Trump administration urges White men to file discrimination claims
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, chaired by Andrea Lucas, publicly solicited discrimination claims from White men this week, stating the agency is “committed to identifying, attacking, and eliminating ALL race and sex discrimination – including against white male employees.” This call aligns with the Trump administration’s characterization of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs as “unlawful” and “woke” discrimination against White workers.
Vice President JD Vance described DEI as a “deliberate program of discrimination primarily against White men” and promoted an essay claiming DEI policies harmed White male millennials’ careers. Lucas responded by tweeting the essay contained “unlawful discrimination,” framing the EEOC’s new direction as enforcement against bias rather than investigation of structural inequities. The agency now operates under Lucas’s pledge to enforce civil rights laws without regard to what she termed the notion that only certain “charging parties” merit access.
White workers comprise approximately two-thirds of the U.S. workforce but file only about 10% of race-based discrimination claims with the EEOC, according to 2023 data. However, “reverse discrimination” lawsuits have increased, including a recent case by a money manager at Carl Icahn’s firm alleging denial of a board seat because of his race. Conservative commentators, including Christopher Rufo of the Manhattan Institute, framed the EEOC’s explicit recruitment of White claimants as federal recognition of “anti-White racism.”
DEI advocates, including David Glasgow of NYU’s Meltzer Center, stated that diversity programs aim to remove bias and create equal opportunity, not to disadvantage any group. Glasgow noted that White households possess 9-10 times the wealth of Black households, White men comprise 74% of Fortune 50 CEOs, and Black Americans remain outnumbered 12 to 1 by White people in executive roles. Corporate rollbacks of DEI initiatives following Trump’s campaign promises already impacted Black Americans’ career advancement across major companies.
Trump campaigned against DEI for fostering “anti-White feeling” and on his first day in office moved to eliminate such programs from the federal government and military while threatening to strip billions in federal funding and grants from universities and contractors. Companies across corporate America accelerated efforts to dismantle or scale back DEI initiatives to avoid losing federal contracts, directly eroding representation gains achieved by women and people of color in executive positions.