President Donald Trump’s executive orders banishing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and practices from the federal government are disappointing and disheartening. However, they are not surprising. As the great writer Maya Angelou said, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” 

Trump told us he was against DEI long before he was sworn in for a second term in the White House. In January of 2024, Trump said, “We will terminate every diversity, equity and inclusion program across the entire federal government.” He also said he would defund colleges and universities that continued DEI policies. 

 So, it is not unexpected that among the slew of executive orders he signed on January 20, his first day in office, were several tearing down and rolling back 1960s-era civil rights measures. He purged DEI from the federal government and the military. His orders abolished more than half a century of government standards on diversity and equality, while he continues to pressure corporations, colleges and government contractors to do the same. 

In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed an order that gave the Secretary of Labor authority to ensure equal opportunity for people of color and women in federal contractors’ recruitment, hiring, training and other employment practices. Johnson signed the order when Black Americans were confronted with violence and cruel “Jim Crow” laws that prohibited Blacks from voting and limited Blacks to segregated neighborhoods. While attempting to correct these injustices, the federal government forbade contractors to discriminate and pushed to ensure equal opportunity “based on race, color, religion, and national origin.”

That now appears to be all gone. Erased. 

Trump immediately placed on leave federal diversity, equity and inclusion employees. In an attempt to be in step with Trump’s executive order to eliminate DEI programs, the U.S. Air Force first opted to cease showing a video on the Tuskegee Airmen during training sessions. After a backlash, the Air Force reinstated a class that included a video on the heroic and legendary Black airmen. 

In recent months, Trump and fellow conservatives have baselessly blamed DEI policies for the spread of the California wildfires, the Secret Service’s action on his assassination attempt, and even for the deadly in-air collision of an airplane and Black Hawk helicopter. They also push that DEI discriminates against white men, but that also is not true. Trump himself has called DEI programs “radical and wasteful,” “illegal and immoral discrimination,” and “anti-white racism.” These terms distort and confuse the truth. No president in the past 70 years has been as hostile to civil rights progress as Trump.

DEI policies are designed to help correct injustices and institutional racism that permeate every fiber of our society, including employment, education, housing and entrepreneurial opportunities. The purpose of DEI is not to take jobs away from white men or any other group of people. Rather, DEI programs were established to create equal opportunities for everyone, including Black and Brown people (Black, Asian, and Latino people and people of other cultures), women, the disabled, and those in the LGBTQ community. 

Back in the 1960s, people from marginalized groups did not have equal opportunities, regardless of their education and qualifications. And that still holds true today.

This Trump move was anticipated by the civil rights community. Just days after the new DEI orders were issued, the National Urban League hosted a “Demand Diversity Roundtable” that was attended by 19 national civil rights leaders. “There is a pressing need to safeguard DEI principles, confront regressive measures, and chart actionable strategies for advancing equal opportunity for all,” said Marc Morial, the Urban League president. 

The president/CEO of the National Council of Negro Women, the Reverend Shavon Arline-Bradley, said Trump’s actions are “illegal, immoral and discriminatory,” and would significantly erode a civil rights enforcement tool that has been essential, “in particular for women’s progress.”

A recent Harris Poll showed that about 81 percent of Americans agree that corporate America should reflect the diversity of the American population and 78 percent of Americans support businesses taking active steps to make that happen. The poll was conducted on behalf of the Black Economic Alliance Foundation, which noted that companies that value diversity are more effective than companies that don’t, and DEI programs benefit all Americans.

Corporations that are reported to be standing by their DEI programs include Cisco (whose CEO has defended the value of DEI at his company), Costco, Apple, Pinterest, Microsoft, Marriott, Proctor & Gamble, and several airlines. Among those companies reported to have scrapped or scaled back their DEI programs are Meta (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp), McDonald’s, Walmart, Target, Amazon, Ford, Toyota, Nissan, and Lowe’s.

The Costco board has defended its DEI initiatives as good for business and said they reinforce the importance of creating opportunities for all. “We believe that these efforts enhance our capacity to attract and retain employees who will help our business succeed,” the board said in a statement. 

But many companies are succumbing to pressure from the Trump administration. The Department of Justice has said it will direct its civil rights division to investigate and penalize private-sector DEI efforts. In fact, Republican state attorneys general have written to corporations, including major banks, accusing them of illegally using racial preferences when hiring, promoting, and selecting suppliers. 

Morial of the Urban League says corporate executives have emphasized to him that DEI is “good for business,” that they are offended by efforts to tell them how to run their businesses, and concerned there are attempts at intimidation by conservatives to drop DEI programs.

Trump’s orders are not the first obstacles on the road to equal rights. Even Dr. Martin Luther King wrote of civil rights progress, “There will be agonizing setbacks along with creative advances.”

Black leaders today are determined to march forward on this issue. Elected officials must use their voices to support DEI. Corporate leaders must speak up and reject the pressure to acquiesce. Some leaders have advocated for leveraging the $1.8 trillion buying power of the Black community and boycotts are planned.

We cannot be silent and complacent as our civil rights are rolled back. We all can and must fight back, regardless of the color of our skin.

 As Marc Morial says: “It’s a long battle, a long fight. But it’s a fight for what is best for our country.”