WASHINGTON— Within President Donald Trump’s second term, within the first 100 days, his administration has seemingly taken actions that have sparked fears that decades of civil rights legislation are being dismantled. Reportedly, Trump’s administration, as Fatima Goss Graves, president of the National Women’s Law Center, put it, “The pace of unraveling…civil rights protections has been unlike anything I’ve seen in my lifetime,” is perceived by experts and activists as having done more in dismantling the protections as compared to any president in recent memory. “It is a reminder that we have to fight again and again for those critical protections,” was Fatima’s conclusion.
Actions of the Administration and Their Contradicting Arguments
The Trump administration has fired staff members addressing civil rights issues and is pushing to discontinue active provisions for the Civil Rights Act. They claim to close civil rights offices in some federal agencies and are also accused of overstepping in public activities. The Department of Homeland Security is also accused of overstepping in civil rights.
Education has also slowed down some civil rights cases, stopping some active cases from the Education Department’s use of theocracy. Conservative scholars, such as Hans von Spakovsky, argue that the Justice Department’s “woke” agenda needs to push forward in some areas, focusing on enforcement matters that have been neglected by the prior administration. Spakovsky also claims that discrimination lawsuits should be brought by the Justice Department on behalf of any group, even whites, claiming that such cases have been ignored.
Targeting the Civil Rights Act and Disparate Impact
At the top of the agenda is the administration’s focus on the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Trump is said to have signed an executive order that repealed or amended parts of the act, claiming it “ensures ‘equality of opportunity,’ not equal outcomes.” An executive order also reportedly aimed at “Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy” sought out what was described as Trump’s target, “the unlawfulness of disparate-impact liability” within the Act. The law requires that a policy that is neutral on its face but discriminatory in effect be changed.
The administration claims this discriminates against the Constitution, federal civil rights laws, and what they call “core ideas of America” by forcing businesses to think about race to prevent them from being sued. It was reported that Von Spakovsky said, “Disparate impact is not discrimination.” He went on to say, “What I believe they’re doing is they’re going back to the original intent and the original purpose of those laws and enforcing them the way Congress intended them to be enforced, and them to be enforced,”.”
Perceived Damage and Lawsuits
Reporters cite that no matter what action is taken against this administration, damage has already been done. It is claimed that these activists can point to a single action that serves as a clear indicator. Reporters note that the lack of action has set into motion the disabling of laws that prevent discrimination based on race, gender, and even citizenship in schools, workplaces, voting, and beyond.
If performed unchecked, activists warn that the actions can reverse decades’ worth of progress made during the Civil Rights Movement. Reporters claim that there are more than 200 lawsuits filed about Trump’s executive orders and other changes. It has also been reported that due to the changes, certain companies have experienced boycotts as part of anti-diversity measures.
Access Project 2025
Trump’s civil rights agenda is allegedly connected to the playbook of Project 2025, which incorporates a stealth plan for large-scale federal government reforms and the possible dissolution of certain departments, such as Education. As a candidate, Trump is said to have backed away from the Project 2025 mandate.
Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, a civil rights organization, is quoted saying Trump’s executive orders “are Project 2025 on steroids,” further lamenting, “It’s gut-wrenching, disheartening, very, very tragic for the nation,” and “It’s an attack on the future.” Rev. Al Sharpton, president of the National Action Network, said, “Trump’s first hundred days in office are ‘Project 2025 in motion,’” adding, “These are not reforms. Let’s not treat these like reforms because they are not. They are clear attacks on civil rights many marched and bled and, in some cases, died for.”
Enduring Struggle and Historical Scope
Some see this as placing the situation within a framework of historical context. Sitting Representative James Clyburn, a Democrat from South Carolina and former history teacher, highlighted this is not the first instance of a president or Congress attempting to peel back civil rights protections, referring to the post-Reconstruction backlash in which newly freed enslaved people endured nearly a century of racial violence.
Clyburn was quoted as stating, “Things in this country have never moved on a linear plane.” Goss Graves touched on Trump’s agenda aimed at the 1964 Civil Rights Act and noted, “They’re not just going for diversity and inclusion programs” and “They’re not going for some limited ideas. They will not be satisfied until that compact from the Civil Rights Act, that sixty-year-old compact, is thoroughly decimated. We will stand for it, and we will contest it with every breath in our bodies.”
The Disappointment of Veterans and Renewed Action
Veterans of the civil rights movement have expressed disappointment and anger at the disintegration of laws they fought for, leading them to escalate the fight and train a new generation of organizers. Courtland Cox, a veteran of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, believes Trump’s actions go beyond civil rights and attack democratic society institutions and all Americans.
Judy Richardson, a veteran of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, emphasizes that the current situation is far more dangerous than anything fought during the Civil Rights Movement. She believes that if people don’t understand that they are dealing with something far more dangerous than what they fought against during the Civil Rights Movement, they will not be able to properly stage a counteroffensive. Barbara Arnwine, president of Transformative Justice, explains that the assault on democratic institutions has left people deeply angry, upset, and agitated, feeling like they are being more othered in their own nation.
