As the white Christian nationalist wing of U.S. politics takes over the government, it’s impossible to ignore the efforts to maintain white male rule over the country. President Trump’s cabinet of white people and a few Cuban Americans who support white nationalist ideologies are taking the idea that white people are superior to a level not seen since the Jim Crow era. If you thought Trump was solely about going after Latinos and other immigrants of color, get ready. Because he’s also coming for Black people, the LGBTQ community, and women.
The sooner the country realizes that the Ku Klux Klan created the current iteration of the white Christian nationalist identity in the 1920s, the better off we’ll all be. The Trump administration’s latest executive orders targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts are the most prominent examples of this. With avowed racists like Stephen Miller in his ear, it should come as no surprise. That Trump pardoned most of the January 6 insurrectionists, many of which are members of hate groups, only solidifies their position as agents of white supremacy.
“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” – reads the fact sheet ending DEI efforts
Let’s be clear when the far-right uses terms like “woke” and “DEI” they use them in a pejorative way to target nonwhite people, the LGBTQ community, and women. When you define what woke, diversity, equity, and inclusion mean, you can clearly see what the motivations behind these actions are. So, let’s take a look at them, define them, and address the issue.
What is woke?
Two years ago, I wrote a piece clarifying what woke really means. This definition is what it has meant to the Black community dating back to the 1930s. It refers to being aware of social and political issues affecting Black people and how the systems of incarceration and policing were being used to target their communities. As we see today, not much has changed in that regard.
However, when well-meaning liberals attached it to every issue under the sun during the last Trump administration, conservatives began to use it to attack Black culture and nearly everything that they don’t agree with. Now, the term is a replacement for the n-word and racists use it profusely to target Black people, Black women more than anyone else.
Diversity
When it comes to people, the word diversity is defined as “the practice or quality of including or involving people from a range of different social and ethnic backgrounds and of different genders, sexual orientations, etc.” This makes it easy to see why an administration riddled with bigots is so willingly targeting this. As agents of white supremacy, it behooves them to eliminate anything that provides an avenue for marginalized groups to succeed.
Remember when racists on social media referred to Black women pilots as DEI hires?
“Illegal and discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) hiring, including on the basis of race, sex, disability, or any other criteria other than the safety of airline passengers and overall job excellence, competency, and qualification, harms all Americans, who deserve to fly with confidence. It also penalizes hard-working Americans who want to serve in the FAA but are unable to do so, as they lack a requisite disability or skin color. FAA employees must hold the qualifications and have the ability to perform their jobs to the highest possible standard of excellence.” – Keeping Americans Safe in Aviation Executive Order
While the executive orders claim that DEI efforts are illegal and that the administration is creating a merit-based system providing equal opportunity, what they ignore is that DEI began being employed because “merit-based” meant “white” based on the idea that nonwhite people and women are inferior to white men. We see that as racists often refer to women leaders and Black people as “DEI hires”. Again, they use these terms pejoratively.
Equity
Equity, as defined when talking about people and equal opportunity, “is the idea that people should be treated fairly and justly and that resources should be allocated to meet people’s needs.” That any group that isn’t a white male has any opportunities provided to them drives the Klan, other hate groups, and the Trump administration nuts. For people like Stephen Miller, who can easily manipulate an aging and nearly incoherent person like Trump, it makes instituting racist and bigoted policies that much easier.
“Illegal DEI and DEIA policies not only violate the text and spirit of our longstanding Federal civil-rights laws, they also undermine our national unity, as they deny, discredit, and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence, and individual achievement in favor of an unlawful, corrosive, and pernicious identity-based spoils system. Hardworking Americans who deserve a shot at the American Dream should not be stigmatized, demeaned, or shut out of opportunities because of their race or sex.” – Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity Executive Order
I often refer to modern-day racists in politics as the Kleen Kut Klansmen because the former Grand Wizard of the KKK, David Duke, created an environment where Klansmen no longer had to hide behind their hoods and robes. His strategy allowed him to successfully run for office in Louisiana and normalized him enough to run for national office despite losing those elections. Now, we have people Trump has surrounded himself with along with members of Congress who have no qualms about expressing their hatred for anyone that isn’t a white Christian male.
Inclusion
Inclusion is arguably the most straightforward of these terms to define because it is simply “the practice or policy of providing equal access to opportunities and resources for people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized, such as those who have physical or intellectual disabilities and members of other minority groups.” What hate groups and the Klan teach us is that the last thing they want to be is inclusive. Enter, the Trump administration.
“Pursuant to Executive Order 13985 and follow-on orders, nearly every Federal agency and entity submitted “Equity Action Plans” to detail the ways that they have furthered DEIs infiltration of the Federal Government. The public release of these plans demonstrated immense public waste and shameful discrimination. That ends today. Americans deserve a government committed to serving every person with equal dignity and respect, and to expending precious taxpayer resources only on making America great.” – Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing Executive Order
There are many reasons to draw the connections between the Klan, Nazis, and the current administration. The idea that many of these policies are being driven by people who believe in the racist and antisemitic conspiracy theory known as the “Great Replacement” highlights these connections. Believing that there is a concerted effort by Jews to eliminate the white race through the “browning of America” and that they’re paying migrants to “invade” the U.S. should tell us all we need to know.
That Elon Musk, Stephen Miller, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and many other Republicans believe this nonsense, should be as alarming as anything this country has ever faced. Trans people, Black people, Latinos, women, and various communities of color are all subject to one of the most racist times in U.S. history. Every marginalized group is now facing a new Jim Crow Era where power will be used against every single one of us.
We must stay vigilant as hate crimes are expected to explode over the next four years.
A Word To My Readers
With each passing day and with each executive order, whether it be about immigrants, trans people, Black people, or women, it becomes clear what the motivations behind the Trump administration are. The attacks on freedom of the press and freedom of speech are also driven by the same ideology that does not want to be criticized or exposed. As a Latino independent journalist, I’m aware that this puts multiple targets on my back. But we can not be silent.
One thing is clear, we can not rely on a news media ecosystem run by billionaires as those same billionaires are acquiescing Donald Trump and his cronies. My content will remain free to access and my reliance on paid subscribers has never been more critical. Please consider becoming one today as poor and marginalized groups are going to need access to factual information that isn’t hidden behind paywalls.
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