Yahoo News In His First Week, Trump Has Already Set 60 Years Of Protections For American Workers On Fire
Note: This post is an Op-Ed and shares the author's personal views.
Donald Trump has already overturned 60 years of diversity efforts and equality protections, and I'm absolutely livid.
Before we dive into it, I first want to look at his inauguration speech on Monday. He spouted a lot of nonsense, but one line in particular that pissed me off: "We will forge a society that is color-blind and merit-based."
Even discussing a color-blind society is useless when so much racial disparity still exists in this country. Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related issues than white women. Latinos make 73 cents to white workers' $1. Native Hawaiians are disproportionately overrepresented in Hawai'i's homeless population. The list goes on. Pretending to be color-blind doesn't solve any issues; we need to first recognize these disparities before we can examine the causes and address them directly.
I’ve found that conservatives often throw around the term "merit-based," as though that’s not what everyone wants. But in order to enjoy a merit-based society, we first need to level the playing field.
Trump continued, "This week, I will also end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life."
Well, that's ironic. According to GLAAD, the Trump campaign spent $65 million on anti-trans ads. Kamala was the one campaigning on other issues, like her plans for the economy (not just concepts of a plan). It's incredibly frustrating that Republicans continue to create "problems" and then turn around and "solve" them.
So! With all that in mind, let’s take a look at some of Biden's executive orders that Trump reversed this week: initiatives to advance educational equity, economic opportunity, and justice for Black Americans, Latinos, Asians, Pacific Islanders, and Native Americans. Trump also reversed ones like Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government, which impacted numerous communities.
As a Samoan woman, I was thrilled and honestly surprised when Biden announced efforts to help not only the AAPI community but Pacific Islanders specifically. I feel like we're often forgotten or neglected, and the data backs that up. Compared to the overall population, PIs have lower education rates, higher poverty rates, and a disproportionate number of people without health insurance. Biden's administration sought to combat this with investments in PI communities to "improve health care and education, support small businesses, provide stable housing," and more.
To see Trump — on his first day in office! — stop this progress in its tracks is unfathomable. Who views educational equity and economic opportunity as bad things? I don't understand how someone can look at underserved communities and think, "Nah, you don't deserve better."
But he didn't stop there. In an executive order titled Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing, Trump called diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives "illegal and immoral discrimination programs." He used dangerous rhetoric like "DEIs infiltration of the Federal Government" and made it sound as though white Americans were being discriminated against. On MLK Day of all days! Federal employees in DEI roles were placed on paid administrative leave as DEI-related offices and programs were ordered to shut down.
In yet another executive order — this one titled Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity — Trump rolled back 60 years of protections and progress on Tuesday. With his usual inflammatory language, he twisted the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to argue that any promotion of diversity in the workplace is discrimination. He also revoked a number of protections, including the Equal Employment Opportunity executive order of 1965, and encouraged private companies to abandon diversity practices.
On Wednesday, federal employees received shocking emails stating they would face consequences if they didn't report colleagues whose work related to DEI efforts in any way, per NBC News. Truly dystopian.
It's worth noting that there seems to be a common misconception that DEI practices mean that unqualified people are getting jobs left and right. But we can look at the data and see that's simply not true. According to Forbes, women comprise 25% of the tech workforce and just 11% of executive roles. The numbers are markedly worse for women of color. According to Accenture, Black women hold only 3% of tech positions while Latina women make up merely 2%.
And the women of color who are there report a lower sense of belonging than their peers, according to a survey in the Harvard Business Review. That's why employee resource groups (ERGs) are so important! I'm a co-lead of the AAPI ERG here at BuzzFeed, and I know firsthand the connections they can foster.
Despite all this, once-champions of diversity initiatives Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos have both fallen in line. Meta killed all DEI programs right before Trump took office while Amazon has winded down their diversity efforts, and now other large corporations are jumping on the bandwagon.
Trump's latest attacks on diversity may be disguised as "equality," but they're the furthest thing from it. I can't stop thinking about all the far-reaching consequences this will have for years to come. Only five days in office, and this administration has already set us back decades.
