Rev. John Wilson Jr.- First Harvard Graduate
Posted on January 26, 2025 by Royal Rosamond Press
John Presco reading from The History of the Wilson Family
I just sent an e-mail to Alan Garber, the President of Harvard.
Dear Alan Garber;
What is wrong with thus statement?
“Republicans have railed against diversity and inclusion programming on college campuses for years.”
My name is John Presco and I am related to John Fremont and Henry Clay, via his wife Lucretia, who born Henry eleven children while talking care of Ashland, while her husband was away in Congress trying to solve the issue of Slavery. To do a thorough study of Henry Clay, is to study the fate of black slaves kidnapped from Africa. Henry came up with a plan to ship freed slaves back to Africa.
On this day, January 27, 2025, I claim all monies taken Harvard Slavery Remembrance Program, and given to American Ancestors . As fate would have it, my family tree – is American Historic Ancestry. I am related to Senator Thomas Hart Benton whose name was removed from two buildings at Oregon State, You will find my letter to President, Ed Ray. Also, my great grandfather, Carl Janke came to America with six portable houses and put them in Belmont. He built two Turnverein Halls in San Francisco. The Judaic Turnverein colonized Palestine, Carl’s remains were dug up in the middle of the night, and, may not be where they were first put. I read you are having a crisis with graves.
I descend for Rev, John Wilson and his son, who was one of the first graduates of Harvard.I beg you not to tell President Trump you got this message, because I am on food stamps, SS1, and Hud. He might take these things from me to teach me a lesson. I am a high school dropout – who owns the largest blog in the world! Mark Gall will give you a good report about me, and my struggle to be sober for thirty-six years. The least you can do is archive my blog Royal Rosamond Press.
Sincerely
John Presco
President: Royal Rosamond Press
EXTRA! This was my problem….I found too many of my kinfolk in the same grave.
Staff members were not given a reason for the team’s disbanding, according to three people who were laid off Thursday. HSRP has been front and center amid controversy at the Legacy of Slavery initiative over the last few months. In September, a Crimson investigation reported that Cellini, the director, had accused Vice Provost for Special Projects Sara N. Bleich, who oversees the Legacy of Slavery initiative, of instructing HSRP “not to find too many descendants.”
Sara N. Bleich, who oversees the Legacy of Slavery initiative, of instructing HSRP “not to find too many descendants.”
Sara N. Bleich, who oversees the Legacy of Slavery initiative, of instructing HSRP “not to find too many descendants.”
By Neil H. Shah, Crimson Staff Writer
3 days ago
Updated January 23, 2025, at 9:29 p.m.
Harvard University has laid off the staff of its Harvard Slavery Remembrance Program, the unit of its $100 million Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery initiative tasked with identifying the direct descendants of those enslaved by Harvard affiliates.
Instead, the work will be continued by American Ancestors, a New England-based genealogical nonprofit. American Ancestors is currently one of HSRP’s external research partners, and they will now be leading the project in full.
Employees were notified Thursday shortly after 11 a.m. that they had been terminated, effective that day, according to HSRP Director Richard J. Cellini and research fellow Wayne W. Tucker. They were not given any advance notice of the decision or informed that the layoffs were being considered, Cellini and Tucker added. Cellini was notified of his termination less than one hour before the remainder of the team.
The sudden move came just one week after HSRP researchers met with the prime minister and governor general of Antigua and Barbuda to discuss a potential ground research presence in the country. Cellini and his team visited the island nation after HSRP discovered “several hundred people” enslaved by Harvard affiliates in the region between 1660 and 1815.
That number added to the more than 300 individuals enslaved by Harvard affiliates that HSRP had already identified. As of September, the team had also identified more than 100 living descendants.
Staff members were not given a reason for the team’s disbanding, according to three people who were laid off Thursday. HSRP has been front and center amid controversy at the Legacy of Slavery initiative over the last few months. In September, a Crimson investigation reported that Cellini, the director, had accused Vice Provost for Special Projects Sara N. Bleich, who oversees the Legacy of Slavery initiative, of instructing HSRP “not to find too many descendants.”
“I have told officials at the highest level of the University that they only have two options: fire me, or let the HSRP do this work properly,” Cellini wrote in a September statement to The Crimson.
On Thursday, Cellini wrote in a text message: “Today Harvard fired me. So now we know.”
