Under Trump 2.0, it’s Hard — But Not Impossible — to Find Hope

In targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion in the federal government, President Donald Trump has seemingly begun to roll back decades of civil rights progress under the belief that DEI discriminates against white people.

By Dorothy Boulware

To paraphrase the American philosopher Thomas Paine, these are times that try the souls of Black America. A big reason is the return of President Donald Trump, and his push to erase the hard-won gains of the Civil Rights Movement.

He fired tens of thousands of federal employees, shut down the Justice Department’s civil rights investigations, wants to close the Department of Education, including its office of civil rights enforcement, and is auditing colleges that study race. He fired the Black general who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, erased the stories of Black military heroes buried in Arlington National Cemetery, and pardoned two Washington, D.C., police officers serving time for killing a Black man in a car chase and trying to cover it up. That’s just for starters.