Mother Jones illustration; Legacy Lit
Only two months into his return to power, President Donald Trump has moved with astonishing speed to achieve his goal of ridding American classrooms of so-called “radical indoctrination,” MAGA-speak for educational efforts that prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion. These actions include threatening to cut public schools’ funding unless they scrap DEI initiatives and planning, ever imminently, to launch an executive order to abolish the Department of Education, which would cause irreparable damage to students and educators—especially for those of color.
The fear around the country has been palpable. As the Department of Education’s only civil rights monitor in Alabama, who was fired in February, told my colleague Julia Métraux: “I’m…