US1 min(s) read
Published 16:48 24 Sep 2020 GMT
Donald Trump has recently signed an executive order that bans anti-racism and diversity training for military and government contractors.
The order, which was signed on Tuesday, September 22, prevents these contractors from holding training sessions to promote "race stereotyping, for example, by portraying certain races as oppressors by virtue of their birth".
Trump has described his administration's actions in this department as a step away from "divisive, anti-American propaganda."
The POTUS wrote in a tweet: "A few weeks ago, I BANNED efforts to indoctrinate government employees with divisive and harmful sex and race-based ideologies. Today, I've expanded that ban to people and companies that do business…"
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The order was created with the intent to "combat offensive and anti-American race and sex stereotyping and scapegoating" through training which "teaches, advocates, or promotes the divisive concepts" including racism, sexism, and white privilege.
It added: "Instructors and materials teaching that men and members of certain races, as well as our most venerable institutions, are inherently sexist and racist are appearing in workplace diversity training across the country, even in components of the Federal Government and among Federal contractors."
The White House press briefing explained: "President Trump's order ensures that Americans' hard-earned taxpayer dollars support unity in our Nation instead of promoting radical ideologies that divide Americans by race or sex."
"This order encourages diversity training that promotes inclusive workplaces where no one feels marginalized because of his or her race or sex."
The order states that America's "founding documents rejected these racialized views of America, which were soundly defeated on the blood-stained battlefields of the Civil War", despite the country's history of slavery and mass incarceration.
Trump added: "In the face of lies meant to divide us, demoralize us, and diminish us, we will show that the story of America unites us, inspires us, includes us all, and makes everyone free."
In addition to this, Trump "has announced the 1776 Commission, which will promote patriotic education… to combat disinformation taught in American schools."
This comes after the president slammed "critical race theory" and the belief that the US is inherently racist because of its history and existing structures.
Trump described it in a speech last week as "a Marxist doctrine holding that America is a wicked and racist nation, that even young children are complicit in oppression, and that our entire society must be radically transformed."
