Under Trump, the Department of Education has steadily been working to erode the civil rights of vulnerable students. Trans students, students with disabilities and victims of gender-based violence have all suffered under Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. And now the next population of students that will be hurt is students of color (especially black students).
She’s set her eyes on a 2014 guidance issued under the Obama administration that urged schools to eliminate racial bias against students of color in their disciplinary actions. It states, “racial discrimination is a real problem.”
Of course, racist conservatives have a problem with this idea of black children being treated fairly. And now, DeVos is poised to rescind the guidance.
Before she makes the final announcement, she held listening sessions with people who both support and oppose it. The Education Department claims this will inform them before making a decision, but let’s be honest—she’s already made up her mind. As one attendee told The Hill:
Though DeVos told those who attended last week’s listening sessions that no decision has been made, civil rights advocates aren’t buying it.
“I think it’s clear their intent is to pull the guidance,” said Brenda Shum, director of the Educational Opportunities Project at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, who attended the listening session.
I totally believe it. I attended a listening session at the Department of Education last year to talk about the importance of Title IX to make schools safer. They claimed to not have made any decisions at the time, but it was clear that she was never going to truly listen to us—and we were right. She rescinded the guidances afterward. As I tweeted earlier this week:
It’s a really disturbing trend, but in character with what we expect from the Trump administration. The lying and gaslighting happening from the Office for Civil Rights probably makes Trump himself proud. There’s something particularly cruel about inviting people to beg for their civil rights when you already made up your mind to take them away.