This week the AP published a story about the Trump administration’s efforts to back “away from addressing civil rights for Black students.” I have some thoughts to share and a call to action.

Whether by willfully mishandling a backlog of civil rights cases from Black students and parents, deliberately ignoring civil rights abuses committed against Black students, stripping minority-serving institutions of funds, or eliminating programs and services that support diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), we have known that the current administration is focused on weaponizing civil rights laws to eliminate opportunities and resources for Black students.

The administration is perpetuating a white-washed view of American history and education that will harm all students — particularly students of color — through its destruction of evidence-based strategies and resources that improve student outcomes and lessen opportunity gaps that have persisted for generations.

The federal government and, specifically, the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR), is tasked with enforcing civil rights law because historically, too many states, districts, and schools have revealed themselves unwilling to provide an excellent education to every student. We still see disciplinary policies that disproportionately affect Black students, special education policies that misidentify Black students and use punitive measures to deny them access and opportunity to their legally entitled educational resources, teacher workforces without the representation and cultural responsiveness to support Black student achievement, and course offerings that make it more difficult for students of color to access the same rigorous classes as their white peers.

But this administration is going beyond just claiming civil rights protections as outdated. They are weaponizing civil rights laws and using them as a form of intimidation against the communities they were meant to protect. The irony would be laughable if the consequences were not so serious.

The administration is attempting to put forward an argument that civil rights laws ban equity and that equity is anti-white. But equity is about progress to justice. Equity is about employing resources to help every student achieve their dreams and aspirations, unburdened by history, barriers, and gaps. So, unsurprisingly, the Trump administration’s efforts are narrowing pathways to college, career, and economic mobility. That is a threat not just to Black students but to every student, community, city, and state.

Programs that make sure Black students can take Advanced Placement classes, graduate from high school and college, and feel safe in school helps our education system become a beacon of opportunity. Being that beacon is exactly why public education exists. No one, especially the federal government, should ever run away from that fact.

Civil rights laws are in place to ensure not just that the school door is open, but that every student who walks through it has access to an excellent education. Programs focused on equity — those that narrow opportunity, resource, and racial gaps — are a key part of making our civil rights laws work. We must keep fighting and demanding that the federal government faithfully uphold the laws it is required to enforce.

Together, we must use our voices to demand that this administration:

• Stop spending tens of millions of dollars weaponizing civil rights law
• Restore funding for the OCR
• Fully staff OCR so it can do its job

Our civil rights laws must be protected to ensure that students and communities have access to the quality public education that deserve.

Photo by Allison Shelley/Complete College Photo Library

Series: CEO Perspectives