Telling the Truth about All This: Reckoning with Slavery and Its Legacies at Harvard and Beyond
Over the past two decades, universities around the world have begun to engage with their legacies related to slavery. With this history uncovered, we now ask: What must institutions of higher education do? What types of repair work can and should we undertake? We explore these questions through discussions about a range of topics, including engagement with descendant communities, legacies of slavery in libraries and museums, and novel public engagement and educational opportunities.
This conference, “Responsibility and Repair”—led by Harvard University’s Native American Program in collaboration with Harvard Radcliffe Institute—brought together Native and university leaders to advance a national dialogue, expand research, and establish and deepen partnerships with Indigenous communities. Activists, scholars, Native leaders, tribal historians, and others explore the responsibility of universities to confront their past and recommended steps toward repair that is often centuries overdue.
Telling the Truth about All This: Reckoning with Slavery and Its Legacies at Harvard and Beyond
Over the past two decades, universities around the world have begun to engage with their legacies related to slavery. With this history uncovered, we now ask: What must institutions of higher education do? What types of repair work can and should we undertake? We explore these questions through discussions about a range of topics, including engagement with descendant communities, legacies of slavery in libraries and museums, and novel public engagement and educational opportunities.
This conference, “Responsibility and Repair”—led by Harvard University’s Native American Program in collaboration with Harvard Radcliffe Institute—brought together Native and university leaders to advance a national dialogue, expand research, and establish and deepen partnerships with Indigenous communities. Activists, scholars, Native leaders, tribal historians, and others explore the responsibility of universities to confront their past and recommended steps toward repair that is often centuries overdue.
Staff members were not given a reason for the team’s disbanding, according to three people who were laid off Thursday. HSRP has been front and center amid controversy at the Legacy of Slavery initiative over the last few months. In September, a Crimson investigation reported that Cellini, the director, had accused Vice Provost for Special Projects Sara N. Bleich, who oversees the Legacy of Slavery initiative, of instructing HSRP “not to find too many descendants.”
Courtesy of the U.S. Department of Education
Dive Brief
Trump signs executive order targeting DEI policies at colleges
The directive escalates the crusade against diversity, equity and inclusion programs on campuses to the federal policy level.
Published Jan. 23, 2025
My Letter to Ed Ray
Posted on May 28, 2019 by Royal Rosamond Press
To Ed Ray: President of Oregon State
Several months ago I began my response to you about giving a new name to Benton Hall that was named after my kin, Senator Thomas Hart Benton. My sister was a world famous artist that married Garth Benton. The artwork of Christine Rosamond Benton is found all over the world. As fate would have it, the beautiful images of Rosamond are very similar to the beautiful women Philip Boileau rendered. Philip is the son of Susan Benton, who held a salon in Paris, while her sister, Jessie, held one in San Francisco. Jessie wrote the journals of her husband’s mapping of the Oregon Territory.
John Fremont ‘The Pathfinder’ was the first to emancipate slaves. Fremont and his father-in-law, Senator Benton, may have been behind the Bear Flag rebellion, because the British were prepared to deport tens of thousand of Catholics in Ireland to the San Juaquin Valley, where they would secure a new colony with the help of the Emperor of Mexico and his bride, Carlotta, who was a cousin of Queen Victoria. Then, there was the threat of an French invasion of California by the Emperor of France. There was a world war brewing for the Oregon Territory.
It had been a year since I took a DNA test. I am kin to Robert E. Lee, Robert and John Wilson, the founder of Harvard who was the Puritan Leader of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. John presided over the trial of Anne Hutchinson. My great-grandfather is found in Hawthorne’s ‘The Scarlet Letter’. My cousin is Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, whose son married a Getty, and thus is kin to the author, Ian Fleming.
Wow! Let me pause and take a deep breath! Did you ever wonder if Senator Benton had any relatives before you and your team of History Anarchists, dragged him out of Benton Hall, and put him in your flimsy pillory, that my Puritan ancestors would mock? There is a saying in AA……….”Half measures availed us not!”
