Diversity Equity and Inclusion

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is a conceptual framework held by many organizations. It promotes the fair treatment and full participation of all individuals. DEI is increasingly under attack.

Black Faith Leaders Organize 40-Day ‘Fast’ from Target During Lent, Protesting DEI Cuts

In late January, Target announced an end to its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) program in response to external political pressures and as a preemptive measure to avoid potential legal or financial repercussions under the Trump administration’s executive orders cutting DEI from the federal government.

Now, in the season of Lent, Black faith leaders are calling for a 40-day “fast” from Target, urging people to boycott the retail giant to protest its caving to the federal government’s anti-diversity rhetoric. So far, more than 100,000 shoppers—many involved with Black churches—have joined the pledge to abstain from shopping at Target for 40 days. Target stock is already down 57 percent.

Fired for the Fun of It: My Experience With Trump’s Mass Termination of Federal Employees

From day one, the Trump administration has launched a strategic campaign to intimidate federal workers and the people they serve. From my perspective working as the ombudsman for unaccompanied children, a senior career position within the HHS, I observed a pattern quickly emerging: The president would issue an executive order, which was then “implemented” through an Office of Personnel Management (OPM) memo directing agencies to carry out the order, followed by daily meetings that mysteriously popped up on our calendars with little rhyme or reason.  

Ultimately, demeaning and demoralizing a workforce to score political points is unpresidential. Civil servants don’t deserve this—and neither does the public.

War on Women Report: ‘Fetal Personhood’ Bill Introduced in Congress; Trump’s Antiabortion and Pro-Project 2025 Cabinet

and

MAGA Republicans are back in the White House, and Project 2025 is their guide—the right-wing plan to turn back the clock on women’s rights, remove abortion access, and force women into roles as wives and mothers in the “ideal, natural family structure.” We know an empowered female electorate is essential to democracy. That’s why day after day, we stay vigilant in our goals to dismantle patriarchy at every turn. We are watching, and we refuse to go back. This is the War on Women Report.

Since our last report:
—A judge in Indiana has temporarily ruled to protect doctors from being forced to share abortion records with the government.
—Idaho became the sixth state to consider murder charges for abortion patients.
—U.S. District Judge Adam B. Abelson temporarily halted the Trump administration’s termination of DEI programs.

… and more.

Pentagon Reverses Policy of Reimbursement for Abortion Travel—Fighting ‘Wokeness’ in the Military at the Expense of Service Members

The Pentagon’s decision to rescind abortion travel reimbursements—following Trump’s executive order enforcing the Hyde Amendment—has sparked fierce opposition from lawmakers and veterans’ advocates, who argue it endangers servicewomen and undermines military readiness.

Sen. Jean Shaheen condemned the move for sending a message that women in the military “are not as valuable as their male counterparts,” while Rep. Mikie Sherrill, a former Navy pilot, called it “deeply personal,” noting that if she were stationed in Texas or Florida today, she “wouldn’t have had healthcare.”

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America echoed these concerns, insisting that “those who are serving and sacrificing for us deserve so much more” than this “wrongheaded and out-of-touch” policy reversal.

Trump Administration’s Executive Order Threatens a Historic Settlement That Would Have Improved Black Maternal Healthcare

President Trump’s executive order banning decades of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices erodes the federal government’s ability to hold hospitals accountable for their treatment of Black women and role in improving Black maternal health. This is especially troubling as it comes a few weeks after the Biden Administration reached a historic settlement agreement between the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (HHS OCR) and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (Cedars-Sinai) in the Kira Johnson case.

In 2016, Kira Johnson tragically lost her life after giving birth to her second child through a routine C-section at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles. Despite concerns voiced by Kira and her family about her condition, Kira was allowed to bleed internally for more than 10 hours before the medical staff took action.

‘There Is a Lot of Advocacy Underway … We Can’t Retreat’: Demelza Baer on the Legal Fight for Civil Rights

An interview with Demelza Baer, director of public policy at the 62-year-old Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law:

“We’re making plans, discussing litigation strategies and doing outreach. A lot is happening behind the scenes. … I know that this moment feels like one of the most challenging periods of our generation, but this makes our social justice work more meaningful than ever. Everyone in the civil rights and social justice communities is facing attacks, but this is our moment to lean in. We can’t retreat.”

Documentary Films ‘Seeds’ and ‘How to Build a Library’ Debut at Sundance—Just in Time for Black History Month

This year’s observance of Black History Month falls at a convulsive time for Americans. As the Trump administration works to eliminate all diversity, equity and inclusion programs in government and throughout American society, from companies to nonprofits, it’s more important than ever to celebrate and commemorate the achievements and the contributions of Black Americans.

With that in mind, two films that premiered at Sundance are worthy of your attention.

Seeds, the winner of the U.S. Grand Jury Prize for documentary, explores the lives, traditions and history of Black generational farmers in the American South.

How To Build A Library, a powerful new documentary from Kenya, tells the story of two remarkable women who decided to transform what used to be a whites-only library until 1958 into a vibrant cultural center in Nairobi.

War on Women Report: Trump’s Second-Coming Brings Whirlwind of Far-Right Threats—From Executive Orders Attacking Repro Rights and DEI, to Immigration Blitzes

and

MAGA Republicans are back in the White House, and Project 2025 is their guide—the right-wing plan to turn back the clock on women’s rights, remove abortion access, and force women into roles as wives and mothers in the “ideal, natural family structure.” We know an empowered female electorate is essential to democracy. That’s why day after day, we stay vigilant in our goals to dismantle patriarchy at every turn. We are watching, and we refuse to go back. This is the War on Women Report.

Since our last report…
—Abortion bans are driving young people out of restrictive states.
—Brittany Watts, the Ohio woman who was arrested last year after miscarrying at home, has filed a lawsuit against several members of hospital staff.
—Trump has launched a nationwide immigration enforcement operation, beginning in Chicago.
—Republicans ramp up attacks on the FACE Act.

… and more.

This Is the Power-Grab Moment

Trump is not a small-government conservative because he read Ayn Rand in college. He’s a government-of-one conservative: an authoritarian.

What Trump has done here is not just a funding pause. It is a test: Will members of Congress comply with increasingly extreme acts—acts that strip their power, publicly humiliate them and anger their constituents? Will Congress and the public agree that in order to receive federal funding that Congress has already allocated, every single agency and organization that receives such funding has to demonstrate their loyalty to far-right Trumpian ideology? Will the people who make up the federal government decide that the foundation of American democracy—the separation of powers, put into place in part to ensure that the nation would be governed by representatives of people and not a singular king—is worth preserving?