Trump DEI roll backs: Detroit organization helps amplify minority owned businesses
The Brief
One week into Trump's second term, DEI was rolled back by the administration.
Companies like Target have already removed their DEI programs.
A Detroit organization is working to help amplify minority owned businesses throughout Michigan.
DETROIT (FOX 2) - It is being called a more "merit-based approach" by the new Trump administration as the President signed an executive order to roll back diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs implemented to improve progress for minorities in the workforce.
The backstory
In his first week, President Donald Trump signed the order as a repeal at the federal level. These actions are already leading to companies like Target rolling back their diversity initiatives.
Big picture view
Meanwhile, in Metro Detroit, people like Charity Dean, the President and CEO of the Michigan Black Business Alliance (MBBA), are working to amplify minority-owned businesses. So far, they advocate for 2,000 businesses across Michigan.
"There are some folks who have told us, 'we're not changing," said Dean. "We're going to double down.' So, right now, I really think is the time for courage. I think it's time for elected officials. It's a time of courage for corporations."
The MBBA worked with Detroit to help include more Black-owned businesses during high-profile events like the 2024 NFL Draft. She says as some DEI programs are removed, the MBBA will continue to stay hard at work to advocate for those without a voice.
"There is a wealth gap in our country whether we acknowledge it or not, and it is a racial wealth gap," she said. "Black families and white families—the white families are going to have nine times the wealth of a Black family with the same education and the same income."
It was 2020 when George Floyd was killed by then police officer Derek Chauvin. This led to the door opening for DEI programs across the country.
In the years since, surveys have shown slightly fewer people think it's beneficial.
What's next
Companies have removed them, but the MBBA is working to make sure the progress made over the past four years is not undone.
"That moment was important for our country and organizations to do a reckoning, and that moment hasn't moved," Dean said. "It hasn't changed. Just because other folks have decided they don't want to focus on it, the moment is still here. So I think the question is when you did it then, did you mean it? If you meant it, then why now?"
The Source
FOX 2 talked with the MBBA and used information from previous stories.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
20 minutes ago
- Fox News
A History Of Conflict Between Israel And Iran
Last week, the conflict between Israel and Iran came to a head after Israel launched airstrikes attacking the Iranian regime. In a tactical move, they targeted nuclear and military facilities and their leadership. Since then, the two nations have exchanged airstrikes, escalating destruction in both countries. Fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C. and holding a PhD in Iranian Studies from the University of St Andrews, Nazee Moinian is an Iranian-born Jewish woman with family and connections on both sides of the conflict. She describes the historical relationship between Iran and Israel and the potential for an Iranian regime change that could alter the country's course. She shares her concern for the current situation and the difficult decision that President Trump is facing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit
USA Today
22 minutes ago
- USA Today
US stock futures higher ahead of Fed interest rate announcement
US stock futures higher ahead of Fed interest rate announcement Show Caption Hide Caption Trump threatens Iran's leader in bid to halt strikes President Donald Trump threatened Iran's supreme leader with assassination as he pushed Tehran to end its retaliatory airstrikes on Israel. U.S. stock futures are higher ahead of the Federal Reserve's interest rate announcement this afternoon. The Fed is expected to hold rates steady as it continues to observe the effects of President Donald Trump's tariffs. So far, tariffs haven't boosted inflation much and the job market has slowed, but not cratered, giving the Fed time to take a wait-and-see approach to tariffs and now the Israel-Iran conflict. Since Israel attacked Iran, oil prices have jumped to a near five-month high. Much of the world's oil comes from the Middle East, and if oil prices continue to climb or stay elevated for a while, that could ignite inflation. Along with the Fed's policy announcement, central bankers will release their economic forecasts. Economists expect the Fed to raises its inflation outlook, lower its economic growth forecast and keep the unemployment rate fairly low. Investors will also be looking to see how many rate cuts the Fed expects to implement this year and next. At 6:10 a.m. ET, futures linked to the blue-chip Dow rose 0.21%, while broad S&P 500 futures gained 0.27% and tech-laden Nasdaq futures added 0.35%. Cryptocurrency The Senate passed to regulate stablecoins, or a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a stable price, often by being pegged to a more stable asset like the U.S. dollar. The Senate's legislation requires dollar-pegged stablecoins to hold dollar-for-dollar reserves in short-term government debt or similar products overseen by state or federal regulators. The bill now goes to the House, which must decide whether it will take up the bill or negotiate a compromise. Medora Lee is a money, markets, and personal finance reporter at USA TODAY. You can reach her at mjlee@ and subscribe to our free Daily Money newsletter for personal finance tips and business news every Monday through Friday.