Indeed, your contraption, your juggernaut is a balsawood affair, that now crumbles under the weight of – REAL HISTORY – that can not be, judged, nor deterred, down some dirty back alley near your campus in order to please the take-out orders of half-baked Anarchists, like the ones who came after me! See my letter to the Eugene City Council about the tyranny of the Anarchist Witches to silence me, and destroy the reputation of my newspaper. Royal Rosamond Press. I am crushing them with my juggernaut, my learned rhetoric that is in my DNA!
I assure you I am not a violent man. Senator Thomas Hart Benton was involved in several duels, one with Andrew Jackson. Benton wrote an essay ‘In Defense of Dueling. What you and your history panel do not mention, is, the white man has long made sure they are well armed, and own superior fire power so they can go conquer other peoples and other lands. Why didn’t you point this out in your revisionist history and come out in favor of gun control, which might have got you the applause of most of the student body? Do you think they care about that tinker-toy display you put in Benton Hall – that they will never read?
Putting an end to Gun Violence, and ending Homelessness, should be the united goal of every university. This is what the children of the future want. If you need a good reason to remove the Benton name, post some quotes from this manifesto. Perhaps white men were not driven by hatred of other races, but by – love of Violence!
As an original Hippie, I faced club wielding police on horseback charging into peaceful demonstrators. Why didn’t your crack team of experts give their judgement on the Vietnam War? Instead, you went after a man who you though, had no family. How cowardly. Being seen as a coward, is huge! I saw brave women take on the National Guard in Berkley, called in to protect a little patch of land called ‘People’s Park’.
Benton looked to a merger of the white and yellow race. My generation was never given a plan for being in Vietnam. Where were our college historians and presidents explaining it to us? Now we are in a trade war? Perhaps the problem is not that we have had enough of Benton, but, we have not had enough! Roll on Columbia! Of course he has to sell it to his people, who don’t want equals, nor do they want to be seen as inferiors. This is one of the greatest politicians in American History. Benton knew the people – had a choice! He knew there were really bad choices out there.
The sun of civilization must shine across the sea; socially and commercially the van of the Caucasians, and the rear of the Mongolians, must intermix. They must talk together, and trade together, and marry together. . . . Moral and intellectual superiority will do the rest; the White race will take the ascendant, elevating what is susceptible of improvement-wearing out what is not. . . . And thus the youngest people, and the newest land, will become the reviver and the regenerator of the oldest . . . .
It is in this point of view, and as acting upon the social, political, and religious condition of Asia, and giving a new point of departure to her ancient civilization, that I look upon the settlement of the Columbia river by the van of the Caucasian race as the most momentous human event in the history of man since his dispersion over the face of the earth.”
Wow! Is Benton rooting for Oregon! He’s wearing all the colors; the green, the black, the yellow, and the orange! But, he’s terribly flawed! He is a racist by definition. Imagine if there were people who came to Oregon, saw the Native Americans, and, headed back to where they came from. Are these Ed’s people? No. Ed’s people would have gone South, kidnapped slaves, brought them to Oregon, and then committed Hari Kari because they didn’t trust their cruel instincts. To codify this Fantasy Trip, the name of Benton is removed from two college buildings. This resembles a Star Trek episode.
I happen to know where Ray’s folks come from – Switzerland! They are kin to the Rougemonts who may be the source of the Rosamond name. Ed went on the attack! He aggressively attacked my dead kinfolk. Ed is white! Ed has gone to the top! He stuck a flag in the heart of Benton, which so far, is his claim to fame! You see, this is how white people are. Not being ambitions, is the unspoken white sin. Ed, tossed the agitators a bone. The Leg Bone of Benton………….that will got down in infamy!
“Go round, Lawrence!”
“Take no prisoners!”
Natalie Schwartz enior Editor
Listen to the article5 min
Dive Brief:
- President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programs at colleges and other “influential institutions of American society,” escalating the Republican-led crusade against DEI.
- The executive order declares that DEI policies and programs adopted by colleges and others can violate federal civil rights laws and directs federal agencies to “combat illegal private sector DEI preferences, mandates, policies, and activities.”
- Trump’s order also directs each federal agency to identify up to nine corporations or associations, large foundations, or colleges with endowments over $1 billion as potential targets for “civil compliance investigations.”
Dive Insight:
Republicans have railed against diversity and inclusion programming on college campuses for years, with state lawmakers enacting 14 pieces of legislation that restrict or bar DEI since 2023, according to a tally from The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Federal lawmakers have likewise targeted DEI programs at colleges in hearings and proposed bills. With Trump’s flurry of recent executive orders, however, the newly sworn-in president has made clear that his administration will ramp up the fight against DEI at the federal level.
