Irony: On MLK Jr.’s National holiday, DEI is killed
3rd February 2025 · 0 Comments
The irony and cultural appropriation falling from Donald Trump Sr.’s lips during his inauguration speech to a second presidential term on the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s National Holiday, was a stark reminder of the urgent need for action against his divisive policies.
Trump wasted no time in launching his agenda “Make America Great Again,” under the auspices of Project 2025.
On his first day (King’s Holiday) of his administration, the 47th president had the temerity to use the Rev. Dr. King Jr.’s 1963 “I Have A Dream” speech while killing the very values the civil rights martyr stood and died for: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI).
Trump claimed his January 20, 2025, Executive Order: “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,” was “meant to return to the promise and hope…that one day all Americans can be treated based on their character, not the color of their skin.”
By the end of his first week, he’d also signed executive orders, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” and “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunities.”
He’d also rescinded the executive order signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson on September 24,1965, which mandated Affirmative Action in Federal Government Contracting.
Calling the programs “illegal DEI,” Trump also ordered the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to terminate all “discriminatory” illegal DEI and diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) mandates, programs, preferences and activities in the federal government.
He seems hell-bent on issuing vengeful and unlawful directives.
For example, last week, Trump ordered the Office of Management and Budget to temporarily freeze all federal financial assistance, including loans and grants.
Disbursements for Head Start, Meals on Wheels, Medicaid, student loans, SBA loans, Aid To Families With Dependent Children, Section 8 Programs, FHA Loans, and others could become victims of the freeze.
Fortunately, Federal Judge Loren Ali Khan, nominated by President Obama, temporarily rescinded Trump’s freeze. Within 24 hours, another federal judge was contemplating a restraining order, too. By Wednesday evening of last week, the Trump administration rescinded the freeze.
Historians say Trump’s rhetoric on the campaign trail echoed Hitler’s playbook and other dictators who rose to the highest office in their countries through fear of the different tactics, dividing and conquering, and the oppression of minorities.
Hitler’s claim that Jews were poisoning the bloodlines of Germany can be heard in Trump’s racist comment that immigrants are poisoning the blood of America.
So, we people of color, people who identify as LGBTQIA+, and immigrants should stand together.
We, the people who are woke, can’t allow Trump and his far-right – really wrong – Radical Republican Caucus, a group within the Republican Party that promotes far-right and authoritarian policies, to continue to divide us.
We must do what our parents and grandparents did: Fight for our rights at the ballot box, protest and vociferously demand our rights. This is our country, the land of freedom and justice for all. We must come together and stop letting Trump and his ilk divide and conquer us. The future of our country is in our hands.
Let us begin again to stand up and fight for our rights, as our people have always done.
This article originally published in the February 3, 2025 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
