Donald Trump Condemns and Cancels Diversity Trainings

By Yousuf Ali

The president of the United States Donald trump caused more controversy on Sept. 5 when he announced the canceling of diversity training programs. According to him, these cost millions of dollars and went on to say that they are a waste of money. Furthermore, the document published by the White House went on to say that these were counterproductive in that they mainly foster resentment in the workforce rather than bringing people together.

According to the BBC,  the document said, “All agencies are directed to begin to identify all contracts or other agency spending related to any training on ‘critical race theory,’ ‘white privilege,’ or any other training or propaganda effort that teaches or suggests either (1) that the United States is an inherently racist or evil country or (2) that any race or ethnicity is inherently racist or evil,”. These points, according to the White House only serve to cause resentment and tension amongst people of different races. The move was done in the name of purging critical race theory from government training according to one of Trump’s tweets.

CRT says that society is inherently biased because of its racist groups even if the individual stakeholders are not personally racist, the fact that they are part of institutions built on the suffering of minorities only helps perpetuate that suffering.

According to Vox, “Critical race theory is a school of thought that examines how race and racism is perpetuated through existing legal and cultural systems. It supposes that examining and critiquing social institutions — and creating spaces for people of color to share their experiences — can help create a fairer world. Examining the advantages white people enjoy in social, economic, and political areas (also known as a white privilege) is a part of understanding and challenging those systems.”

This anti-CRT backlash comes on the heels of Trump’s stated opposition to the #BlackLivesMatter movement as a symbol of hate. These and many of the other actions of the president have been attacked by his critics as trying to appeal to racist elements within his voting base as his bid for re-election becomes increasingly more unlikely