Trump's DEI crusade likely bars State Department from observing Black History Month: WSJ

Trump's new anti-diversity executive order could prevent the State Department from observing Black History Month, reported the Wall Street Journal on Monday.

The order is designed to eliminate any diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, programs from the executive branch — a common target of right-wing ire. However, as strictly written, the order goes beyond eliminating recently enacted diversity training policies, and could also eliminate decades-old discrimination and sensitivity policies.

"The new public affairs guidance states that any communications should reflect President Trump’s priorities, which have included the closure of diversity, equity and inclusion offices throughout the government and revocation of a six-decade-old executive order that required government contractors to proactively root out discrimination on the basis of race and sex," said the report. "The DEI rollbacks prompted State Department officials over the last week to seek permission to release public statements about Black History Month as well as other 'heritage months and commemorative events.'"

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In response to the request, staff at the State Department were advised to highlight the "valuable contribution of individual Americans throughout U.S. history, while ensuring our public communications maintain the spirit of the directive eliminating DEAI programs" — which officials took to mean no direct acknowledgement of Black History Month.

One official told the Journal, “The diplomats I spoke to today, with decades of experience, couldn’t remember a time we failed” to publicly observe Black History Month.

This comes after Trump's chosen pick to lead the State Department, longtime Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, was confirmed in an overwhelming and unanimous bipartisan vote of the Senate.