goals of equal opportunity and protection are otherwise secured.

A key insight from this perspective: The most just system would be one that both promotes individual merit AND maintains robust mechanisms for identifying and addressing systematic barriers to participation - because from behind the veil of ignorance, we would want both the opportunity to succeed through our own efforts and protection against systematic exclusion from that opportunity.