President Donald Trump has wasted no time issuing new executive orders rolling back certain programs focused on diversity, equity and inclusion — and even putting federal workers employed in those roles on paid leave this week.
It wasn’t an unexpected move to groups that have supported such programs, and one group in D.C. said the rationale used to get rid of them shows a misunderstanding of how they actually work.
“They’re working,” said Khalid Pitts, an executive vice president with the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “Not only working both federally and private sector in terms of having a stronger workforce or a workforce that’s more cohesive, these are policies that the vast majority of Americans want.”
Pitts cited polling that showed roughly four out of five Americans believe that the diversity of America helps strengthen it. He disagreed with the idea that steps taken in recent decades to address centuries of discrimination — both gender and racial — have swung too far in the other direction.
“That’s sort of some of the rhetoric that has come out of the Trump administration — that if this person gains something, you lose something,” Pitts said. “It’s always a zero-sum game. And that’s not how reality is when you create an inclusive economy, an economy of equity and a culture of diversity.”
In a statement to all federal employees in DEI roles on Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “President Trump campaigned on ending the scourge of DEI from our federal government and returning America to a merit-based society where people are hired based on their skills, not for the color of their skin. This is another win for Americans of all races, religions, and creeds.”
But Pitts said it could mean far less opportunity for success for certain people.
“This president showed that he does not want to be inclusive. He wants to be exclusive,” Pitts said. “And we will rally the voices and power of those in this country who wanted a diverse, inclusive society to push back.”
That could include litigation against the federal government, though Pitts said it’s unclear what that would look like yet.
Trump has said the programs that had been operating inside federal agencies were “radical and wasteful.” Conservative activists argue that other efforts, sometimes referred to as “DEI,” lead to unfair carve-outs and preferences for women and minorities.
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