Back in the mid-20th century, when mandated segregation was still the law of the land in the Jim Crow South, a series of U.S. Supreme Court cases and federal legislation began to dismantle this racist system that withheld resources and political power from Black Americans.
Justification for Jim Crow during that time was rooted in what we see clearly today as overt racism. Anyone in our current time who utters the words “separate but equal” would be rightly treated — at least for now — as fringe and out-of-step with acceptable political discourse.
But in 2025, legal segregation is re-emerging, this time justified with a new set of rhetorical tools. Anyone who pays attention to politics or the latest news knows these terms: DEI, CRT, etc.
Under the veneer of returning merit to hiring practices and public policy, the Donald Trump administration is doing none of that. Trump and his allies are taking us backward, using buzzword acronyms — thinly veiled dog whistles — to create a 21st century version of segregation.
The practice of segregation is often viewed — accurately so — as a system that benefits white Americans at the expense of Black people. While it is true that segregation harms Black Americans the most, it is not the whole truth.