“Institutions of higher education have adopted and actively use dangerous, demeaning, and immoral race- and sex-based preferences under the guise of so-called ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion,’” the order states.
Jeremy Young, director of state and higher education policy at PEN America, a free expression organization, voiced concerns about the executive order.
“It launches a series of investigations into universities for merely having a DEI office or promoting DEI, diversity work on their campus,” Young said. “That, to us, is a pretty straightforward violation of the intellectual freedom of a university to promote ideas of all kinds on its campus.”
At minimum, government investigations could amount to a nuisance, but at maximum, they could lead to lawsuits and actions against colleges, Young added.
Young also said the order is designed to sow division in the higher education sector by targeting colleges with endowments worth $1 billion or more.
“My hope is that higher education institutions will see this attack on a subset of their members as an attack on everyone,” Young said.
Trump’s new order also lacks a clear definition of what it deems as DEI programs or policies, Young said, raising concerns about unconstitutionally vague language.
State bills banning DEI similarly don’t have clear definitions, Young said.
“They become effectively a license to censor,” Young said. “Any government agency looking at them can claim that something is DEI because there is no actual definition in the order.”
Trump’s order directs the nation’s attorney general, in consultation with federal agencies, to propose potential litigation against the private sector to enforce civil rights laws. It also orders agencies to identify “potential regulatory action and sub-regulatory guidance.”
Trump also directed the U.S. education secretary to work with the nation’s attorney general to issue guidance to federally funded colleges within the next 120 days regarding how they can comply with the landmark 2023 Supreme Court decision that struck down race-conscious admissions. Trump’s nominee for education secretary, former World Wrestling Entertainment president and CEO Linda McMahon, is awaiting Senate confirmation hearings for the post.
Tuesday’s executive order comes after he signed several other directives on the first day of his presidency meant to dismantle DEI efforts within the federal workforce.
Tim Walberg, the Michigan Republican who chairs the House Committee on Education and Workforce, lauded the executive actions against DEI.
“DEI has bloated education budgets while telling students what to think instead of how to think,” Walberg said in a Wednesday statement. “I commend the Trump administration for dismantling DEI.”
Tuesday’s executive order clarifies that instructors at colleges that get federal aid are not prohibited from “advocating for, endorsing, or promoting the unlawful employment or contracting practices prohibited by this order” in their academic courses.
But Young said he hasn’t seen any legislation or executive order claiming to restrict DEI that doesn’t also restrict faculty instruction or roles in some way. “We have come to the conclusion that it may be impossible to do that,” Young said.
Trump’s order also says it does not prevent colleges from engaging in speech protected by the First Amendment.
Young, however, said language like this amounts to a meaningless statement, as the First Amendment supersedes an executive order.
“The problem is that the language plainly does violate the First Amendment, and therefore it’s going to be years before the courts adjudicate it and, meanwhile, people have to live under these executive orders,” Young said.
The U.S. Department of Education issued two press releases this week. The first announced President Donald Trump’s senior appointments to the department. The second took action to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
Just days before, Brookings hosted an event featuring former education secretaries Margaret Spellings, John King Jr., and Arne Duncan on the future of the department. Education Week said the leaders “argued that the department’s role in civil rights, data collection for accountability, and improving outcomes remain as important as ever.”
Spellings noted that if the department’s antidote to the “woke agenda” and elimination of DEI is a commitment to fundamental skill building in reading and math, transparency and accountability, closing the achievement gap, and addressing chronic absenteeism — all of which she said made up the consistent focus across all 16 years of Bush and Obama administration — then student performance could increase under this administration.
King urged education leaders and advocates to “look for opportunities even as you defend against challenges.”
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The presidential actions that preceded the press releases
Prior to yesterday, Trump had nominated Linda McMahon to be secretary of the department and Penny Schwinn to be deputy secretary. Both will have to be confirmed.
He also appointed Denise Carter as acting secretary of the department. By law, acting secretaries must be appointed from within the federal agency they are serving and the appointment can last up to 210 days.
