On Saturday afternoon, MSNBC's Katie Phang pushed the liberal narrative that conservative opposition to racial discrimination somehow is racial discrimination as the weekend anchor compared President Donald Trump's policies to the racism of Democratic President Woodrow Wilson from more than a century ago.
After a clip of President Trump declaring that he would "abolish all discriminatory diversity, equity and inclusion nonsense," and that "America will once again become a merit-based country," Phang made air quotes with her hands as she skeptically quoted him in her introduction to the segment:
"A merit-based country." Right. On his first day back in the Oval Office, Donald Trump signed an executive order ending what he called, quote, "radical and wasteful" diversity, equity and inclusion programs in federal agencies. It's unclear how many workers ultimately will be affected, but what is evident is the impact this will have on the government and the country.
She then invoked President Wilson infamously enacting racist policies decades after post-Civil War efforts to curtail racial discrimination:
Trump's actions echo President Woodrow Wilson's then-unprecedented segregation of federal offices in 1913. There was no official law, no executive order -- just guiding policy. But that policy led to blacks being segregated or just summarily dismissed from federal positions nationwide. For example, in 1914, Wilson required a photo from all federal job applicants to make it easier for racial screening.
Phang added:
And those black workers who managed to keep their jobs, they were often subjected to inhumane and degrading treatment. In an open letter to Wilson, W.E.B. DuBois wrote, quote, "We are told that one colored clerk who could not actually be segregated on account of the nature of his work has consequently had a cage built around him to separate him from his white companions of many years." Take a second to let that sink in. A cage.
A bit later, the MSNBC host lamented that, while blacks make up over 18 percent of federal workers, they only make up 11.7 percent of managers, but she did not inform viewers that, according to the U.S. Census, blacks made up about 12.4 percent of U.S. residents, meaning blacks are overrepresented in the federal workforce and are close to proportionately represented among management.
After bringing aboard Professor Shaun Harper of the University of Southern California -- who teaches MBA students all about the wonders of DEI -- Phang soon brought up President Trump rescinding a rule signed by President Lyndon Johnson in the 1960s:
And Trump's efforts go beyond DEI. On Tuesday, he revoked the Equal Employment Opportunity rule that was signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1954 which stipulates that employers can't discriminate against job applicants or workers on the basis of race, gender and other protected characteristics. This is a policy that was paid for with blood by the Civil Rights Movement.
She soon added: "Reversing these initiatives could lead to a huge backslide on progress, but isn't this just the most blatant permission to be able to discriminate?" Harper agreed enthusiastically: "It sure is. I appreciate that you just laid out those facts, right?....[A]s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives are rolled back, we're going to see, unfortunately, higher rates of discrimination, harassment and abuse in the workplace."
But, according to Business Insider, the rule signed by Johnson did more than merely try to deter racial discrimination, but also required affirmative action, racial discrimination would still be illegal: "Employees of federal contractors and some subcontractors still have some protections under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and may have additional protections under state or local laws..."
Transcript follows:
MSNBC'S The Katie Phang Show
January 25, 2025
12:27 p.m. Eastern
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: My administration has taken action to abolish all discriminatory diversity, equity and inclusion nonsense, and these are policies that were absolute nonsense throughout the government and the private sector. With the recent yet somewhat unexpected great Supreme Court decision just made, America will once again become a merit-based country.
KATIE PHANG (making air quotes with her hands): "A merit-based country." Right. On his first day back in the Oval Office, Donald Trump signed an executive order ending what he called, quote, "radical and wasteful" diversity, equity and inclusion programs in federal agencies. It's unclear how many workers ultimately will be affected, but what is evident is the impact this will have on the government and the country. Trump's actions echo President Woodrow Wilson's then-unprecedented segregation of federal offices in 1913. There was no official law, no executive order -- just guiding policy. But that policy led to blacks being segregated or just summarily dismissed from federal positions nationwide.
For example, in 1914, Wilson required a photo from all federal job applicants to make it easier for racial screening. And those black workers who managed to keep their jobs, they were often subjected to inhumane and degrading treatment. In an open letter to Wilson, W.E.B. DuBois wrote, quote, "We are told that one colored clerk who could not actually be segregated on account of the nature of his work has consequently had a cage built around him to separate him from his white companions of many years."
Take a second to let that sink in. A cage. Wilson later defending his racist policies to a group of black professionals, saying, in part, quote, "Segregation is not humiliating, but a benefit, and ought to be regarded by you gentlemen."
In 1948, President Harry Truman signed an executive order banning segregation in federal civil service, but the damage was already done, and it continues to this day. While more than 18 percent of federal workers are black, they only comprise 11.7 percent of management positions with white employees being twice as likely to be promoted to management in some agencies. The wealth gap between federal black and white workers sits at 15.6 percent. And as late as February of 2023, about four in 10 federal black workers say that they've experienced discrimination or have been treated unfairly at work because of their race or ethnicity.
Joining me now is Shaun Harmon, a professor of public policy, business and education at the University of Southern California; and founder and chief research scientist of the USC Race and Equity Center. Professor, it's an honor to have you here. Look, DEI efforts, they date back to the Civil Rights Movement to create more diverse and inclusive workplaces because of the racist history of this country. And just like in Woodrow Wilson's time, what happens in that federal government is often repeated in the private sector. We've seen recently companies like Target, McDonalds, Wal-Mart, Meta and others -- they're rolling back their DEI initiatives. How much do you think that these collective moves -- either publicly in our government sector and privately in our business sector -- they're going to set the nation back?
(PROFESSOR SHAUN HARPER, UNIVERSITIY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA)
...And Trump's efforts go beyond DEI. On Tuesday, he revoked the Equal Employment Opportunity rule that was signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1954 which stipulates that employers can't discriminate against job applicants or workers on the basis of race, gender and other protected characteristics. This is a policy that was paid for with blood by the Civil Rights Movement. And in 2023, white people still the majority of federal workers at 59.5, and men are still outnumbering women 55 percent to 45 percent -- 75 percent of senior executive-level positions held by white workers. Reversing these initiatives could lead to a huge backslide on progress, but isn't this just the most blatant permission to be able to discriminate?
PROFESSOR SHAUN HARPER, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: It sure is. I appreciate that you just laid out those facts, right? Like what you just presented is evidence, and there's a corpus of evidence that's been produced by really credible researchers that show durable and persistent patterns of inequity and discrimination. We're going to see more of that, and it's going to cost the federal government, and it's going to cost the private sector. What I mean by that is, as diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives are rolled back, we're going to see, unfortunately, higher rates of discrimination, harassment and abuse in the workplace. And people are going to sue their employers, as they should, for those experiences. That's going to cost us a ton a money that, you know, ultimately could have been saved had we, in fact, continue to invest in really good protective DEI initiatives.
PHANG: Professor Shaun Harper, thank you so much for joining us today. I appreciate your insight and your analysis.
