The Trump administration has taken decisive steps to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives within the federal government. The administration argues that DEI initiatives are discriminatory and undermine “merit-based” employment practices. These actions from the administration could reverse decades of progress in promoting equal employment opportunities and addressing systemic racism.
The Trump adminstration’s policy to create a meritocratic workplace, where competence gets the position, stems from the brains of two billionaires whose family histories include generations of wealth. The irony here is that their privileged experiences have created an ideal world in their minds where people are employed based on merit, while the rest of us know that the trappings of merit are byproducts of gender, wealth, and skin color.
I have come across what I think could be a useful question should you find yourself in a conversation with a white person who believes in meritocracy, colorblind rhetoric, and a post-racial world.
Ask them if they would like to be Black in America.
James Baldwin, a groundbreaking writer, essayist, and activist whose works explored race, identity, and social justice in America, said this:
“Every white person in this country — I do not care what he says or what she says — knows one thing. … They know that they would not like to be black here. If they know that, they know everything they need to know. And whatever else they may say is a lie.”
-“Speech at the University of California Berkeley,” 1979
Baldwin names the specific pathology required for white people to function within a society that has been built on the persistent dehumanization of Black people, a pathology he terms “a lie.” This lie is rooted in the myth of American justice, meritocracy and democracy. It is the lie white people tell about America; its history and current structure, the positions people deserve within it, and the vision of equality at its founding. The lie of whiteness is the cultural norm in which white people maintain the racial hierarchy through self-interest, denial, obfuscation, and willful ignorance. The lie is the implicit notion of superiority, built on the idea that Black people are inferior. This notion is the basis of the white identity.
The DEI policies were designed to level the playing field. That was the problem. Trump and his administration want to maintain the lie of superiority and will use the power inherent in their whiteness to ensure racial hierarchy persists.
In the event you find yourself in the conversation outlined above, here are some additional facts that painfully demonstrate the different worlds white people and Black people live. We have never leveled the playing field, in fact, we were never playing the same game.
Economic Disparities:
- Poverty: Black Americans are disproportionately represented among the population in poverty.
- Wealth Gap: In 2021, the median net worth of White households was $250,400, compared to $27,100 for Black households. This represents a significant increase in the wealth gap from 2019 to 2021.
School Inequities:
- Black students are twice as likely as their white peers to attend inadequately funded school districts and 3.5 times more likely to be in “chronically underfunded” districts.
Environmental Exposure:
- Pollution: Predominantly Black communities are more likely to be situated near industrial areas, leading to increased exposure to pollutants. theatlantic.com
Health Disparities:
- Life Expectancy: As of 2022, Black individuals had a life expectancy of 72.8 years, which is 4.7 years shorter than white individuals at 77.5 years. Between 2019 and 2022, Black people experienced larger declines in life expectancy compared to white people.
- Maternal Mortality: Black women face nearly four times higher risk of fatal pregnancy complications compared to white women, highlighting systemic issues in healthcare access and quality.
- Infant Mortality: In 2022, the infant mortality rate for non-Hispanic Black Americans was 10.9 deaths per 1,000 live births, more than double the rate for non-Hispanic White Americans, which stood at 4.5 deaths per 1,000 live births
- Weathering describes how chronic exposure to stress, particularly from racism and socioeconomic disadvantage, leads to premature aging and worse health outcomes for marginalized groups—especially Black Americans. The term was coined by Dr. Arline Geronimus in the 1990s to explain why Black people experience earlier declines in health compared to white people, even when controlling for economic factors.
- Chronic Stress & Health Impact: Long-term exposure to discrimination, economic hardship, and social inequities leads to higher rates of hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and maternal mortality among Black Americans.
- Shortened Life Expectancy: Studies show that Black Americans, on average, experience more rapid biological aging, leading to earlier onset of chronic diseases compared to White Americans.
- Pregnancy & Birth Outcomes: Black women, regardless of income or education, face disproportionately high rates of preterm birth and low birth weight babies, likely due to the cumulative effects of stress.
- Cardiovascular Disease: Black Americans experience higher rates of hypertension and related complications earlier in life compared to White Americans.
Homeownership:
- As of 2021, the homeownership rate for Black Americans was 44%, compared to 72.7% for White Americans, marking a nearly 29 percentage point gap—the largest in a decade.
- This disparity has remained relatively unchanged since 1970, just two years after the Fair Housing Act was enacted to combat racial discrimination in housing.
Below is a video of Kimberly Jones, an author and activist, describing in powerful detail the centuries-long brutalization and fleecing of Black people in America.
