DEI leaders scramble to counter Trump actions

The Hill

04-02-2025

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) proponents are scrambling to find ways to counter President Trump as he moves to dismantle some of the programs and policies intended to bolster their movement.
Trump has signed multiple executive orders aimed at terminating DEI efforts in the federal government, including the military, and most recently took aim at DEI following the fatal plane crash at Reagan National Airport.
Now Democrats and others who see DEI as essential to maintaining diversity in the ranks of government and other sectors are struggling to find ways to combat the administration's aggressive tactics.
'It is restoring barriers to equality, to opportunity and to access. When you take those things out, you are undermining the ability of the government … and you are ensuring that there is discrimination, that there is unfairness, that there is inequality,' Andrea Abrams, executive director of American Pride Rises (APR), told The Hill.
Trump and Republicans have argued DEI is a discriminatory practice that wrongfully employs minorities while overlooking qualified candidates.
In his inauguration speech, Trump said his administration would 'forge a society that is colorblind and merit-based.' He doubled down on this in his executive orders, where he labeled 'so-called' DEI programs 'dangerous, demeaning, and immoral race- and sex-based preferences.'
Advocates have pushed back on such assertions, instead saying the role of DEI is to help hedge discriminatory practices and outcomes toward protected communities noted under equal employment opportunity policies.
'The objective of these programs is to try and mitigate some of the still rampant, ongoing discrimination that's faced by people from certain communities,' said Dante King, an author and DEI proponent.
King added that the backlash to DEI, though years in the making, stems from the last decade of gains Black Americans have witnessed, including the elections of former President Obama and Vice President Harris and the appointment of Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
'I think that there is a lot of white backlash because who we see as once being enslaved have been able to ascend to a position of influence and prominence, to be able to hold this white man — this famous, very rich, wealthy white man — accountable,' King said. 'Black people were brought here as subjects of America, and it was never intended that we would hold any other types of positions. And so one of the things that I've been saying is that white people are okay with the racial diversity as long as it is in the context of subjugation and inferiority.'
Advocates often point to numerous studies that have shown that companies profit from DEI programs both culturally and economically. They have also been working to remind employers that Trump's orders cannot supersede federal law.
As advocates work to spread this message, they've also stepped up their legal challenges to Trump.
On Monday, groups representing university diversity officers and professors, restaurant workers and Baltimore city officials filed a lawsuit against Trump and multiple federal agencies in the US District Court for the District of Maryland.
The suit claims Trump's order is too vague and threatens First Amendment and due process rights.
'These executive orders are political theater, but they're also really dangerous because they attempt to undermine existing law,' said Alphonso David, president and CEO of the Global Black Economic Forum.
Trump, he added, 'is trying to redefine race and its troubled relationship with this country, and he's trying to ignore that systemic discrimination exists.'
The White House defended its approach to DEI in a statement.
'Minorities in America have recognized the Democrat Party's empty promises and failed policies,' said Harrison Fields, principal deputy press secretary at the White House. 'That's why President Trump earned historic support from Black, Latino, Asian, and Arab Americans by prioritizing secure borders, economic opportunity, and an America First foreign policy. Meanwhile, the Left's divisive focus on DEI policies undermines decades of progress toward true equality. The Trump administration rejects this backward thinking and will pursue an agenda that lifts everyone up with the chance to achieve the American Dream.'
Davids said legislators must focus on strengthening those laws rather than introducing new bills.
'This is not about advancing new policies. This is about complying with existing ones,' he said, emphasizing that it is still illegal for employers to discriminate on the basis of race, sex, ethnicity or disability.
But lawmakers have to make sure their work is reaching more than just the streets of D.C., said democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright.
'I think it will be malpractice to centralize this fight geographically to Washington,' said Seawright. Instead, he said, legislators have to make sure they're educating Americans around the nation of the work they are doing, especially as 2026 midterm campaigning gets underway.
'Throughout our history, particularly as Black Americans, Washington has never been the only battlefield we've had to fight on,' Seawright said. 'We have to hyper-localize these discussions and fights because they're taking place not just in Washington but all over the country.'
Seawright added that the work to protect DEI cannot rest only upon Black legislators, such as the Congressional Black Caucus, if Democrats want to ensure change.
'The CBC has always been on the front line pushing the envelope for change, so that won't change, but we have to be careful making this just a CBC fight, because CBC represents more than just Black Americans, they represent all Americans from all walks of life,' Seawright said.
'This has to be a broader fight. I think the CBC, the CHC and the Asian American Pacific Islander caucus, and every other community caucus has just as much of a responsibility to lead the fight on this.'
In some ways, Seawright added, Republicans have to stand up to the president as well.
'This impacts all of us, because every American has benefited in some way, shape or form, from the fertilization of diversity, equity and inclusion to the American soil,' said Seawright.
Abrams, of APR, added that corporations have to take a stance as well.
Meta, McDonalds, Walmart, Lowe's and Target are all among a plethora of corporations to announce they would no longer continue their DEI programs.
'They want to back down publicly while continuing to do these things quietly, because they know it works,' Abrams said. 'We need to demand that these corporations stop trying to have it both ways, stop trying to continue to benefit from DEI behind closed doors. If you're going to benefit from, then you have a responsibility to stand up in this moment and not to be bullied.'
It will fall on consumers rather than politicians, Abrams added, to hold these corporations accountable.
'This is not a moment where we need to panic and feel overwhelmed, but we have to remember what has come before, where we are right now, how much power we actually do have,' Abrams said.