Generations ago, Black activists battled U.S. segregation, seeing “separate but equal” for what it was — anti-Black apartheid. Today, President Trump seems set on bringing that system back.
First, let’s understand this news. The General Services Administration, following Trump’s DEI executive order, issued a memo stating that “the federal government no longer explicitly prohibits contractors from having segregated restaurants, waiting rooms, and drinking fountains.” Trump’s initial order rescinded Lyndon B. Johnson’s addressing discrimination and federal contractors. But, other federal and state legislative guardrails still prevent segregation in practice. Still, could that be our future with moves beyond symbolism?
Second, the legacies of segregation and slavery are at play today. Schools, for example, are still “deeply divided along racial, ethnic and economic lines.” In addition, some 1.1 million people in the U.S. — including exploited and forced immigrant and incarcerated labor — live in modern-day slavery.
So, third, how could Trump regress modern-day slavery and segregation even further? His recent order reversal supporting private prisons is one way of expanding definitions of criminality to incarcerate anyone outside his definition of the ideal American citizen. His attacks on the Department of Education and DEI are others.
History is tethered to the present. The systemic playbook to dehumanize us, commit genocide, and hoard wealth off our backs looks the same, whether it’s 1825, 1925, or 2025.