𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗪𝗛𝗜𝗧𝗘 𝗠𝗔𝗟𝗘𝗦 𝗕𝗘𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗖𝗥𝗜𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗗 𝗔𝗚𝗔𝗜𝗡𝗦𝗧 𝗜𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗞𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘?~~~~𝗟𝗢𝗢𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗔𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗛𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗬 𝗢𝗙 𝗗𝗘𝗜 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗔𝗙𝗙𝗜𝗥𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗜𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗨𝗡𝗜𝗧𝗘𝗗 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗦

The photo above of the 1949 graduating class of Harvard Law School appears to be made up of 99.9% white males

The first attempt to equalize the work place came during WWII when President Roosevelt instituted something similar to affirmative action, primarily to allow Blacks to serve in the military and prevent discrimination by defense contractors.  Roosevelt established a Fair Employment Practices Committee that was understaffed, underfunded and had no enforcement authority.

By 1960, the top 100 U.S. defense contractors employed 10,000,000 workers, but almost no Blacks.  Employment bureaus around the country routinely encouraged skilled Blacks to apply for unskilled jobs.  Then Vice President Nixon said the problem was not "discrimination," but simply "indifference" on the part of employers.

The construction industry showed a similar pattern with $7.5B in federal grants-in-aid to states and cities for highways, schools, airports and public housing construction going almost exclusively to Whites.

                                 

JFK signing executive order mandating affirmative action

Likely in response to the civil rights movement of the late 50's and early 60's, JFK eventually signed the so-called "Affirmative Action" order in 1961, Equal Employment Opportunity, requiring federal contractors to take affirmative action to ensure equality of employment opportunity without regard to race, religion and national origin. In 1968, gender was added to the protected categories. 

                               

President Johnson signing Civil Rights Act in 1964

                                     

Those of us alive back then, certainly remember President Lyndon Johnson signing an integral part of Kennedy's platform, the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Even Richard Nixon believed in affirmative action, saying: "A good job is as basic and important a civil right as a good education. . . we require federal contractors to show affirmative action to me at the goals of increasing minority employment."

In 1970, the Nixon administration extended affirmative action to include non-construction federal contractors.

OK, so with gainful employment legally required to be offered to all regardless of race, religion or national origin for 64 years and equally to both sexes for 57 years, certainly, by now we have employment equality, explaining why President Trump is pushing so hard against DEI and/or affirmative action hires as those safeguards, now in 2025, must be totally unnecessary.

Let's look at the results of over half a century of employment law.

Percentage in the U.S. who are of a minority race=41%

Percentage of minorities in the U.S. who are CEOs of Fortune 500 companies=1.6%

Percentage of females in the U.S.=50.5%

Percentage of CEOs of Fortune 500 companies who are female=10.4%

Obviously, race and gender gaps in employment opportunities in the U.S. remain huge.  Oh, sure, minorities and women can get "a job," but not one commensurate with their skills and abilities.  

No, boys and girls, in our country and in Trump's worldview, racism and misogyny rule!  

According to Trump, Mexican Nationals are "rapists and murderers," while Black Haitians "eat cats and dogs."  While many women in the U.S. support Trump, he's done nothing to help them gain equal footing in the workplace. 

And now, Donald John Trump wants to curtail all DEI and affirmative action hiring!  What an absolute dumbass!!!

                                    

In a 2024 Presidential debate, Trump refers to VP Harris as a "DEI hire," despite the fact that she has considerably more government experience and education than him.