This Women’s History Month, Make History for Black Women by Resisting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Attacks

   

 The Equation Read More 

Not weeks passed from when President Trump lowered his hand after his second swearing-in before he lifted it again to sign an attack on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in his first set of executive orders. His signatures transformed a favorite of his villains into a multi-purpose tool for his administration to make real the racially charged dreams of his campaign and Project 2025. This tool is a magic wand he armed his administration with: portable, powerful, and to be whipped out to inflict pain and assign blame.

As families and communities mourned the loss of loved ones in a mid-air plane collision in Washington, DC, and the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Maryland in early 2025, the president and some of his supporters blamed Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

The wand had been pointed and disinformation sprung to life.

As he gutted legal protections civil rights laws afforded historically marginalized people, and that were gained through the blood and tears of pioneers like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., historical monuments honoring the achievements of Black achievers have come under attack. President Trump’s executive orders unleashed a forceful new discriminatory mandate; he commanded federal workers to point out policies, handbooks, and emails so that offending words like “inclusion” or “women” could be identified and eliminated. Federal workers were even encouraged to point their tool at the presence of colleagues, people they deem offensive simply because of who they are. Why? In his view, hardworking people, finally using their talents in positions they were shut out of for decades because of harmful hiring practices, were evidence of “illegal DEI,” and they should be purged. Cleared for re-institution were discriminatory practices, such as those revealed in an experiment where resumes of people with names that sounded Black were 50% less likely to get a call-back interview than white-sounding counterparts with identical resumes.

Trailblazing Black officials, like Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, were gone in a “poof,” with shameless, inaccurate reasons given. In Hayden’s case, it was that she was supposedly “putting inappropriate books in the library for children,” never mind that children are not the Library of Congress’ main audience. No need for facts if you have your magic wand.

Fearing the president’s ire, many businesses quickly capitulated. Banks and financial institutions rushed to strip mention of Diversity and Inclusion from their corporate reporting and board requirements. Tech and retail giants—Google, Meta, Amazon, and many more—fell into line. No less egregious, the media conglomerates that play a critical role in safeguarding our democracy—CBS, Disney, Conde Nast, and Paramount Skydance—laid off or reassigned journalists of color who brought fresh perspectives to the stories they wrote. The Guardian quoted one Black journalist who said, “It so happens that part of their agenda is to, let’s be real, not just get rid of DEI initiatives, but to get rid of diversity in and of itself.”

All these simultaneous actions encourage and enable a glidepath into a future of brazen discrimination and incivility where stereotypes and tropes of presumed incompetence and lack of intelligence of Black people are re-elevated.

For many who study Black women in the workplace, it is no surprise that President Trump’s biggest victories are in opportunity reversals for Black women who have suffered disproportionately under the kind of unfair labor practices that he is looking to reinvigorate. These women, persisting despite inequity across every industry, face the largest uphill struggles in the job market. A 2020 report by Lean In, titled The State of Black Women in Corporate America, examined this, and a 2026 Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) report showed that “Black women lost a net total of 113,000 jobs between January and December 2025. At the height of the summer volatility, Black women accounted for 54.7% of all female job losses, despite making up only 14.1% of the female workforce.”

The murder of George Floyd in 2020 and the national racial reckoning it accelerated introduced so many business leaders to how the existence of racism can appear in the form of lethal and professional barriers that even well-meaning “good people” can have an inadvertent hand in. In those post-pandemic years, the business community began to pay attention to how these factors contributed to greater systemic truths, such as this country’s highly disparate racial wealth gap, poorer health outcomes, and fewer opportunities for Black people. Corporate leaders’ willingness to try to remedy this systemic inequity at work signaled new hope as organizations hired justice and equity professionals to lead meaningful strategic equity and inclusion advances. This type of change was the intentionality working Black women needed.

Employees, customers, and advocates alike pushed for dedicated equity work and for these new justice and equity leaders to have meaningful executive roles with sufficient authority and support that matched the stated commitments of the organizations rushing to hire them. They should have been set up for success. These requests are widely recognized as imperative by those in the practice of organizational development (like SHRM, a top human resources organization), by those who monitor this field (like McKinsey), and by talent agencies (like Russell Reynolds). Like others, UCS’s Chief Justice and Equity Officer role, my current role, was created in response to the collective push, led largely by staff of color whose requests tracked this prevailing guidance.

It seemed that a critical gain for Black women was underway.

By 2021, chief equity officers tripled as companies hastened to perform social justice commitments while cashing in on the profits their declarations yielded. But by the time the second administration turned its executive orders into weapons and attacked equity work throughout the entire federal enterprise, the follow-on capitulation of business leaders helped guide the aim of President Trump’s rampage directly at the roles created to combat regression.

Some CEOs had already grown tired of the vigilance, investment, and upskilling required to sustain equity gains. They had begun to sag under the weight of responsibilities and truths they could previously choose to ignore in days with little pressure to take non-majority perspectives seriously. And so, anticipating threats of another four years of this administration, poof! Chief equity officer roles were slashed or muzzled within multi-priority departments, leaving them with diminished support, authority, and smaller budgets. Black women’s chances of workplace parity again felt the blows.

Some businesses and organizations remain committed to the equity goals of the early 2020s, but they lack the privilege of doing so publicly if they wish to remain financially viable. These groups did not retract support or authority from their equity officers but found creative pivots to carry on. Other organizations, like UCS, that have the privilege to proudly stand our ground in the face of this administration’s threats, have not altered our course.

However, championing Black women’s workplace advancement has never and can never be solely the responsibility of chief equity officers. Black women bring a wealth of talent and experience to any workplace. To cut them out of your workforce means depriving your organization of a significant pool of talented individuals who have experience overcoming obstacles to achieve success. The sustained practice of inclusion benefits not only Black women, veterans, and people with disabilities; it benefits the business and ultimately, everyone.

At this crucial time, those of us determined to stay the course must continue to fight for justice, equity, and inclusion, and continue to fight authoritarianism no matter our expertise. We must educate ourselves about Black women’s contributions throughout history and the experiences of Black women whose work has always been an integral part of this nation’s success.

Find ways you can resist Black women’s erasure in the workplace and in society. Highlight any excellent achievements of your Black women colleagues, as they often go unnoticed or see their efforts credited to others. Spend your valuable dollars with businesses that are resisting. Contribute to as many of the legal fights as you can.

Like never before, affirm the love in our local communities by participating in joyful gatherings or other forms of strength and community uplift, which can sustain us for the long haul. Take up the mantle where those hit hardest may not be able to right now. We must keep our sights fixed on the brighter, safer, more just, and equitable world we are working to inhabit, which cannot be a world where Black women are targeted.

Together we are stronger than the hate that tries to divide us.