By Eddie Martin, Jr. 

In just over three months, the Trump Administration has launched a sweeping and coordinated attack on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) across nearly every level of government. The administration seeks to dismantle the infrastructure that ensures equity, fairness, and justice through misinformation and public policy, while systemically co-opting the very language and tools used to pursue and silencing the voices DEIA was designed to uplift and protect. 

This is a defining moment in the history of the U.S., one transcends advocacy and policy and is a fight for the very soul of our democracy.  

The Strategy Behind the Attack 

It took less than 100 days for the administration’s agenda to go mainstream. Federal agencies are rescinding executive orders that once required equity assessments across the design and implementation of federal programs, and DEI offices at the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, and beyond are being defunded, dismantled, and terminated. 

For example, the Internal Revenue Service has laid off more than 20,000 employees, including nearly eliminating the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, its civil rights office. A staggering 75 percent of the office’s staff has been laid off and the rest have been reassigned.  The office was vital in promoting equitable tax practices and addressing systemic disparities in tax enforcement. Now, critical oversight mechanisms initially intended to stop discriminatory audit practices that have historically targeted Black and Latino taxpayers at disproportionately high rates are no longer in place. If algorithmic bias is allowed to remain unchecked without this accountability framework, communities of color are more likely to encounter greater financial vulnerability. Additionally, the IRS’ lack of equity-focused policy guidance weakens efforts to improve access to tax credits, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit, which have been critical in combating poverty in households with low incomes. These moves could ultimately widen the wealth gap between races, stifle community-level investment, and erode confidence in the government agencies tasked with enforcing fiscal justice. 

At the state and local levels, governors and state legislatures have introduced anti-DEI bills with record speed. These measures ban funding DEI offices at public universities, prohibit inclusive curriculum, and annihilate scholarship programs aimed at historically marginalized communities. In states like Texas, Florida, and Oklahoma, the language of “colorblindness” has been weaponized through legislation to erase the ability to even acknowledge, let alone address, existing racial and systemic inequities. 

These are not simple administrative cutbacks but rather a blatantly targeted plan to unravel the very civil rights protections that have represented the foundation of American democracy for 60 years. 

DEIA Is a Civil Rights Imperative, Not a Trend 

In order to understand the magnitude of what is being rolled back, we have to remember the origins of DEIA. This is not a recent fabrication born from campus culture or corporate social branding. Rather, DEIA is a direct result of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and decades of legal precedent, executive orders, and hard-fought policy reform. It is the embodiment of our country’s slow and painful progression toward public justice. 

It is not divisive to ask public agencies to take disparate impacts into account in their policies, making informed policy decisions and ensuring positive impact for all. It is not illegal to create space for voices that have been historically marginalized. It is not immoral to create workplaces, schools, and health care systems where race, gender, disability, and income are not barriers to thriving.   

The backlash against DEIA currently positions it as all of these things: divisive, discriminatory, un-American. This is not a misunderstanding—it is disinformation that is meant to stoke fear, galvanize political bases, and dismantle protections rationalized as neutrality. 

What Happens When DEIA Is Dismantled 

The effects of dismantling DEIA are already being felt across the country. Educational systems are removing curriculums that affirm the identity of Black, Indigenous, LGBTQ+, and immigrant students and school boards are banning books. DEI offices intended to close disparities in maternal health and mental health are being shut down. In environmental justice spaces, community-led climate initiatives are being defunded and leaders left hanging with no guidance on feasible next steps. 

At the most insidious level, the dismantling of DEIA is eroding the very infrastructure that will be needed to deliver on landmark legislation, including the American Rescue Plan Act and Inflation Reduction Act. These economic resources were planned to address historic and ongoing inequities in housing, economic development, and climate resilience. However, without equity assessments or community partnerships in place, it is highly unlikely these funds will reach the communities they are intended to serve. 

In the meantime, DEI professionals—especially those who are Black, queer, Indigenous, or disabled—are being driven out of public service altogether. Many have been harassed or threatened, or are facing the ongoing turmoil of attempting to do equity work in an environment that no longer values or permits their existence. 

A Threat to Democracy Itself 

This issue extends beyond programmatic loss. It is a democratic backslide. 

DEIA is a direct expression of democratic values: voice, participation, equitable protections under the law. When we eliminate DEIA, we eliminate public trust, exacerbate inequity, and provide a blanket of cover for authoritarian leaders who thrive on division and disempowerment. Public agencies will no longer have tools to challenge inequity, and, thus, will fail to serve the public. This is not neutrality—this is structural discrimination.  

And let us be clear: when equity is criminalized, democracy becomes optional. 

From Crisis to Movement 

More than grief, this moment calls for action. We are already witnessing courageous leadership across sectors:  

• Civil rights organizations and think tanks are issuing urgent public statements demanding a stand for civil rights and equity. 

• DEI practitioners are forming networks to provide legal defense and mutual aid coalitions. 

• Data scientists collaboratively are working tirelessly to preserve and protect equity-related research data that could be destroyed and misreported.   

However, much more is required. 

• We need philanthropy to fund and support the voices of diverse leaders. 

• We need communities of practice to share tools and support each other across sectors. 

• We need rapid responders who are prepared to disrupt the dismantling of policy no matter where it occurs. 

• Most importantly, we need a long-term strategy that institutionalizes DEIA as part of our governance, protected from partisanship and embedded as a human right. 

DEIA is the Frontline of a Multiracial Democracy 

This is not a fight for inclusion. This is a fight for democracy. 

We must stop thinking about DEIA as a set of programs. DEIA is a framework justice, the toolset we use to repair harm, create resilience, and ensure the promise of equal protection. 

We cannot let this be the moment in history we allowed DEIA to be quietly dismantled. We cannot allow decades of social and legal progress to disappear at the hands of misinformation. 

Because ultimately, what we do today is going to determine who we will become tomorrow.  

And that choice is still ours to make.