Trump Signs Executive Order Banning Federal Diversity Training on Systemic Racism and White Privilege

President Trump signs Executive Order 13950 on September 22, 2020, prohibiting federal agencies, federal contractors, and grant recipients from conducting workplace diversity training that includes any discussion of "divisive concepts" — defined to include claims that the United States is "fundamentally racist or sexist," that "an individual bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex," or that meritocracy and work ethic are "racist or sexist" beliefs. The order is signed just weeks before the presidential election, during a national reckoning following the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others. The Trump administration describes diversity training programs as "un-American propaganda." Federal agencies are ordered to audit and cancel all existing diversity training contracts. A federal judge temporarily blocks the order in November 2020. On his first day in office, President Biden rescinds Executive Order 13950 via EO 13985, which orders federal agencies to advance racial equity.