Within one week of taking office, President Donald Trump has repealed one of the most impactful executive orders in U.S. history.
On June 4, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson stood before a class of graduating seniors at the historic Howard University in Washington, D.C. Johnson delivered an address designed to pave a new forward for citizens of the United States of America, particularly Black Americans. As he put it, all citizens regardless of race, ethnicity, gender or social class “must have the ability to walk through” the “gates of opportunity.”
“Thus it is not enough just to open the gates of opportunity. All our citizens must have the ability to walk through those gates,” he said. “This is the next and the more profound stage of the battle for civil rights. We seek not just freedom but opportunity. We seek not just legal equity but human ability, not just equality as a right and a theory but equality as a fact and equality as a result.”
Less than four months after addressing the next collection of change makers at The Mecca, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Executive Order 11246, best known as the Equal Employment Act of 1965. The executive order established “requirements for non-discriminatory practices in hiring and employment on the part of U.S. government contractors.”
“Today, Executive Order 11246, as amended, has further strengthened over the years. It remains a major safeguard, protecting the rights of workers employed by federal contractors – which includes approximately one-fifth of the U.S. labor force – to remain free from discrimination on the basis of their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin, and open the doors of opportunity through its affirmative action provisions,” a statement posted to the U.S. Department of Labor’s website reads.
Nearly 60 years after Johnson put his pen to Executive Order 11246, Donald Trump has used his pen to erase it. On Wednesday, January 22, 2025, Trump signed an executive order revoking Executive Order 11246.
“Yet today, roughly 60 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, critical and influential institutions of American society, including the Federal Government, major corporations, financial institutions, the medical industry, large commercial airlines, law enforcement agencies, and institutions of higher education have adopted and actively use dangerous, demeaning, and immoral race- and sex-based preferences under the guise of so-called “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) or “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” (DEIA) that can violate the civil-rights laws of this Nation,” a statement posted to the White House website reads.
“Illegal DEI and DEIA policies not only violate the text and spirit of our longstanding Federal civil-rights laws, they also undermine our national unity, as they deny, discredit, and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence, and individual achievement in favor of an unlawful, corrosive, and pernicious identity-based spoils system.”
Several members of Congress, including Representative Ilhan Omar, have condemned Trump’s actions. In a statement, Omar called it “blatant abuse of power.”
“The blatant abuse of power by Donald Trump to end decades of diversity and affirmative action practices will have catastrophic impacts on women and people of color across the country,” Omar said. The order rolls back the clock on decades of government standards on diversity, equal opportunity, fairness that have been essential in building a more just country. Eliminating these public servants’ crucial role in recruiting and retaining employees will only sabotage our ability to create a workforce reflective of the American people. The federal government has a moral responsibility to right past wrongs and address decades of discrimination against marginalized groups. Diversity has always been one of our country’s core strengths and has only made our country better.”
