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Sunday, May 11, 2025

Recognizing and celebrating Black History Month is as important as ever, despite the erasure of many cultural observances

Nobody is safe from Trump’s war on “woke”

 

BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD

 

Black History Month has long been an opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments and contributions of the Black community. This recognition is an integral part of social progress and the mending of long-standing divisive social conditions. However, President Donald Trump’s dissolution of the Department of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) makes this February alarmingly different from previous years.

The disestablishment of the DEI was done alongside a broader set of executive actions that sought to censor and disband diversity initiatives. One of these initiatives was Justice 40, which aimed to improve health conditions in polluted neighborhoods, specifically neighborhoods with large communities of people of color. Trump even went so far as to blame diversity initiatives for the tragic Potomac River plane crash that claimed the lives of 67 people on Jan. 29.

 Trump’s war on “woke” didn’t end there — shortly after these executive actions, he threatened to withhold federal funding from schools refusing to end their DEI programs and gave schools only two weeks to do so.

Many corporations have also followed suit and ended their diversity and inclusion programs, many of which were installed in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd. Some of these corporations that repealed their DEI programs include Walmart, Target, Meta and Amazon.

The ease with which many corporations entirely eliminated their DEI programs is a testament to the fact that they will always be profit-seeking conglomerates. Their commitment to social justice was performative, and now employees and customers alike must suffer the consequences.

The Department of Defense (DoD) sent out a press release on Jan. 31 titled “Identity Months Dead at DoD,” outlining their refusal to celebrate any kind of cultural awareness month. The cultural awareness months no longer being celebrated include, but are not limited to: Black History Month, Women’s History Month, National Arab American Heritage Month, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, National Hispanic Heritage Month and Pride Month.

The American Civil Liberties Union discussed the Trump Administration’s goals, describing them as “the eradication of all programs designed to address profound and persistent inequalities in American life — with the effect of further entrenching, and indeed worsening, systemic inequalities in access to education, health care, and economic opportunity.”

To some, the ending of DEI may seem inconsequential, as though DEI was a governmental department exorbitantly wasting taxpayer dollars. This mindset is extremely dangerous, and it is important to recognize that Jim Crow laws ended only 61 years ago. Many people alive today have experienced a world that subjugated people of color to a lesser than existence, and even today, the remnants of systemic oppression persist.

Now more than ever, it’s critical to recognize the ways in which a system that wasn’t designed for equality is no longer serving us. Although advocacy may seem futile in the Trump era, complacency is violence.

The Editorial Board encourages you to support Black-owned businesses and inform yourself about Black History and Black Futures Month this February. You can find more information online about which companies are still maintaining and bolstering their DEI programs in order to be a more ethical consumer.

 

The Editorial Board recognizes the stark underrepresentation of Black Americans in newsrooms. While we offer opinions in this editorial surrounding Black History Month, we recognize the ways in which privilege may cause our perspectives to fall short.

 

Written by: The Editorial Board

 

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