The Trump administration was hit with a major discrimination lawsuit after having cancelled a $250,000 federal grant for a New York museum celebrating Black history, a move lawyers for the museum described as “overt and coded racism.”
The grant was awarded to the museum – the Underground Railroad Education Center in Albany, New York – in January of 2024, and despite Congress having already approved the funding, the Trump administration axed the grant as part of its dismantling of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.
Lawyers for the museum struck back, however, having filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for what they say was a blatant violation of the Constitution’s discrimination protections, The Washington Post reported Saturday.
“[The Trump administration] systematically targeted grantees and programs that sought to increase the public’s understanding of Black history and cultures,” wrote Nina Loewenstein, a lawyer for the museum, in a brief filed in court, according to the Post. “Numerous statements of the current Executive Branch leadership reflect overt and coded racism supporting white supremacy and denigrating Black history in America.”
The Trump administration officially ended funding for “racially discriminatory discretionary grant programs at minority-serving institutions” last September, but has seen pushback from members of his own party on occasion.