Important to keep in mind, many of the executive orders here are empty promises to his base. For example, you cannot amend the constitution with an executive order. This list focuses primarily on Black Americans and things happening this term, not the previous term. I also include a lot of things related to DEI because conservatives often use this word as a replacement for Black and we should see it as such.

Other great resource, an Executive Order tracker from the Congressional Black Caucus.

• Rescinded EO 11246 signed by LBJ in 1965 to desegregate the private sector. This created a large compliance area for private companies such as Affirmative Action Plans and requirements Anti-Discrimination statements. Presidents can rescind EOs so this likely will stand. (Article)

• Removed and censured Congressmen Al Green for appropriately disrupting 47’s speech to Congress. Congressmen Green noted that 47 does not have a mandate to end Medicaid (he doesn’t). The same party ignored the outbursts of MTG during Biden’s state of the union. (Article)

• 47 pardoned two white officers in Washington DC, whose unauthorized pursuit caused the death of Karon Hylton-Brown. They were previously convicted and sentenced, until 47 pardoned them. They have now been reinstated by MPD. (Article)

• EO to end birthright citizenship established through the 14th amendment. While the current conversation about birthright citizenship often centers around Latinos, Black Americans who descend from enslaved Americans should remember that the 14th amendment ensured our citizenship. We should be cautious of any changes to it. (Article)

• Tuskegee Airman courses removed from Air Force basic training out of fear it would violate the DEI EOs for the federal government. Ultimately reversed and applauded themselves for the reversal, even though they were the ones who got it removed! (Article)

• Attempting to bring back monuments to Confederate generals/soldiers. It’s important to remember that many of the monuments were erected during the Civil Rights movement as a direct response to Black people advocating for their rights. During BLM, Black people pushed to take these monuments down and now white conservatives are fighting to put them back. This is an awful pattern of white backlash following Black freedom movements.

  • Reverted Fort Liberty back to Fort Bragg (found a soldier named Bragg who was not a confederate soldier). Be mindful of how much it costs to change the names of buildings like this. (Article)

  • Reverted Fort Moore back to Fort Benning, again looked for a soldier with the name Benning (Article)

• Fired General C. Q. Brown chairman of the Join Chiefs of Staff (Article)

• Organizations aiming to plant trees lost during Hurricane Katrina in Black neighborhoods in New Orleans, lost funding after 47’s federal funds freeze (Article)

• White House Black History Month proclamation did not capitalize the B in Black (Why we do it)

• 47 hosted a Black History Month program with questionable guest list, however several federal agencies cancelled their programs in fear that it would conflict with the EOs regarding DEI (Article)

• US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) works to ensure fair treatment in the workforce. 47 is actively taking away their power and independence including dismissing EEOC commissioners. (Article)

• Rescinded Biden’s EO 14019 which promoted voting access and voter registration. States like Texas and Missouri sued. Efforts to limit voting access often disproportionally impacts Black Americans. (Article)

• EO to remove DEI Offices from federal government (Article)

  • These DEI offices ensure merit based hiring which has benefited Black people and also Black people often hold these roles especially in the federal government (stats that show only 2% of Chief Diversity Officers are Black are misleading)

  • Threatened federal workers if they tried to “hide” federal workers by changing their roles from a DEI role to another role. Dan Crenshaw openly harassed a Black federal worker whose role changed (Link to Tweet)

• Federal jobs have been a key driver of the Black middle class. The layoffs and federal hiring freezes could change that. We also are overrepresented in parts of the federal workforce, meaning its a key employer for Black Americans (Article)

• During his confirmation hearings, RFK suggested that Black Americans do not need the same vaccine schedule as white people because our immune systems are better. This super power viewpoint of Black people is not only racist, but dangerous. It’s been used to justify experiments on Black people and now is likely one of the causes for Black women’s maternal mortality rate. (Article)

• Put Peggy Carr, the commissioner for the National Center for Educational Statistics. They create the Nation’s Report Card on education. This is in line with their removal of Black leaders and their fight against education (Article)

• Blamed DEI for the DC plane crash involving a commercial airliner and a Blackhawk helicopter. (Article)

• Removed photos highlighting diversity (including Black folks) from military history websites (Article)

• In an EO, 47 threatened to pull federal funding for colleges/universities with DEI programming. Schools are responding differently, but most notably Ohio State University has closed all of their DEI Centers (Article)

  • Ohio University acted similarly by cancelling a 40 year tradition of a Black Alumni Reunion on campus. (Article)

• USDA stopped a scholarship for students studying agriculture at HBCUs. After pressure for lawmakers like Senator Ossoff, they reinstated (Article)

• DC Mayor removing Black Lives Matter mural after threats from 47 administration and other Republican lawmakers. Noted that it did not seem worth a fight. While Chocolate City has continued to lose it’s Black population, it is STILL a majority Black city. Attacks on the independence of DC, should be seen (Article)