San Francisco Chronicle
22 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Civil rights agency's acting chief to face questions on anti-DEI, transgender stances
WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) — The acting chief of the country's top agency for enforcing worker rights will face questions at a Senate committee hearing Wednesday over her efforts to prioritize anti-diversity investigations while sidelining certain racial and gender discrimination cases and quashing protections for transgender workers. Andrea Lucas, who was first appointed to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2020 and elevated to acting chief in January, is one of four Labor Department nominees to appear before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. Her nomination to serve another five-year term as an EEOC commissioner requires Senate confirmation, though whether she stays on as chief will be up to President Donald Trump. Lucas, an outspoken critic of diversity, equity and inclusion practices and promoter of the idea that there are only two immutable sexes, has moved swiftly to enact Trump's civil rights agenda after he abruptly fired two of the EEOC's Democratic commissioners before the end of their five-year terms, an unprecedented move in the agency's 60-year history that has been challenged in a lawsuit. Lucas is prioritizing worker rights that conservatives argue have been ignored by the EEOC. That includes investigating company DEI practices, defending the rights of women to same-sex spaces and fighting anti-Christian bias in the workplace. Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, chairman of the Senate committee holding the hearing, has championed many of those causes. He accused the EEOC under the Biden administration of 'injecting its far-left" agenda into the workplace, including by updating sexual harassment guidelines to warn against misgendering transgender workers and including abortion as a pregnancy-related condition under regulations for the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. Questioning the EEOC's independence Democrats on the committee are likely to grill Lucas over criticism that she overstepped her authority by profoundly shifting the EEOC's direction to the whims of the president in the absence of a quorum, which commission has lacked since Trump fired the two commissioners. Sen. Patty Murray, a member of the committee, said she will oppose any EEOC nominations unless Trump reinstates the two fired Democratic commissioners, which she and more than 200 other Democratic senators and Congress members condemned in a letter to the president as an abuse of power. 'President Trump is weaponizing the independent EEOC to serve his personal political agenda, firing commissioners without cause and warping the mission of the EEOC beyond recognition,' Murray said in a statement ahead of the hearing. 'Commissioner Lucas is a right-wing extremist who has been in lockstep behind Trump's pro-discrimination agenda.' Lucas has made clear her views of the limitations of the EEOC's autonomy. In a recent memo to employers, Lucas declared that the 'EEOC is an executive branch agency, not an independent agency" that will "fully and robustly comply" with all executive orders. That includes two orders that Trump signed in January: one directing federal agencies to eliminate their own DEI activities and end any 'equity-related' grants or contracts, and the other imposing a certification provision on all companies and institutions with government contracts or grant dollars to demonstrate that they don't operate DEI programs. The EEOC's new approach alarmed more than 30 civil rights groups, which sent a letter to the Senate committee demanding that Lucas face a hearing. The groups argued that the EEOC was created by Congress under 1964 Civil Rights Act to be a bipartisan agency that would function independently from the executive branch. The EEOC, the only federal agency empowered to investigate employment discrimination in the private sector, received more than 88,000 charges of workplace discrimination in fiscal year 2024. Its commissioners are appointed by the president to staggered terms, and no more than three can be from the same party. Much of the EEOC's authority is granted by Congress, including the obligation to investigate all complaints and enact regulations for implementing some laws. EEOC shifts the focus of discrimination cases Under Lucas, the EEOC dropped seven of its own lawsuits on behalf of transgender or nonbinary workers. It also moved to drop a racial discrimination case on behalf of Black, Native American and multiracial job applicants after Trump ordered federal agencies to stop pursuing discrimination that falls under 'disparate impact liability,' which aims to identify practices that systematically exclude certain demographic groups. Instead, Lucas has turned the EEOC's attention to investigating company DEI practices. In her most high profile move, she sent letters to 20 law firms demanding information about diversity fellowships and other programs she claimed could be evidence of discriminatory practices. Lucas has also repeatedly encouraged workers nationwide to come forward with DEI complaints. She launched a hotline for whistleblowers and said workers should be encouraged to report bad DEI practices after a Supreme Court decision made it easier for white and other non-minority workers to bring reverse-discrimination lawsuits. ________ The Associated Press' women in the workforce and state government coverage receives financial support from Pivotal Ventures. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
