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UJ
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President Donald Trump commemorated Black History Month with a reception at the White House on Thursday, where he discussed plans for placing statues of Black American heroes in a new sculpture garden dedicated to American history.
However, the event, which featured a special appearance by Tiger Woods, contradicted much of the administration’s actions during the first month of Trump’s second term.
While the reception took place, UJ reported that CQ Brown, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and a Black man, is among the generals the Trump administration might soon dismiss—partially due to their advocacy for diversity.
In the current government, the term “diversity” has become controversial. Initiatives from the Civil Rights era promoting equal employment opportunities have been revoked, and some of the first federal workers to be laid off were those striving to make the government’s workforce reflective of the nation’s diversity.
There are concerns about how Trump’s initiative to ban “radical indoctrination” in schools could impact education on topics such as African American history. During the Thursday reception, he criticized the New York Times’ 1619 Project, which aims to recontextualize U.S. history around the legacy of slavery.
The administration has endorsed notions of “reverse racism” to eliminate diversity programs at federally-funded colleges and universities.
This creates a chilling effect on how the contributions of African Americans and other racial minorities are recognized and influences hiring practices across governmental, educational, and business sectors.
More critically, while Trump celebrates Black History Month at the White House, much of his administration has prohibited such celebrations elsewhere.
On January 31, Trump proclaimed February to be Black History Month, as it has been recognized since 1976 during America’s bicentennial.
Coinciding with Trump’s proclamation, the Department of Defense announced that it deemed “Identity Months” obsolete.
Subsequently, in February, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sought to reshape the nation’s military.
“I believe the phrase ‘our diversity is our strength’ is one of the dumbest expressions in military history,” Hegseth stated during a town hall at the Pentagon.
This perspective is a departure from the integration of the military post-World War II under President Harry Truman, which was a crucial milestone in the Civil Rights Movement.
Hegseth has also disparaged the qualifications of senior military leaders, including Brown.
On February 1, the inaugural day of Black History Month, Treasury Secretary Sean Duffy tweeted a prohibition on “celebrations based on immutable traits or any identity-based observances,” claiming they “do nothing to ensure planes are airborne, trains are on track, or ports and highways are secure.”
His statement echoed Trump’s argument made in the wake of a tragic incident involving American Airlines Flight 5342 and a US Army Blackhawk helicopter over the Potomac, suggesting, albeit without evidence, that diversity programs contributed to the crash.
On February 14, the Department of Education issued a letter to American schools, accusing them of violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by discriminating against White and Asian students through “pervasive and repugnant race-based preferences and other forms of discrimination present throughout academia.”
The letter claimed that diversity initiatives impose “unique moral burdens” and “stigmatize students belonging to particular racial groups based on crude stereotypes,” seemingly referencing White students uncomfortable with learning about the history of slavery in the U.S.
The letter also stated that schools have “toxically indoctrinated students with the inaccurate claim that the United States is founded on ‘systemic and structural racism.’” It aims to enforce a 2023 Supreme Court ruling that dismissed affirmative action and threatens to revoke federal funding from educational institutions—ranging from preschools to universities—if they do not discontinue all diversity programs within 14 days, coinciding with the end of Black History Month.
Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, formerly a pro wrestling executive, struggled to answer Democratic Senator Chris Murphy’s question regarding the classification of his child’s class on African American history in the context of diversity restrictions.
“I’m not entirely sure and I’d need to research it further,” McMahon responded.
Murphy pointed out that Department of Defense schools had canceled programming related to Black History Month.
McMahon articulated her belief that Black History Month should be “celebrated across all our educational institutions.”
This shift draws on precedents from Trump’s first term. When he was in office, Trump blocked efforts to place Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill, claiming it was mere “political correctness” to replace former President Andrew Jackson, a slave owner, with Tubman, a symbol of the Underground Railroad. In the waning days of his first term, he chose Martin Luther King Jr. Day to release a report from his 1776 Commission, which rejected the 1619 Project and suggested minimizing the visibility of slavery as a distinct blemish on American history, arguing that recognizing the contradictions among the Founding Fathers who enslaved individuals undermines national unity.
On January 29, Trump issued an executive action aimed at terminating “radical indoctrination in K-12 education,” directing the Department of Education to reestablish the 1776 Commission and endorse its proposals.
“To err is human, to forgive divine,” wrote Elon Musk, the special government employee overseeing Trump’s campaign to quickly downsize the federal workforce by terminating thousands of employees and freezing funding.
He referred to Marko Elez, an employee of Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, who was reported to have posted messages on social media endorsing the discredited and discriminatory concept of eugenics.
Vice President JD Vance described Elez’s posts as “stupid” but argued that he should be reinstated because punishing him would reward The Wall Street Journal, which uncovered the posts, a rationale that is difficult to comprehend.
This article has been updated with further information.
