On September 22, 2020, Trump issued an Executive Order (“EO”) entitled Combatting Race and Sex Stereotyping. The stated policy announced in the EO is as follows “it shall be the policy of the United States not to promote race or sex stereotyping or scapegoating in the Federal workforce or in the Uniformed Services, and not to allow grant funds to be used for these purposes. In addition, Federal contractors will not be permitted to inculcate such views in their employees.” It also forbids the use of “divisive concepts” in training materials.
The term “divisive concepts” is defined within the executive order as the concepts that:
(1) one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex;
(2) the United States is fundamentally racist or sexist;
(3) an individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously;
(4) an individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment solely or partly because of his or her race or sex;
(5) members of one race or sex cannot and should not attempt to treat others without respect to race or sex;
(6) an individual’s moral character is necessarily determined by his or her race or sex;
(7) an individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex;
(8) any individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race or sex; or
(9) meritocracy or traits such as a hard work ethic are racist or sexist, or were created by a particular race to oppress another race.
The term “divisive concepts” also includes any other form of race or sex stereotyping or any other form of race or sex scapegoating.
I’d like to discuss the impact this is going to have on non-profit organizations and others that work to promote social justice. I am an employee of a non-profit organization heavily devoted to sexual assault prevention education and anti-racist community education. (These education programs are not federally funded, but our organization’s shelter and counseling programs are federally funded. I believe we’d qualify as a federal contractor under this EO.) While I think most of these “divisive concepts” criteria are strawmen Trump pulled out of his ass that have no basis in the reality of these types of education programs, it is my understanding that compliance decisions will be made by a political appointee rather than the grantor - so the reality may not matter as much as the perception. So far the response of the local domestic violence coalitions seems to be, “Well, we don’t do any of those things, so it doesn’t apply.” But I find that less than comforting.
The only guidance we’ve received is to explain on every public slide why we aren’t saying what Trump is pretending we’re saying. I’m concerned for the implications on a society-wide level: If we can’t talk openly about sexism and racism, we’re never going to prevent these social ills from happening in the first place. The only possible silver lining I see here is that the EO seems to be focused on employee training so it may not apply to community education.
Has anyone else had to reckon with this? What are the takeaways? Other than Trump being a flaming asshole, I mean.