Federal Agencies Became Weapons Against America’s Racial Reckoning

The Trump administration didn’t just ignore America’s history of racial injustice—it actively worked to erase it. Using the full power of federal agencies, President Trump promoted a vision of America that systematically challenged the legitimacy of the Black experience. From banning diversity training to rewriting history textbooks, his policies represented the most coordinated federal assault on racial progress in decades.

This wasn’t accidental policy drift. It was a deliberate campaign to diminish the significance of slavery, Jim Crow, and ongoing systemic racism. The administration weaponized everything from housing rules to environmental enforcement to roll back decades of civil rights progress.

The 1776 Commission: Rewriting America’s Racial Story

Trump’s most audacious attempt at historical revisionism came through Executive Order 13958, signed November 2, 2020. The order established the President’s Advisory 1776 Commission to promote “patriotic education” and counter narratives emphasizing systemic racism.

The resulting 1776 Report, released January 18, 2021, represented a stunning rejection of historical scholarship. The 41-page document compared civil rights movements to slavery and fascism. It labeled universities as “hotbeds of anti-Americanism” and described identity politics as a threat equal to historical evils.

“Viewing America as an irredeemably and systemically racist country cannot account for the extraordinary role of the great heroes of the American movement against slavery and for civil rights,” the report declared, dismissing decades of documented evidence about institutional racism.

The American Historical Association condemned the report as “hack work” that “elevates ignorance about the past to a civic virtue.” Professional historians noted the complete absence of citations, footnotes, or actual historical expertise in its creation.

Banning Truth: Executive Order 13950

Even before rewriting history, Trump moved to silence discussions of systemic racism in federal workplaces. Executive Order 13950, signed September 22, 2020, prohibited federal agencies and contractors from conducting diversity training that included “divisive concepts.”

The order defined “divisive concepts” to include any suggestion that America is fundamentally racist or that meritocracy itself might reflect racial bias. Russell Vought’s September 4, 2020 OMB memo described such training as “anti-American propaganda” that “engenders division and resentment.”

“Training like that discussed above perpetuates racial stereotypes and division and can use subtle coercive pressure to ensure conformity of viewpoint,” the order stated, effectively ending federal discussions about white privilege or systemic racism.

The administration went further, threatening to defund schools teaching the New York Times’ 1619 Project. “Department of Education is looking at this. If so, they will not be funded!” Trump tweeted September 6, 2020, attempting to silence historical scholarship about slavery’s central role in American development.

Justice Department Abandons Civil Rights Enforcement

Under Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the DOJ systematically dismantled civil rights enforcement mechanisms. Sessions’ November 7, 2018 memo severely restricted consent decrees—the primary tool for reforming police departments with patterns of misconduct.

The numbers tell the story. Under Obama, DOJ initiated 25 pattern-or-practice investigations and entered 14 consent decrees with police departments. Under Trump, DOJ opened just one investigation and avoided new consent decrees entirely.

“The agency failed to consider the conspicuous issues of whether to retain forbearance or what if anything to do about the hardship to DACA recipients,” Chief Justice Roberts wrote in DHS v. Regents (2020), criticizing the administration’s arbitrary approach to civil rights protections.

Sessions also reversed Obama-era efforts to phase out private prisons, rescinding Sally Yates’ August 2016 memo on February 21, 2017. Private prison stocks immediately surged as investors anticipated increased incarceration, particularly of immigrants.

Housing: Rolling Back Fair Housing Protections

The administration’s assault on civil rights extended to housing policy. HUD’s August 7, 2020 “Preserving Community and Neighborhood Choice” rule effectively gutted the 2015 Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) requirement.

The rule allowed communities to meet fair housing obligations by taking any action “rationally related to promoting fair housing”—eliminating requirements for detailed analysis of housing discrimination.

HUD also revised disparate impact rules in September 2020, making it nearly impossible to prove housing discrimination. The changes required plaintiffs to show policies were “arbitrary, artificial, and unnecessary” with a “robust causal link” to discrimination—an almost insurmountable burden.