• Per April Ryan, HBCUs could lose funding for Black Cultural studies (Article)

• Conservative commentators and Musk are advocating for a pardon of Derek Chauvin, the police officer who murdered George Floyd. They use racist tropes to justify Chauvin’s actions that day. Now, Chauvin was convicted of state charges as well and that requires Tim Walz to pardon him, not happening! However, 47 could pardon him for the federal case. 47 recently said “he had not heard about it”, but that may change (Article)

• Ended lease for Obama’s Presidential Digital library, different than what will be his Presidential library. The Presidential library is operated with private funds, the digital library is tied to federal funds. All the same, they still hate the fact that a Black man was President and aim to disrupt his legacy. (Article)

• Thousands of US government websites have been purged including sites on Hate Crimes (Article)

• University of Michigan rolled back DEI programming after million dollar investment. Also of note because many of the SCOTUS cases related to affirmative action started through University of Michigan (Article)

• Fired the first Black woman on National Labor Relations Board, destroying their decision making authority (Article)

  • Judge reinstated member of the board (Article)

• DOJ threatened the American Bar Association, demanding that they remove their DEI requirements for law schools or lose their accrediting authority. Professional programs often require DEI recognizing these professionals (doctors & lawyers) must serve the entire country. These programs support access to law schools for Black students (Article)

  • US Attorney Ed Martin told Georgetown Law (a private school) they will not hire any Georgetown grads as long as they have DEI programs. The Dean rebuffed this threat (Article)

• Words being removed from government websites including Black, diversity and discrimination (Article)

• Rescinded the Affirmative Furthering Fair Housing rule, required states to show they were taking steps to implement fair housing. Obama implemented the rule, 47 rescinded it last term, Biden brought it back and now they’ve gotten rid of it again (Article)

• Marines with Skin Condition Affecting Mostly Black Men Could Now Be Booted Under New Policy (Article)

• USPS cutting 10k jobs due to DOGE demands (Article)

  • 21% of USPS workers are Black (note that we represent about 14% of the US population) USPS has been a stable for Black Americans for years (Article)

• Targeting 45 Universities for their DEI Programs. They are using Title VII, to claim that the schools were essentially discriminating against white students. Rice University (a private school) in Houston is included. (Article)

  • Schools are targeted for working with the Ph.D. project organization that works to provide access to Black students into Ph.D programs. Important to note that we are still underrepresented in these programs.

• Hegseth banned cultural celebrations in the military like Black History Month, but allowed for St. Patrick’s Day (Article)

• Medgar Evers story erased from the Arlington Cemetery website (Article)

• Defense Department removes website highlighting the service of Jackie Robinson. During his lifetime, Robinson was a Republican and endorsed candidates like Richard Nixon (Article)

• EPA rollbacks mean more pollution and less justice for Black communities Ex: Gary, Indiana (Article)

• An EO orders the Smithsonian museums to remove divisive narratives and improper ideologies. It specifically names the beloved National Museum of African American History & Culture. To show just how far we have shifted, the funding for the NMAAHC was originally approved by Dubya (Article)

• 'Segregated facilities' are no longer explicitly banned in federal contracts (Article)

• 47 is trying to change what entities qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness including non-profits that advocate for DEI. Black college grads are more likely to have student loans than their peers and higher amounts. Changes to this program will be a huge loss for Black Americans with student loans (Article)

  • They have removed repayment programs such as income based. People are seeing their payments triple, this is will greatly impact Black borrowers (Article) Here is some data on Black grads and students loan amounts (Article)

• Dismantling the Department of Education - the impact for Black people will be the loss of the Civil Rights division at the federal level. They are the enforcers of anti-discrimination federal laws in public schools. We are also waiting to see the impact on student loan administration (Article)

• Pages mentioning Colin Powell, a notable Black Republican, have been removed from military websites (Article)

• US General Services Administration created a list of government buildings to be sold (because of DOGE) and included the Montgomery Bus Station which is home to the Freedom Riders museum. Legislators worked to get it removed from the list (Article)

• Black Comedian Amber Ruffin performance at White House Correspondents Dinner cancelled because she was critical of 47 (Article)

• USDA cutting funding to Food Banks around the country including Detroit (Article)

• Democrats and the Congressional Black Caucus ring the alarm about DOGE cuts that could effect the Minority Business Development Agency (CBC Letter)

• Georgia Senate starts investigation of Stacy Abrams after 47 targets her (Article)

• After being on personal leave, the director of the National Musuem of African American History and Culture, Kevin Young, has stepped down. Currently Lonnie Bunch remains as the head of Smithsonian. Bunch was the first director of NMAAHC. This departure is concerning given the EO and seems to be connected, but I will be more concerned if Bunch leaves. (Article)

• Head of Defense Health Agency forced to retire, Army Lt Governor Telita Crosland. (Article)

I am wrapping up this list for Q1 2025, I am starting a new list for Q2.