During his first term in office, Donald Trump took a tour of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture and was guided by Lonnie Bunch. Bunch is the first Black American to head the entire Smithsonian Institution.
On completing the tour, Trump praised the museum and its exhibits, which, by and large, emphasize the contributions of African Americans to the American saga. One recent contribution would be that of Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett-Helaire, lead scientist for Operation Warp Speed. But now, Trump and his “munchkins” would likely call her a DEI hire.
Since regaining the presidential office, Trump has denigrated the exhibits at the same museum as being “woke.” This term in reference to the museum means that its exhibits have too many stories about slavery and slavery’s birth-child, Jim Crow. It is obvious that as an old white guy he and his supporters do not want to see what their ancestors did in perpetrating crimes against humanity.
This is why in the 1960s, the GOP, in tight ranks with southern Dixiecrats, voted against every piece of civil rights legislation proposed by Democrats. As many Americans know, it was the national trauma of the 1960s that ushered in a new, great America sans the hideous Jim Crow laws.
Affirmative action and its stepchild, diversity, equity and inclusion, made America great for the first time in a different sort of way. It is obvious that the movements of Black workers, Black families, Black churches and Black professionals led to the Trump administration’s reactionary attempts to roll back the inclusionary achievements of DEI. Former President Barack Obama is iconic in symbolizing the importance of DEI in enabling the success of highly qualified people.
To satisfy his MAGA base, Trump’s administration fired Black federal workers, mostly Black women, under Elon Musk’s DOGE. Also, Trump has replaced highly qualified Black people, for example, Lloyd Austin, a four-star general and a former secretary of Defense, with Pete Hegseth, who was a low-ranking officer in the Minnesota National Guard.
Ironically, Hegseth served under General Austin at an administrative desk job during the Afghan war. Hegseth, like so many white individuals, men and women, hired by Trump can be defined by the term WPU, which stands for White, Privileged and Unqualified.
Trump’s attack on diversity and his deportation of immigrants is an ahistorical misunderstanding of the fact that America is a nation of immigrants. As Abraham Lincoln said, “Immigrants are our gift from God.”
One should reflect on the many American Marines whose lives were saved by the Navajo code talkers who used their language, which the Japanese could not decipher, for secret communications.
If Trump remains in office, the attack on the positivity of America’s diverse people will not end. In fact, last month it was revealed that the 250th anniversary of U.S. Mint coins will see a replacement of images and terms such as “Black Abolitionism,” “Women’s Suffrage” and “Civil Rights” with “Mayflower Compact,” “Revolutionary War” and “Gettysburg Address.” Have Trump, Hegseth and their minions even read that Address?
