D-E- I Cannot Believe This Nonsense
The Maundy Monday Newsletter - This Week in History February 3 - 9.
What an incredibly exhausting week. I’m writing a long-form essay about the first two weeks of the Trump administration, and then I hope to tone down my focus on Agent Orange.
But man, it’s challenging to do.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, or DEI for short, are workplace programs meant to remove barriers for marginalized people based on their race, gender, or preference to kiss.
Upon taking office, President Racist immediately barked out orders to end DEI (and DEIA – the A stands for accessibility) programs in federal agencies and, going a step further, eliminate the jobs people had working on DEI initiatives.
In a poorly worded memo, Trump directed agencies to hand over the people who worked specifically on DEIA programs. If that didn’t happen, he invited colleagues to rat them out. Also, he seemed to think that he was in charge back on November 5, and if anyone changed job descriptions on DEIA job holders, they would be out as well.
Making America Great Again!
The great thing about history is that we have an opportunity to see how things worked and how they didn’t. Humans are not that creative; we sort of do the same things over and over. Hence, the phrase, History repeats itself.
This week, we look at some DEI initiatives that we implemented that were pretty successful.
Okay, let's highlight what else happened this week. As a reminder, these events celebrate their anniversary, ending in 5 or 0. Here's what I got:
1. The 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed on February 3, 1870. I ranked the Amendment that gave voting rights to black guys 14th overall. It still took another 40 years to give women the right to vote. We passed the Voting Rights Act in 1965, protecting people’s right to vote against discrimination at the state and local level, and in 2013, The US Supreme Court ruled that such protections went too far.
2. Col. Eileen Collins became the first female space shuttle pilot on February 3, 1995. Collins graduated from Syracuse University in 1978 and was commissioned through the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Program. Collins worked her way through pilot training and piloted a space shuttle mission connecting a bunch of space things together. The point here is that the Air Education and Training Command, which has expanded the roles of women in the Air Force, has had most of its programs shut down due to Trump’s orders to eliminate DEI programs.
3. Hall of Fame college basketball coach Dean Smith passed away on February 7, 2015. In 1966, University of North Carolina coach Smith was the first coach in his conference to recruit and play a black player. He continued to lead integration efforts and other progressive stances, such as not always having us fight in wars. Smith would lead UNC to eleven Final Fours and Two National Championships.
Anonymous and I spent the weekend in Annapolis, celebrating friends who got engaged. These friends also financially support Okay History. If you would like Anonymous, Blue, and me to join you in celebrating life events, please feel free to give us cash.
Just kidding. We are happy that our friends are happy. I’ll be happy when this hangover is gone.
I hope to be back this Friday with something. It’s a new month, so I’m trying to turn the page on some of the nonsense.
Okay,
Chris