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Home • News

Surprised That Trump Is Canceling Obama-Era Affirmative Action Policies? Black Twitter Isn't.

Surprised That Trump Is Canceling Obama-Era Affirmative Action Policies? Black Twitter Isn't.
MANDEL NGAN/Getty Images
By Paula Rogo · Updated October 23, 2020

As news of the Trump administration’s directive to rescind affirmative action policies made by President Barack Obama was announced on Tuesday, Black Twitter went online to share their frustrations with Trump—as well as their lack of surprise. 

The decision was announced in a joint letter by the Department of Education and the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Divisions. It specified seven guidances on affirmative action that it said went beyond legal limits.

“The documents advocate specific policies and procedures for educational institutions to adopt, analyze a number of hypotheticals, and draw conclusions about whether the actions in those hypotheticals would violate” the constitutional rights of citizens, the document said.

Last year, the White House directed the Justice Department to explore whether it can sue institutions of higher education over affirmative action policies that the White House deems discriminatory against white applicants, The New York Times reported.

Trump has consistently scrapped many policies that were put in place by President Obama.

From government officials to celebrities, Black Twitter shared their thoughts on the change online: 

If there are White people who call the police on Black children for mowing lawns and selling water, surely there are those who won’t admit them to college. Anti-racism laws are still needed. https://t.co/1gz73cRt6s

— Be A King (@BerniceKing) July 3, 2018
https://twitter.com/ava/status/1014185842154377227

Let me be blunt. "Race-neutral" is racist. There is no such thing as neutral, only normative. And what is "normative" economically, politically and socially is racism. #AffirmativeAction #BetsyDeVos https://t.co/TqxwnKIGqT

— SGPoku (@OptimizingPeace) July 3, 2018

Reminder: affirmative action helps white women more than it helps any other group of people, but because far too many white women are more committed to white supremacy then they are to equality, they have bought into the lie that Black people are taking their spots https://t.co/D70f288SBY

— Imani Gandy (Orca’s Version) ⚓️ (@AngryBlackLady) July 3, 2018

White supremacy thrives on myths. One is the convenient fiction that all students apply for college from a level playing field. That way, higher education's racial imbalance isn't willful. It is nature. This is what @BetsyDeVosED would have you believe. https://t.co/iIpu7hw2QO

— Jamil Smith جميل كريم (@JamilSmith) July 3, 2018

.@realDonaldTrump, what do black people have to lose? How about admission to college, the one proven way to get out of poverty. A truly disgraceful decision. #SaveSCOTUS https://t.co/7SbnIk2MRK

— Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (@repcleaver) July 3, 2018