The Reason that I Write These Blogs
On vacation in the Ozark Mountains during the summer of 2024, I visited a Native American museum. During this visit, I saw an Iroguois painting with these words on it:
In every deliberation and decision, we must consider the impact on the next seven generations that follow us.
I believe that! I really do! That is why I write these blogs. I want my children, grandchildren, my grandchildren’s children, and the next seven generations to know about these topics. These are the most important topics of the present and future.
What is DEI Really?
DEI stands for Diversity–Equity-Inclusion. Most do not know what these words mean. Therefore, let’s take a deeper look at what each means:
Diversity
Are all people exactly the same? Do you attend school or work with people that are all the same? The word diversity acknowledges all the ways people differ from one another. For example, people are different by race, ethnicity, culture, age, sex, gender, mental and physical disability, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, amd socioeconomic status. I do not want to be in a location where everyone is just like me! Do you?
Equity
Unfortunatley, we live in a disproportionate society. Certain groups have historically had and still to this day have less access to things like good education, health insurance, home ownership, transportation, and medical care: Native Americans, Black Americans, and Hispanics fit this description. I have many research studies to prove this. By practcing equity, we try to correct this imbalance by creating more opportunities for such people. “Equity” is often used interchangeably with “equality.” But these two words are not the same. Here is the difference: “Equity” distributes resources based on needs. “Equality” means that each individual is offered the same opportunities regardless of circumstance.
Inclusion
This word means that each of us should welcome, support, respect, and value all individuals and groups. Inclusion in how inviduals practice diversity.
How it All Three Terms Work Together
In my 23 years as a professor, I helped students, feel like they belonged. When I started at the University of Toledo in 2001, two of my professor peers walked down to my office and said they could not believe how many different students were sitting or standing outside of my office waitng to talk to me! That is what feeling welcome is like. It is as if they belonged. With me and in my classes, students always felt like they belonged.
Feeling like you belong at a place infers that an equitable structure is in place and functioning to make all people feel welcome, no matter their differences. I always strived for equity in everything. I think that my students sensed that. That is why many of them were outside my office door. I created an environment that benefitted all students, no matter their circumstance. However, no one felt as if their inclusion was questioned.
The words that make up diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) each mean different things, but interact with and rely on one another. Equity is the goal of diversity and inclusion.
The mission of equity is “justice.” This word means that there is an equitable system in place that works so well that it eventually eliminates the systemic problems of unegal treatment or access. In other words, everything is fairly and evenly distributed to people no matter their race, ethnicity, culture, age, disability, gender, physical ability, or other personal circumstances. Unfortunately, we do not have such as system in the U.S. – yet.
Put simply, DEI addresses the systemic ways that that different people have things such as where they live, education, employment, transportation, food, health insurance, medical services, access to the web, and more. All of these things today are unequally distributed. Trump recognizes this but he does not care.
Let’s Be Clear About Trump
First, let me be very clear about Trump. I think Trump is a racist and there is plenty of evidence to back up this claim:
For example, in 2016, when Trump first ran for president, just about every self-declared white nationalist, white supremacist, Klansman, neo-Nazi, and fascist in the country supported his candidacy.
Another example . . . One of the longest-running white nationalist journals in the United States, American Renaissance, is edited by notorious racist Jared Taylor. In January 2016, during the primary race in Iowa, Taylor circulated a robocall that stated, “I urge you to vote for Donald Trump because he is the one candidate who points out that we should only accept immigrants who are good for America. We don’t need Muslims. We need smart, well-educated White people who will assimilate to our culture. Vote Trump.”
Another example . . . On February 24, 2016, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke stated to his white radio audience, “Voting against Donald Trump at this point is really treason to your heritage.”
Another example. . . Trump was supported by the Ku Klux Klan’s official newspaper, The Crusader, which calls itself the “Political Voice of White Christian America.” On its front page, Pastor Thomas Robb wrote, “While Trump wants to make America great again, we have to ask ourselves, ‘What made America great in the first place?’ The short answer to that is simple. America was great not because of what our forefathers did—but because of who our forefathers were.… America was founded as a White Christian Republic. And as a White Christian Republic it became great.”
When Trump was later asked on cable TV about his support from the then-most-famous racist in the nation, his reply was, “Well, just so you understand, I don’t know anything about David Duke. OK? I don’t know anything about what you’re even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists. So, I don’t know.” This is what Trump always says when he is confronted with the truth. “I don’t know him!” “I don’t know anything about it.”
Not exactly an unequivocal denunciation.
Duke, however, was undeterred and continued to suport Trump in an enthusiastic fashion. After the election, he even tweeted, “Make no mistake about it, our people played a HUGE role in electing Trump!” Trump said nothing. He posted nothing.
