A newly unearthed memo from the Trump administration calls to mind the infamous words of the late segregationist and Alabama Gov. George Wallace, who said at his inauguration in 1963, “I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever.” Now the message of a recent Trump administration memo seems to be “segregation again.”
NPR reports that a memo issued by the administration in February omits federal guidelines that prevent contractors from receiving federal funds if they operate segregated facilities.
After a recent change by the Trump administration, the federal government no longer explicitly prohibits contractors from having segregated restaurants, waiting rooms and drinking fountains. The segregation clause is one of several identified in a public memo issued by the General Services Administration last month, affecting all civil federal agencies. The memo explains that it is making changes prompted by President Trump’s executive order on diversity, equity and inclusion, which repealed an executive order signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965 regarding federal contractors and nondiscrimination.
The disappearance of the language doesn’t alter the fact that federal law, including the Civil Rights Act, and some state laws still ban segregation and other forms of discrimination in all businesses. MSNBC contributor Melissa Murray told NPR the move was “meaningful in its symbolism” because these provisions “were all part of the federal government’s efforts to facilitate the settlement that led to integration in the 1950s and 1960s.”
Studies have shown that racial segregation persists in various aspects of life, including housing and education, despite federal and state laws.
Meanwhile, Charlie Kirk, a far-right influencer and close Trump ally, has argued the Civil Rights Act was a “mistake.” And the person Trump has nominated to lead the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, far-right lawyer Harmeet Dhillon, doesn’t inspire confidence that the administration will prioritize cases involving claims of segregation.
But the symbolism of the administration’s retracting its prohibition on contractors’ operating segregated facilities is also a message: When the government explicitly says it won’t do business with segregationists, that discourages segregation. When it doesn’t explicitly say that, it provides a permission structure for segregation to occur.
With his tariffs, Trump is threatening to drag the U.S. back into the disastrous economic policies of the 1890s. This retraction of anti-segregation guidelines adds to a heaping pile of evidence that he’s looking to replicate that era’s social policies, too.
