Trump’s “DEI Purges”? Yeah, It’s Just Racist Bigotry. – Mother Jones

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I want to make space for the idea that some people had well-intentioned gripes against DEI.
Many were told that diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts had gone too far, and some people believed that President Donald Trump was simply making a good-faith effort to rein it in, to curtail the abuses of “woke” gone unchecked.
I think those people are very wrong, but it’s okay—we’ll agree to disagree.
But what has become abundantly clear in the first 60 days of Trump’s presidency is that reining in alleged preferential treatment or leftist overreaches were never Trump’s goal. Something much more sinister is at play.
How do I know? Well, allow me to introduce you to some American heroes: Dr. Robert Henry Lawrence Jr., the first Black man accepted into the United States space program; First Lieutenant Anita Morris, the National Guard’s first Black female chaplain; and Maj. General Marcelite J. Harris, the first Black woman to achieve the rank of major general in US history. All of these American heroes have two things in common. First, they made outstanding contributions to their communities and their country.
Second? You can no longer find their photos on certain US military websites.
In the latest installment of a series in which I read and respond to racist comments, I highlight the erasure of these American heroes as part of Trump’s anti-DEI crusade.
As reported by the Associated Press, some 26,000 images featuring people and events considered “DEI content” were flagged for removal from Department of Defense websites as part of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s promise that DEI would be “dead” under his leadership.
What’s clear is that Trump’s anti-DEI movement is plainly bigoted. The administration’s actions demonstrate an intent to erase Black people and other groups from the American story, and I believe it is up to us to make sure that doesn’t happen.
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It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.
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Over the past 20 years, the number of working journalists in the US has fallen by more than half, and more and more of them work for media organizations owned by oligarchs. Is it any wonder that disinformation have come to dominate our politics?
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Over the past 20 years, the number of working journalists in the US has fallen by more than half, and more and more of them work for media organizations owned by oligarchs. Is it any wonder that disinformation have come to dominate our politics?
But people are standing up to the torrent of lies. The donors who power Mother Jones’ nonprofit newsroom prove every day that there is a way to sustain truth-telling journalism. Please join them and support fierce and fearless reporting today.

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