President Donald Trump’s Justice Department lifted a school desegregation order in Louisiana last week. The administration said that that the fact that the order was still on the books was a “historical wrong.” They also said that they were looking to end other desegregation orders that put “an unnecessary burden on schools.” This is not good.
Ending DEI is bad. Terminating desegregation orders is terrible. Maybe it’s the stock market going haywire. Perhaps it is the NBA playoffs. But this has not caught the attention of many Black. Let me lay out why this matters.
Trump wants to re-segregate schools
This needed to be said explicitly. Saying that he is ending desegregation orders does not carry the punch it deserves. What the President wants to do is allow for resegregation. Black folks fought hard to end school desegregation, and what Trump’s Justice Department is implying is that racism is over and white people can be trusted now…which leads us to our next point.
Racism does not go away just because time has passed
The decades-old desegregation order may seem outdated, but racism does not go away just because time has passed. A person who was an unapologetic racist 60 years ago can raise kids and grandkids to be just as racist as they are. But let’s go further. Many assume that people who hate Black folks are country bumpkins with no political power.
History has shown us that the most damage is done by elected officials who have these beliefs. That person who was racist 60 years ago could very easily be an elected official in 2025. That’s why these protections are needed.
This will harm Black kids
Many Black students are already forced to attend underperforming schools. To quote Mary McLeod Bethune, Black students are “underserved and undermined in schools.” The only thing that helped all Black students achieve on the same level as their white counterparts was desegregation.
It’s not a question of ability (we have that), but one of resources. It was money that proponents of desegregation were trying to funnel into Black communities. The DOJ is looking to undo that. As a result, this will harm Black kids.
This will give white people free reign
Trump is asking us to just believe that all white people will do what is in the best interest of Black people. That they will not engage in shenanigans when it comes to Black students. What evidence do we have to trust that they won’t?
White people love Black culture, but do they hate Black people?
Ultimately, this is a question about white people. Like…do they even like us? Or, more pointedly, do they want to be around Black folks?
Sure, white people may cheer for Black athletes on a football field. They may even listen to Beyoncé or Kendrick Lamar. But when we look at the history of school segregation, white people clearly like what Black culture gives them but they are indifferent to the presence of Black people. Some don’t want their kids to have too many Black friends, and they certainly don’t want too many Black kids in the same school their kids attend.
It is not clear whether Trump is a white supremacist. But he is certainly not behaving like a person who loves Black people.