In the Brookings conversation, Duncan said the nomination of McMahon was “much less concerning than others vying for the job,” and he called Schwinn a serious, smart education leader who cares about kids. He said he is “a tiny bit hopeful” that under their leadership positive things can happen for students.
Education Week also notes that Trump announced the selection of Eric Bledsoe to serve as a special assistant to the president for domestic policy, focusing primarily on education. Bledsoe, according to the article, was previously a senior director of civics at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.
Ask & Answer | President Trump’s first day in office, what it means for education, and a bishop’s request for mercy
by Mebane Rash | January 22, 2025
Who is Linda McMahon? From ECU grad to nominee for ed secretary, a look beyond the headlines
by Mebane Rash | December 2, 2024
Political appointees round out the leadership team of the department
The first press release to be issued by the department under this administration announced a team of senior-level political appointees to support the secretary and deputy secretary. The leadership team, said the press release, “will support the implementation of President Trump’s vision to empower parents in their children’s education and restore a focus on teaching the knowledge and skills students need to succeed.”
Many of the appointees have been working at the America First Policy Institute, where McMahon has been chair of the board since 2021.
According to its website, “The America First Policy Institute (AFPI) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, non-partisan research institute. AFPI exists to advance policies that put the American people first. Our guiding principles are liberty, free enterprise, national greatness, American military superiority, foreign-policy engagement in the American interest, and the primacy of American workers, families, and communities in all we do.”
The following background on the team was provided in the press release.
Rachel Oglesby | Chief of Staff
Rachel Oglesby most recently served as America First Policy Institute’s Chief State Action Officer & Director, Center for the American Worker. In this role, she worked to advance policies that promote worker freedom, create opportunities outside of a four-year college degree, and provide workers with the necessary skills to succeed in the modern economy, as well as leading all of AFPI’s state policy development and advocacy work. She previously worked as Chief of Policy and Deputy Chief of Staff for Governor Kristi Noem in South Dakota, overseeing the implementation of the Governor’s pro-freedom agenda across all policy areas and state government agencies. Oglesby holds a master’s degree in public policy from George Mason University and earned her bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Wake Forest University.
Jonathan Pidluzny | Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Programs
Jonathan Pidluzny most recently served as Director of the Higher Education Reform Initiative at the America First Policy Institute. Prior to that, he was Vice President of Academic Affairs at the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, where his work focused on academic freedom and general education. Jonathan began his career in higher education teaching political science at Morehead State University, where he was an associate professor, program coordinator, and faculty regent from 2017-2019. He received his Ph.D from Boston College and holds a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from the University of Alberta.
Chase Forrester | Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations
Virginia “Chase” Forrester most recently served as the Chief Events Officer at America First Policy Institute, where she oversaw the planning and execution of 80+ high-profile events annually for AFPI’s 22 policy centers, featuring former Cabinet Officials and other distinguished speakers. Chase previously served as Operations Manager on the Trump-Pence 2020 presidential campaign, where she spearheaded all event operations for the Vice President of the United States and the Second Family. Chase worked for the National Republican Senatorial Committee during the Senate run-off races in Georgia and as a fundraiser for Members of Congress. Chase graduated from Clemson University with a bachelor’s degree in political science and a double-minor in Spanish and legal studies.
Steve Warzoha | White House Liaison
Steve Warzoha joins the U.S. Department of Education after most recently serving on the Trump-Vance Transition Team. A native of Greenwich, CT, he is a former local legislator who served on the Education Committee and as Vice Chairman of both the Budget Overview and Transportation Committees. He is also an elected leader of the Greenwich Republican Town Committee. Steve has run and served in senior positions on numerous local, state, and federal campaigns. Steve comes from a family of educators and public servants and is a proud product of Greenwich Public Schools and an Eagle Scout.
Tom Wheeler | Principal Deputy General Counsel
Tom Wheeler’s prior federal service includes as the Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice, a Senior Advisor to the White House Federal Commission on School Safety, and as a Senior Advisor/Counsel to the Secretary of Education. He has also been asked to serve on many Boards and Commissions, including as Chair of the Hate Crimes Sub-Committee for the Federal Violent Crime Reduction Task Force, a member of the Department of Justice’s Regulatory Reform Task Force, and as an advisor to the White House Coronavirus Task Force, where he worked with the CDC and HHS to develop guidelines for the safe reopening of schools and guidelines for law enforcement and jails/prisons. Prior to rejoining the U.S. Department of Education, Tom was a partner at an AM-100 law firm, where he represented federal, state, and local public entities including educational institutions and law enforcement agencies in regulatory, administrative, trial, and appellate matters in local, state and federal venues. He is a frequent author and speaker in the areas of civil rights, free speech, and Constitutional issues, improving law enforcement, and school safety.
