J. Pharoah Doss: Trump revoked LBJ’s Equal Employment Opportunity Act?

As soon as President Donald Trump returned to the White House, he issued a host of executive orders to dismantle the federal government’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives. Trump’s actions shouldn’t have surprised anyone, since he pledged to eliminate DEI programs during his presidential campaign, but so much misinformation circulated on social media that PolitiFact, a fact-checking website, had to make corrections.Several social media posts warned that Donald Trump revoked Lyndon B. John­son’s Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1965, which prohibited discrimination in hiring based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.However, the fact-checker pointed out that there was no Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1965, and even if there was, an “act” refers to legislation passed by Congress, which cannot be overturned by a president’s executive order.A president, on the other hand, can rescind an executive order issued by another president.When Trump issued his executive order titled Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity, he eliminated LBJ’s executive order 11246, which required federal contractors to “take affirmative action” to increase minority and women participation in the workforce.Some Trump supporters who support­ed removing DEI initiatives questioned whether revoking LBJ’s executive order 11246 went too far. Was Trump throwing away...