Another example . . . Trump faces the awkward and inconvenient truth that he has never lost the full-scale support of the nation’s most hardcore racists. No matter how often he pretends to be free of bigotry, his racist worldview shows itself at every turn.
You want more proof that Trump is a racist. OK, here is more!
Another Example . . . During the 2016 race, he falsely said that “half of all Detroit residents do not work, and cannot work, and can’t get a job.”
Another Example . . . At his September debate with Clinton, he went on: “We have a situation where we have our inner cities, African Americans, Hispanics are living in hell because it’s so dangerous. You walk down the street, you get shot.”
Another example . . . At a gathering in Washington, DC, Richard Spencer, leader of the white supremacist alt-right movement, declared: “Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory!” He was speaking to a crowd of nearly 200, many of whom responded with Nazi salutes.
The crowd expressed no confusion about what Trump represented.
Another example . . . Trump sees Brown and Black people and immigrants as crime-ridden, dirty, and rodent-infested. In 2018, Trump referred to Haiti and African nations as “shithole countries” during a meeting with a bipartisan group of senators at the White House. Nice language!
Another example . . . Recently, Trump spewed lies at a white dominated gathering in an obscure Black church in Detroit, while denouncing that city as “hell” and “totally corrupt,” and describing black communities as dangerous and depressed.
Another example . . . As he said in a Time magazine interview, “If you look right now, there’s absolutely a bias against white [people] and that’s a problem.” As usual, Trump offerered no examples or data of that “problem.” However, his lies fit nicely with his belief 58% of “racial minorities” are favored over whites in the United States.
Another example . . . Trump claims that he is a victim of anti-white racism from “radical vicious, racist prosecutors” in Georgia, New York, and Washington, DC. They are going after Trump, he insists, simply because he’s a white man and not because he committed any actual crimes. Uh huh. I have a bridge to sell you also.
Another Example . . . After Trump lost in 2020, he repeatedly blamed cities with large Black populations and leadership for various imagined kinds of voter fraud and wrongdoing. He tweeted: “Biden did poorly in big cities except those of Detroit (more votes than people!), Philadelphia, Atlanta and Milwaukee. Not surprisingly, they are all located in the most important swing states, and are long known for being politically corrupt!” Trump claimed after the election without evidence or data that “Detroit and Philadelphia—known as two of the most corrupt political places anywhere in our country, easily—cannot be responsible for engineering the outcome of a Presidential race.”
Another Example . . . Trump tried and failed, to invalidate 200,000 votes in Milwaukee and Madison Wisconsin. Many from Black voters. The state capital of Wisconsin (Madison) has the state’s second-largest Black population.
Another Example . . . Of course, Trump was talking negatively about Black cities and Black leadership before he lost the election. After the late Representative Elijah Cummings criticized his border policies, he tweeted: “Cumming [sic] District is a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess. If he spent more time in Baltimore, maybe he could help clean up this very dangerous & filthy place.”
Another Example . . . Likewise, when the late civil rights hero Representative John Lewis announced that he wouldn’t attend Trump’s inauguration, Trump claimed that Lewis’s home district of Atlanta was “falling apart” and “crime-infested.”
Another Example . . . Trump frequently denounces Democratic-led cities as unsafe — even as violent crime decreased nationally in the most recent FBI statistics of 2023. Trump often calls black cities bad. He said this about Black cites of Detroit, Baltimore, Oakland, and Chicago: “It’s like living in hell,” he told Fox’s Sean Hannity in June 2020.
Another example . . . In his “debate” with President Joe Biden, Trump made his usual hateful statements against immigrants (of color) and added that they are “taking black jobs now and it could be 18. It could be 19 and even 20 million people. They’re taking black jobs and they’re taking Hispanic jobs and you haven’t seen it yet, but you’re going to see something that’s going to be the worst in our history.” Of course, Trump never offers any evidence or data. He never has any. There is no evidence or data that immigrants are taking jobs from Black and Latino Americans.
Another example . . . By “black jobs” and “Hispanic jobs,” of course, Trump was referring to his belief that only certain kinds of work define those communities. He was not referring to engineers, lawyers, office managers, professors, veterinarians, or any positions of a professional or middle-class nature. He sees Black Americans and Latinos as nothing but the lowest-paid, lowest-status workers in America. They are inferior in Trump’s mind.
Another example . . . Trump believes that Black Americans only occupy low-level manual labor jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2023), almost half of all Black Americans work in professional, management, or office jobs.
The Washington Post on January 28, 2024, said this: “The Black unemployment rate remains near historic lows and wage gains are at all-time highs.” In fact, the lowest Black employment on record occurred under President Biden when, in April 2023, it fell to 4.8%.
