Axios: Race Blind Policies 'Advantage Whites'

Well, that's a take, I guess. 

If you start out with the presumption that racial discrimination in favor of non-white people is the proper state of things, not a violation of civil rights laws, eliminating that discrimination must advantage white people. Right?

DOJ: “One of our Nation’s bedrock principles is that all Americans must be treated equally.”

Axios: https://t.co/m1AwJeSImf

— Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) July 31, 2025

That's Axios' "Justice and Race Reporter's" take, at least. According to him, Trump wants to set back race relations 60 years by eliminating DEI. 

As someone who has just turned 61, I have lived through multiple periods of rather nasty race relations, and a few where race relations were healing. We have been, over the past decade, in a period of deteriorating race relations, and unlike during my youth, all the hatred has been driven by the left. 

And it is people like Russell Contreras, Axios' "Justice and Race" reporter, who have been driving the hate. Look how he portrays Trump's push to get DEI racial preferences out of American institutions:

The Trump administration is flipping language about inclusion and diversity on its head to the advantage of white Americans as a requirement to receive federal grants.

Why it matters: The move follows the administration's dramatic change to the government's interpretation of Civil Rights-era laws to focus on "anti-white racism" rather than discrimination against people of color.

Driving the news: The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday released new guidelines for recipients of federal funding and directed them not to be involved in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion ("DEI") programs.

• The guidelines say that federal antidiscrimination laws apply to programs or initiatives like DEI since they involve "discriminatory practices."
• The department said programs and activities must comply with federal law and not "discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, or other protected characteristics — no matter the program's labels, objectives, or intentions."

God forbid that we don't discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, or other protected characteristics. It's almost un-American not to discriminate in favor of Contreras' long list of "oppressed" people. 

I happen to agree with Chief Justice John Roberts: "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race."

What a concept. One beyond Contreras' ken, because as a "Justice and Race" reporter he sees race as the foundation upon which all other concepts are built. 

Zoom out: Under the new guidelines, the DOJ says recipients can face "significant legal risks" if they're involved in DEI programs.

• "The use of terms such as 'DEI,' 'Equity,' or other euphemistic terms does not excuse unlawful discrimination or absolve parties from scrutiny regarding potential violations," the department said.
• The department also advised against using " race, sex, or other protected characteristics for employment, program participation, resource allocation, or other similar activities."
• The DOJ also said terms like "cultural competence," "lived experience," and "geographic targeting" that function as proxies for protected characteristics violate federal law.

Context: Since taking office, Trump has attempted to reverse many of the gains made during the Civil Rights Movement and unravel the late President Lyndon B. Johnson's civil rights legacy from six decades ago.

He really went there. Without DEI, the Civil Rights Movement will have failed. I am a bit surprised he didn't go full Joe Biden and say that Trump wants to put black people back in chains. 

It's absurd. Racial minorities rightly resented policies that disadvantaged them in the past. Is it any wonder that white people today resent policies meant to disadvantage them now? 

Yet race-conscious policies are everywhere. The key idea behind DEI is that race is the fundamental defining fact of Western Civilization and that white people need to be discriminated against to right racial injustices. DEI advocates argue forcefully that whites should be excluded from various benefits, and preferences should be given on the basis of race. 

That's why there are so many programs that exclude whites. 

Those programs are illegal. As in, prohibited by laws written in...the Johnson administration. Go read the Civil Rights Acts and you will see that DEI programs regularly violate the laws--not just the "spirit" of the laws, but the letter of them. And the Supreme Court has made that clear. 

Yet, according to Axios, this is "to the advantage of white people." I suppose you could argue that, in the same way that laws that mandated that there be no barriers to black people voting "advantage black people." Leveling the playing field, after years of ensuring that some people were discriminated against, "benefits" them. But only to the extent that the illegal discrimination is prevented. 

You know, by making opportunities equal. If that is "advantaging" people, it's an odd way to see it. 

But this is the logic of DEI. If you make opportunities equal, it hurts black and brown people, because they deserve more. It's the reverse KKK. 

This is why race relations have been getting worse. It is now common--even required--in elite circles to have policies that disadvantage white people as recompense for past discrimination. Every university, K-12 school, and corporation has racially defined policies that have different rules for people of different races, and that is illegal. They are committed to the idea that white (and Asian) people must be judged by different standards. 

That's not legal, but forcing everybody to obey the law "advantages white people," according to Axios. 

Trump is a Klansman because he demands that there be no discrimination on the basis of race. 

That's a take, I guess. 

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