April 4, 2025
By Jacob Collins Dodd
Staff Writer
Undoubtedly, America’s moral compass is fading and shifting to something eerie and unjust. Since President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20, he and his administration have moved with unsettling urgency to dismantle multiple Biden and Obama-era protections for historically marginalized groups.
In the first week of his second term, Trump signed over 30 executive orders and rescinded six executive orders instated by former president Joe Biden, all related to diversity, equity and inclusion. Abbreviated as DEI, this framework seeks to promote fair treatment and inclusion of all people, especially those who have been historically oppressed.
On Jan. 29, Trump signed “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling,” an executive order demanding the elimination of curriculum promoting “radical, anti-American ideologies.” According to Trump, those supposed anti-American ideologies include teaching about the history of racial discrimination and slavery.
An education that erases potentially hard truths isn’t education but rather propaganda. Shielding students from the realities of racial injustice perpetuates ignorance, allowing more discrimination to resurface.
Despite evidence of their benefits, the political right has recast DEI policies as anti-American, dangerous and radical.
Various organizations, think tanks and universities have documented DEI policies positively. According to Resume Templates, a resume-building website and research collective, roughly 50% of Americans say DEI initiatives have positively impacted their careers, citing improved fairness in hiring, more equitable pay policies and an improved work-life balance.
Despite evidence of their benefits, the political right has recast DEI policies as anti-American, dangerous and radical.
As part of a calculated assault on DEI, Trump’s administration is systematically erasing mentions of the framework. Over 294 words and phrases concerning DEI, including Black, diversity, feminism, race and racial justice have since been excised from official government documents, memos and websites, according to the New York Times.
On Jan. 29, a mid-air collision between a helicopter and an American Airlines commercial plane killed all 67 people aboard both aircraft over the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., marking the country’s most fatal aviation disaster since 2001. In a White House press conference the day after the plane crash, Trump proclaimed that the disaster occurred because of DEI initiatives at the Federal Aviation Agency but cited no evidence to substantiate his claim.
Six days later, Trump signed an executive order titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” prohibiting transgender women from competing in women’s sports and mandating the withdrawal of federal funding for schools that do not comply.
According to the New York Times, out of 510,000 athletes competing in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, fewer than 10 publicly identify as transgender. Rather than addressing other more pressing challenges, the order exploits a fringe issue and inflates it into a crisis.
In another reversal of the Biden administration’s expansion of federal protections for LGBTQ+ Americans, the Department of Homeland Security eliminated protocols prohibiting the surveillance of people and groups based on their gender identity and sexual orientation. This will allow federal agencies, including the CIA, FBI and Homeland Security, to legally investigate, spy on and target LGBTQ+ individuals.
There is an art to oppression, and its first brushstroke is controlling the narrative.
When a government starts dictating who deserves to participate in society, history has shown that more severe restrictions are never far behind. Americans must fight back now while they still have the chance.