Another example . . . In the televised debate of September 2024 that featured Trump and Vice President Kamala Harri, Trump said: “In Springfield, they are eating the dogs. The people that came in, they are eating the cats. They’re eating – they are eating the pets of the people that live there.” During the debate, Trump also claimed to have seen “people on television [saying] ‘My dog was taken and used for food.” Trump again did not presenent any evidence or data. City officials have told many sources that there have been “no credible reports” that this has actually happened.
Another example . . . The baseless claim about Hatians had spread on social media, with Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance promoting it on X. Then, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby called Vance’s comments “dangerous” and a “conspiracy theory… based on an element of racism.” I agree!
The erroneous claim appears to have come from a number of different sources which turned into a cohesive – though baseless – story by pro-Trump social media accounts.
For example, at an August 27th meeting of Springfield’s city commission, a local resident who describes himself as a social media influencer launched into a speech against Haitian immigrants. He gave a long list of grievances, including that they were slaughtering park ducks for food, and accused city officials of being paid to bring in immigrants, but provided no evidence for these claims. Again, no evidence, no data.
A claim about a cat being killed by Haitian immigrants was made on a Facebook post focusing on crime in Springfield, and attributed by the poster to the friend of a neighbour’s daughter. No evidence, no data.
Another Example . . . Just before the city hosted the Republican Convention in June of 2024, Trump called Milwakee “horrible.” In Milwaukee, the Black American (Non-Hispanic) population is the largest single racial group, representing 39% of the total population. The Hispanic population (including those identifying as two or more races or as other race) is also a significant portion, accounting for approximately 12% and 7% respectively. That is 39% plus 12% plus 7%. That’s 58% minorities. Hmmm.
I have presented more than 20 facts to you that prove that Trump is a racist. However, if you think that Trump is good Christian and you do not believe that he is a racist at this point, you never will. I feel sorry for you. You have been brainwashed.
A Word to White Christians
I encourage you to think for yourself, start to really weigh the evidence, and read and watch on both sides of the policital aisle. In 2020, about 80% of you voted for Trump.
In 2024, White Christians, voted 72% in favor of Donald Trump. This vote was boosted by evangelical and Pentecostal voters, who voted for Trump at 81%.
It is no surprise to anyone who has who has followed politics over the past two decades to hear that self-identified Christians have largely supported Republican candidates and causes in recent elections. From Ronald Regan in 1981, this has been the case.
However, many self-identified Christians have been influnced by Christian Nationlism. I encourage you to read this: https://1795group.com/the-problem-of-christian-nationalism/
Trump Does Not Want Diversity in America
Why would a man who is a racist, who is supported by white supremacits, who thinks that brown and black Americans (and immigrants) are inferior to Whites, and believes in the conspiracy theory of the Great Replacement Theory want diversty in America?
The fact is that Trump and his followers have hijacked diversty, equity, and inclusion and made it a bad word. These words are not “bad words.”
I resent them hijacking the term and I resent them from trying to remove diversity, equity, and inclusion from America’s institions. I have invested a career trying to make diversity, equity, and inclusion a hallmark of who I was.
Let’s Start Asking These Questions
I believe that should ask Trump and his followers the following pointed questions:
- Trump: Why do you continue to receive such wholehearted support from avowed racists?
- Trump and His Followers: What is the “anti-white racism” that you so often talk about and why do you consider it more of an issue than racial discrimination against communities of color?
- Trump and His Followers: Why should Black voters in Atlanta, Detroit, Milwaukee, and Philadelphia, among other places, vote for someone who spent weeks after the 2020 election desperately attempting to disqualify their votes?
- Christians: Why do you follow and vote for a man who is so opposite the Bible and the teachings of Jesus Christ?
The 1795 Group Can Help
The 1795 Group believes in leaving this little blue planet a better place for all who live on it. We have a moral obligation to those that follow in our footsteps to inform them, warn them, and to educate them. That’s why I write and share this blog.
The 1795 Group believes in being part of solutions. Let’s work together at the grass roots level to help solve this problem! Perhaps you would like a guest speaker or a presentation on this topic. Perhaps you would like to have your students, learners, or employees enjoy an in-person or virtual professional development workshop in this topical area. Perhaps you need a course to be written for your learners. Whatever your need, the 1795 Group can help. Call us and let’s brainstorm ways to work together.
Contact Me Today:
Phone: (440) 296-9709 (text first)
Email: tjordan@1795group.com
Website: www.1795group.com
Blogs: https://1795group.com/blog/
Podcasts: https://1795group.com/podcast/