Craig Trainor | Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Office for Civil Rights
Craig Trainor most recently served as Senior Special Counsel with the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary under Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH), where Mr. Trainor investigated and conducted oversight of the U.S. Department of Justice, including its Civil Rights Division, the FBI, the Biden-Harris White House, and the Intelligence Community for civil rights and liberties abuses. He also worked as primary counsel on the House Judiciary’s Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government’s investigation into the suppression of free speech and antisemitic harassment on college and university campuses, resulting in the House passing the Antisemitism Awareness Act of 2023. Previously, he served as Senior Litigation Counsel with the America First Policy Institute under former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, Of Counsel with the Fairness Center, and had his own civil rights and criminal defense law practice in New York City for over a decade. Upon graduating from the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law, he clerked for Chief Judge Frederick J. Scullin, Jr., U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York. Mr. Trainor is admitted to practice law in the state of New York, the U.S. District Court for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Madi Biedermann | Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Communications and Outreach
Madi Biedermann is an experienced education policy and communications professional with experience spanning both federal and state government and policy advocacy organizations. She most recently worked as the Chief Operating Officer at P2 Public Affairs. Prior to that, she served as an Assistant Secretary of Education for Governor Glenn Youngkin and worked as a Special Assistant and Presidential Management Fellow at the Office of Management and Budget in the first Trump Administration. Madi received her bachelor’s degree and master of public administration from the University of Southern California.
Candice Jackson | Deputy General Counsel
Candice Jackson returns to the U.S. Department of Education to serve as Deputy General Counsel. Candice served in the first Trump Administration as Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, and Deputy General Counsel, from 2017-2021. For the last few years, Candice has practiced law in Washington State and California and consulted with groups and individuals challenging the harmful effects of the concept of “gender identity” in laws and policies in schools, employment, and public accommodations. Candice is mom to girl-boy twins Madelyn and Zachary, age 11.
Joshua Kleinfeld – Deputy General Counsel
Joshua Kleinfeld is the Allison & Dorothy Rouse Professor of Law and Director of the Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State at George Mason University’s Scalia School of Law. He writes and teaches about constitutional law, criminal law, and statutory interpretation, focusing in all fields on whether democratic ideals are realized in governmental practice. As a scholar and public intellectual, he has published work in the Harvard, Stanford, and University of Chicago Law Reviews, among other venues. As a practicing lawyer, he has clerked on the D.C. Circuit, Fourth Circuit, and Supreme Court of Israel, represented major corporations accused of billion-dollar wrongdoing, and, on a pro bono basis, represented children accused of homicide. As an academic, he was a tenured full professor at Northwestern Law School before lateraling to Scalia Law School. He holds a J.D. in law from Yale Law School, a Ph.D. in philosophy from the Goethe University of Frankfurt, and a B.A. in philosophy from Yale College.
Hannah Ruth Earl – Director, Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships
Hannah Ruth Earl is the former executive director of America’s Future, where she cultivated communities of freedom-minded young professionals and local leaders. She previously co-produced award-winning feature films as director of talent and creative development at the Moving Picture Institute. A native of Tennessee, she holds a master of arts in religion from Yale Divinity School.
First action of new leadership is to eliminate DEI
The first action of the new leadership at the federal department of education was to issue a press release implementing Trump’s recent presidential actions on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
The press release said the actions taken “are the first step in reorienting the agency toward prioritizing meaningful learning ahead of divisive ideology in our schools.”
Notable actions taken, according to the press release, include:
- Dissolution of the Department’s Diversity & Inclusion Council, effective immediately.
- Background: The Diversity & Inclusion Council was established following Executive Order 13583 under then-President Barack Obama. Trump has rescinded the executive orders that guide the council and issued a new executive order, “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,” that terminates groups like the Diversity & Inclusion Council. DEI documents issued and related actions taken by the council have been withdrawn.