The NAACP Legal Defense Fund criticized these changes for “gutting critical protections” and making it “nearly impossible” to prove discrimination in housing.

Immigration: Targeting Communities of Color

Trump’s immigration policies disproportionately affected communities of color, starting with the travel ban targeting Muslim-majority countries. Proclamation 9645, upheld by the Supreme Court in Trump v. Hawaii (2018), restricted travel from several nations despite Justice Sotomayor’s dissent noting “the policy now masquerades behind a facade of national-security concerns.”

The administration’s most traumatic policy was family separation under the zero-tolerance border policy. From April to June 2018, over 5,000 children were separated from their families, according to the HHS Office of Inspector General’s January 2019 report. Many separations weren’t properly documented, making reunification nearly impossible.

The administration also attempted to rescind DACA, affecting 700,000 young immigrants brought to America as children. When the Supreme Court blocked the rescission in DHS v. Regents (2020), Chief Justice Roberts noted the “arbitrary and capricious” nature of the policy change.

Environmental Justice: Abandoning Vulnerable Communities

Environmental policies under Trump disproportionately harmed communities of color, who face 56% more pollution exposure than they generate while white Americans experience 17% less than they produce.

EPA civil enforcement cases dropped from 2,700 targeted in 2017 to just 1,900 initiated. Federal inspections fell from 14,000 in 2017 to 10,612 in 2019. The 2020 NEPA rule changes eliminated requirements to consider cumulative environmental impacts, further weakening protections for overburdened communities.

The Harvard Environmental & Energy Law Program noted: “By eliminating the consideration of cumulative impacts, the rule disproportionately harms communities of color, which are more likely to face multiple sources of pollution.”

Education: Attacking Affirmative Action

The Education Department and DOJ actively opposed diversity in higher education. DOJ filed statements supporting Students for Fair Admissions against Harvard University, accusing the school of “unlawful racial discrimination” against Asian-American applicants.

This represented a complete reversal from previous federal support for race-conscious admissions policies designed to remedy historical discrimination.

Counterpoints: Limited Progress Amid Broader Regression

The administration did achieve some positive outcomes for communities of color. The First Step Act, signed December 21, 2018, led to the immediate release of approximately 3,100 inmates through expanded good-time credits.

The FUTURE Act of 2019 permanently provided $255 million annually to Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Opportunity Zones, created through the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, aimed to encourage investment in economically distressed areas.

However, critics argued these policies primarily benefited wealthy investors rather than residents of targeted communities. The gains were modest compared to the systematic rollback of civil rights protections across federal agencies.

The Broader Impact: Reshaping American Narratives

These policies collectively reshaped how America discusses race and history. By banning diversity training, federal contractors could no longer address workplace bias. By attacking the 1619 Project, the administration signaled that honest historical reckoning was unwelcome.

The message was clear: America’s racial progress was a divisive distraction rather than an ongoing moral imperative. This federal validation empowered state and local efforts to ban discussion of systemic racism in schools and workplaces.

“We will not be silenced by cancel culture,” Trump declared at Mount Rushmore July 3, 2020, framing civil rights progress as an attack on American values rather than their fulfillment.

What This Means for America’s Future

The Trump administration’s systematic assault on diversity and civil rights didn’t end with the 2020 election. It normalized the idea that discussing systemic racism is itself racist—a dangerous inversion that protects existing inequities.

We see this legacy in ongoing efforts to ban books about racism, restrict diversity training, and attack “woke” policies that address historical injustices. The federal validation of these approaches has emboldened similar efforts nationwide.

Moving Forward: The Work Ahead

Understanding this recent history is crucial for protecting civil rights progress. When federal agencies abandon enforcement, when historical education becomes “divisive,” when diversity itself becomes controversial—we must recognize these as deliberate policy choices, not inevitable outcomes.

The evidence is clear: the Trump administration used federal power to systematically diminish the Black experience and roll back civil rights protections. Acknowledging this reality is the first step toward ensuring it never happens again.

What are your thoughts on how federal policy shapes racial narratives? Share this story and let us know in the comments below. For more deep dives into the policies affecting our communities, visit us again at the Mohawk Valley Voice.