With this article begins the collaboration with Antìmaka by Anthony Julian Tamburri, Dean of the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute (Queens College, The City University of New York)..
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The re-election of Donald Trump is, in one sense, as puzzling as his original election back in November 2016. We had ample hints back then of his alleged philandering, of course his own personal business. Okay, but not his admitted sexual harassing as he himself described in the now infamous NBC interview on the bus with Billy Bush, and the latest adjudication of the E. Jean Carroll case. Trump’s animus toward Blacks could be intuited in his continued suit, even as I write, to justify his condemnation of the Central Park Five, that they should be put to death because of their alleged brutal rape of a jogger in Central Park.
It is difficult not to perceive that racial animus, prejudice for the “other,” and sexism undergird Donald Trump’s thought processes. We saw that in January 2017, when he gave the order to suspend all refugees from the United States and to bar Syrian refugees indefinitely, and to block entry into the U.S. for 90 days of citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries (Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen). In 2018, let us remember, Trump referred to Haiti and African nations as “shithole” countries. There was a bit of an outcry but nothing close to anything consequential.
Today, January 22, 2025, just about eight years later, Trump has ordered all DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) staff to be sent home with pay, and all DEI offices eventually to be closed. This Executive Order (EO) from two days ago is in reaction to, as it states, Biden’s EO 13985, “Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government.”
Now, given the history of race in the United States since the 1600s, and given that even today, we see examples of racism and ethnic prejudices, it is rich indeed that the dismantling of DEI in Trump’s most recent EO is to counteract Biden’s EO of 2021 that, according to Trump himself, “demonstrated immense public waste and shameful discrimination.” The danger here is that if such an EO were to stand — it is too early to hear about countering lawsuits — is that this then filters down and, most likely would disqualify from federal funds any institution that does not adhere to this most recent Executive Order. Namely, all college and universities could readily lose their federal funding if they were to continue with DEI policies.
When Trump first announced his run for the presidency in 2015, he ushered into the United States mindset a certain mode of thought. That thought process continues, as the ACLU stated back in July 2024:
"Fulfilling promises made during the 2016 presidential campaign, the Trump administration engaged in a wholesale attempt to roll back the clock on racial justice by dismantling efforts to address systemic racism and promote a more equitable and just society. Trump’s legacy on these issues is encapsulated by the “1776 Report,” published by the White House in the administration’s waning days. The report advanced a dystopian vision that demonized attempts at achieving racial equality. Designed to “restore patriotic education in schools,” the “1776 Report” compared progressivism to fascism, claimed that the civil rights movement embraced ideas similar to those held by defenders of slavery, and sought to downplay the legacy of racism in U.S. history. Historians uniformly condemned the report, pointing out that it was littered with factual inaccuracies and partisanship, and lacking serious scholarship."
Two of numerous aspects of this paragraph come to the fore. First, at the end of his first administration he had his people create the “1776 Report, a dystopian vision that demonized attempts at achieving racial equality.” Today we have “Project 2025,” to which Trump had denied any connection during his most recent campaign. Now, numerous people who authored certain sections of “Project 2025” are now part of the administration, as one can read in a New York Times article, “The Many Links Between Project 2025 and Trump’s World”. The second item that reminds us of the first Trump administration is the reference to “factual inaccuracies and partisanship and lacking serious scholarship.” One need only hark back to the COVID pandemic here in the United States when, for example, Trump suggested infected people inject a disinfectant or use powerful lighting.
So, here we are, only two full days within the second Trump presidency, and “inaccuracies [due to] serious scholarship” already have serious implications. Thus, for now, we live under the umbrella of ignorance that brews prejudice: the obstinance to defend one’s ignorance at all costs and eschewing “serious scholarship” (read, scientific. Investigations) can only lead to retrograde policies with harmful consequences, be they socio-political (bolstering white supremacists: e.g., Oath Seekers, Proud Boys, abolishing DEI) or medical (e.g., antivaccine, co-pays raised for drugs).
Of course, in Italian, of the many expressions that might come to mind, to me for now, is, “L’è maiala!”
Image: Birmingham, Alabama, 1963. Idranti contro i manifestanti durante una protesta contro la segregazione organizzata dal Reverendo Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Fotografia Di Frank Rockstroh da National Geographic Italia.