- Dissolution of the Employee Engagement Diversity Equity Inclusion Accessibility Council (EEDIAC) within the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), effective immediately and pursuant to Trump’s executive order “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing.”
- Cancellation of ongoing DEI training and service contracts which total over $2.6 million.
- Withdrawal of the department’s Equity Action Plan.
- Placement of career department staff tasked with implementing the previous administration’s DEI initiatives on paid administrative leave.
- Identification for removal of over 200 web pages from the department’s website that housed DEI resources and encouraged schools and institutions of higher education to promote or endorse harmful ideological programs.
The press release said the department “will continue its comprehensive review of all agency programs and services to identify additional initiatives and working groups that may be advancing a divisive DEI agenda, including programs using coded or imprecise language to disguise their activity.”
It also said “careful review of all public sites and media channels for DEI language and resources will also continue.”
Additional guidance on DEI is forthcoming. This presidential action says that in 120 days the Attorney General and the Secretary of Education will jointly issue guidance to state and local educational agencies that receive federal funds, as well as all institutions of higher education that receive federal grants or participate in the federal student loan assistance program.
Mebane Rash is the CEO and editor-in-chief of EducationNC.
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The American Yawp Reader
Johnson and Reconstruction Cartoon, 1866
Thomas Nast, “Reconstruction and How It Works,” Harper’s Weekly, 1866, via HarpWeek.
This print mocks Reconstruction by making several allusions to Shakespeare. The center illustration shows a Black soldier as Othello and President Andrew Johnson as Iago. Johnson’s slogans “Treason is a crime and must be made odious” and “I am your Moses” are on the wall. The top left shows a riot in Memphis and at the top a riot in New Orleans. At the bottom, Johnson is trying to charm a Confederate Copperhead. General Benjamin Butler is at the bottom left, accepting the Confederate surrender of New Orleans in 1862. This scene is contrasted to the bottom right where General Philips Sheridan bows to Louisiana Attorney General Andrew Herron in 1866, implying a defeat for Reconstruction. Click on the image for more information.
Left Side:
Iago. The Moor is of a free and open nature,
That thinks men honest that but seem to be so;
And will as tenderly be led by the nose,
As asses…
Make the Moor thank me, love me, and reward me,
For making him egregiously an ass,
And practicing upon his peace and quiet
Even to madness. ‘Tis here, but yet confus’d;
Knavery’s plain face is never seen, till us’d…
Though I do hate him as I do hell-pains,
Yet, for necessity of present life,
I must show out a flag and sign of love;
Which is indeed but sign…
Then devils will their blackest sins put on,
They do suggest at first with heavenly shows,
As I do now…
I humbly do beseech you of your pardon,
For too much loving you…
I hope, you will consider, what is spoke
Comes from my love;–But, I do see you are mov’d:–
I am to pray you, not to strain my speech
To grosser issues, nor to larger reach
Than to suspicion…
O grace! O heaven defend me!
Are you a man? Have you a soul, or sense?–
God be wi’ you; take mine office.–O wretched fool,
That liv’st to make thine honesty a vice!–
O monstrous world! Take note, take note, O world!
To be direct and honest, is not safe.–
I thank you for this profit; and, from hence,
I’ll love no friend, since love breeds such offense…
Work on,
My medicine, work!
Othello.
Right Side:
“I have been accused of being inimical to the true interests of the colored people’ but this is not true. I am one of their best friends; and time, which tries and tests all, will demonstrate the fact…I once said I would be the Moses of your people, and lead them on to liberty–liberty they now have…I have been blamed for vetoing the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill, and have been also represented to the colored people as having done it because I was their enemy. This is not true…The ordinary course of judicial proceedings is no longer interrupted. The courts, both State and Federal, are in full, complete, and successful operation, and through them every person, regardless of race and color, is entitled to and can be hear. The protection granted to the white citizen is already conferred by law upon the freedman….It can not be expected that men who have for four years been made familiar with the blood and carnage of war, who have suffered the loss of property, and in so many instances reduced from affluence to poverty, can at once assume the calm demeanor and action of those citizens of the country whose worldly possessions have not been destroyed, and whose political hopes have not been blasted, and the worst view of this subject affords no parallel in violence to similar outrages that have followed all civil commotions, always less in magnitude than ours. But I do not believe that this to-be-regretted state of things will last long.”– Andrew Johnson.
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