Read Between Lines and Lies

Read Between the Lines: GOP’s Rhetoric on DEI and Civil Rights

They say they want to “include everyone,” but it’s just manipulation at its finest. Using rhetoric designed to sound inclusive while stripping away the very things that ensure equity. Take Trump’s executive order, for instance, labeling DEI initiatives as illegal while boldly claiming they’re “protecting civil rights and expanding individual opportunity.” Seriously? That’s some twisted doublespeak if I’ve ever heard it.

Let’s be blunt: this narrative is a deliberate manipulation of racism, designed to gaslight America into believing white people are somehow oppressed. By calling DEI and affirmative action discriminatory, Trump’s administration is rewriting history, conveniently forgetting why those initiatives were created in the first place.

These programs weren’t plucked out of thin air—they were born out of necessity because, for centuries, people of color were deliberately excluded from opportunities by racist systems upheld by white men. Those same men decided people of color weren’t “fit” for positions in the workplace, education, or government. DEI and affirmative action were solutions to a problem rooted in historical and systemic racism, yet here we are being told they’re the problem.

The Bias We All Know Exists

Why were civil rights protections introduced in the first place? Because people of color were enslaved, segregated, disenfranchised, and systematically excluded. Let’s not pretend bias doesn’t exist. If humans were magically free of prejudice, to keep it simple, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation or any history of such.

Affirmative action and DEI was designed to address lingering inequities because history has proven time and again that many people can’t—or won’t—check their biases. They had their opportunity to hire based on merit and they didn’t.

So, when Trump, his band of political misfits, and their supporters call these initiatives “illegal” and “discriminatory,” cloaking it all in pretty language to make it seem virtuous, let’s be real: they’re outrageously wrong.

The Waiting Game

I urge everyone to take a step back and wait for the results to roll in. Let’s see if this so-called “merit-based” system truly operates on merit. The responsibility now lies with employers, both public and private, to prove whether discrimination still persists in the workplace.

Until then, good night and good luck.