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Day 53: January 22, 2025

Gutting a 60-Year Old Civil Rights Order

Day 53: January 22, 2025

While most of the orders and policies that Trump rescinded in his opening act were those of the Biden Administration, one order he eviscerated goes back 60 years—to the LBJ presidency, and the heart of the civil rights era.

Consistent with the newly passed Civil Rights Act of 1964, LBJ signed this order in 1965, which prohibited federal contractors “from discriminating in employment decisions on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.” While Trump and his allies frame their actions as stopping some new wave of “DEI”, this 60-year old order was adhered to by “five GOP presidents—including Trump during his first term.” (Axios). It’s been at the heart of progress in civil rights ever since its signing.

Now, it’s gone.

And in a true warping of the role of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the new acting chair said she will use the EEOC to “root[] out unlawful DEI-motivated race and sex discrimination.”

That’s right—while the EEOC’s historic mission has been to root out workplace discrimination against women and racial minorities, its new mission will be to punish efforts to remedy that past and ongoing discrimination.

Paid for by the Hancock County Democratic Committee

P.O. Box 3

Findlay, Ohio 45839-0003

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