What does it mean to be an American?: The irony of Trump's order banning diversity training
LINDSEY GRADOWSKI: Six months after the murder of Breonna Taylor and four months after the murder of George Floyd, in the midst of nightly protests, President Trump issued an executive order banning federal agencies, contractors, and private companies that receive government funding from conducting diversity training that contains racial stereotyping, scapegoating or “divisive concepts.”
The order lists nine examples of “divisive concepts,” including asserting that the United States is fundamentally racist or sexist, that race or sex is an indicator of conscious or unconscious biases and that the meritocracy is racist, sexist, or in any way oppressive. The administration’s stated purpose is to promote workforce unity and combat anti-American rhetoric. However, eliminating trainings that tackle important issues such as systemic racism and white privilege will only serve to further segment a diverse workforce, who could feel at best isolated or at worse actively harassed by the condemnation and elimination of trainings. Trump’s executive order does nothing to solve the problem of America’s currently racially-charged climate — it only turns a blind eye to a fire without doing any work to put it out, while expecting nothing to burn down.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) sent out a memo before the order was announced. The memo chides agencies for spending taxpayer money on “divisive, anti-American propaganda.” The irony of this statement cannot go unnoticed, as the function of diversity training is to ensure that everyone feels safe and included in their workplace, and American is such a diverse nation that diversity should never be considered anti-American. OMB goes on to instruct agencies to stop using any materials related to critical race theory or that suggest America is a “racist or evil” country, something that cannot be accomplished without rewriting American history and disregarding the experiences of millions of minorities.
On October 2nd, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued their own memo informing federal agencies that all trainings related to diversity and inclusion must be reviewed by OPM before being used. The instructions are retroactive, meaning trainings developed before the implementation of Trump’s order are also subject to OPM approval. Each department has been instructed to send one comprehensive submission to OPM to then be reviewed, a process that will take months to complete. Until then, no diversity or inclusion training may be conducted at all. This order effectively freezes all diversity training and programs indefinitely, with no timetable for how or when they could return.
Critics argue that the order has had a swift and significant chilling effect that spreads beyond the federal government and into corporations and academia that rely on federal funding or grants. Trainings are being cancelled and programs are being suspended all over the country. One example of this is the University of Iowa, which paused diversity programs for two weeks following the order’s issuance for fear of losing research grant funds. Similarly, the Justice Department suspended all diversity and inclusion training, citing the order.
It is unclear when any government diversity programs will resume. America is at a tipping point in its discussion about race, and if there is one thing we have learned in the past six months it is that pretending that racism does not exist will not make it go away. The Trump administration’s order may claim that it aims to unite the country, but few Americans are fooled by the thinly veiled attack on diversity programming. It is by celebrating diversity rather than shunning it that Americans of different backgrounds will be able to unite.
In the end, it is important to remember that America has a long, proud history as the world’s melting pot. The Statue of Liberty greets each incoming ship with the same words, “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” These words have brought people from all over the world to our nation, people who have made America better and stronger than before. Diversity and diversity training can never be anti-American. Learning about fellow Americans and their human experiences, their struggles and their triumphs, is what will unite us. Celebrating our differences, not ignoring them, is truly what it means to be American.