Earl Ofari Hutchinson
00:00:01.480] – Speaker 1
This is Earl Ofari Hutchinson with another edition of the weekly Hutchinson Report. All right, DEI -Diversity Equity Inclusion I love that. An acronym Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Some may remember the old affirmative action, how ultra conservatives went after that tooth and nail and did everything they could to get rid of it.
[00:00:22.960] – Speaker 1
Well, okay, now the new boogeyman is diversity, equity and inclusion. Trump has said over and over again it’s going, going, I’m going to get rid of it. As a matter of fact, let me read exactly what he said. He said, I am going to do everything in my power now as president to eliminate programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion. Trump is serious.
[00:00:52.570] – Speaker 1
Trump is dead serious about that. He made a promise. He said that all programs at colleges where they require reporting, where they require any kind of anything that smacks of a quota, anything that smacks of including more people of color, LGBT and essentially the old minorities. So it’s been a promise. All street conservatives have been gunning against dei, railing against that for a long time.
[00:01:23.490] – Speaker 1
We have Project 2025, which of course Trump says I don’t know anything about and disavows, but nonetheless, using the full force of the federal government to number one, colleges and university, no reporting requirement, namely percentages of African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, lgbt, women that are included in programs. Two, no special funding in programs that have anything to do with race, gender or same sex preference. None of that. That must go. And then there’s a third thing taking using the Civil Rights division in the Education Department, if there is an education department, Trump wants to get rid of that, using that, its enforcement powers to hammer universities, colleges and other institutions all the way down in the public schools, all the way down to kindergarten.
[00:02:19.160] – Speaker 1
Get rid of dei. Teachers banned, administrators banned from supporting programs that essentially, as Trump says in the ultra right brain wars, students about the ills of America, the racism of America, slavery, extermination of Native Americans. None of that. Get rid of that. And teachers, by the way, as Trump liked to say, like to say radical Marxist teachers, get rid of them.
[00:02:51.350] – Speaker 1
We’re not going to have that. We’re going to use a full force of my office up to including denying funds to university or any program in any institution that receives federal money that has a DEI component in it. And in addition to that, going after teachers and administrators, brow beating them. So all of that is coming into play now. That’s the new whipping boy and girl on the block, dei, Diversity, equity, inclusion.
[00:03:26.270] – Speaker 1
The question is, will Trump succeed? There’ll be a fight back, there’ll be lawsuits and there should. There’ll be protests and demonstrations. Hopefully Democrats, wherever they can in Congress, will certainly put pause to some of what Trump is trying to do with dei, the attack, and also challenging, even though they can’t stop, that he has a right as president to issue executive orders, which he says he’s going to do. That is banning any DEI anything in universities, colleges, upper division, lower division, all the way down to kindergarten.
[00:04:03.400] – Speaker 1
All right. There is going to be a major fight, and there is a major fight within and without the Trump administration over how fast to proceed trying to nail and knock out dei. And will it survive? Will dei, that is Diversity, equity, inclusion, survive across the board in American society? The fact of the matter is this is not just a white male country.
[00:04:31.320] – Speaker 1
It’s a diverse country. And that must be reflected in every area of life, and particularly institutional life. Trump needs to be reminded of something else. We’re taxpayers. You have tens of millions of people that are not white, that are not male, and they’re not privileged.
[00:04:47.460] – Speaker 1
They have a right to. To diversity, equity, and inclusion. What are you gonna do about them? What are you gonna do about them? That’s something that has to be brought into the equation.
[00:04:57.320] – Speaker 1
All right, the attack on DEI. We asked a question. Will Trump succeed? Yes. No.
[00:05:03.450] – Speaker 1
Maybe. Maybe not. Time will tell. I’m Earl Ofari Hutchinson. You’ve been watching and listening to another edition of the Hutchinson Report.