February 24th, 2025

Encouraging words from
​State DPO Chair Rosa Colquitt

  Thank you proud Oregonians for everything that you're doing all over our state!
 (https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/another-town-halls-goes-off-the-rails-oregon-2nd-district-edition)
  This morning, in looking at other national events, I reflected on the recent firing by Trump of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General C.Q. Brown -- appropriately described by The Atlantic as "A Friday Night Massacre at the Pentagon." (https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/02/cq-brown-and-friday-night-massacre/681803/    https://www.dvidshub.net/video/755013/im-thinking-about )
   I am again reminded of the words I shared with you back on November 7th, shortly after trying to come to terms with the loss of both the White House and the Senate. These were ideals that anti-apartheid revolutionary, President Nelson Mandela, spoke about after enduring 27 years of imprisonment: There were many dark moments when his faith in humanity was tested, but he always concluded with these words: "I would not and could not give myself up to despair." 
  I'm also including some historical information on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (D.E.I.), given the number of questions I've received over the past weeks regarding the future of D.E.I. While I cannot answer for the rest of the nation, here in Oregon we will continue the fight, with all united efforts, to invest in and to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in ALL aspects of our lives — government, education, health care and so much more! In the interim, please take about five minutes to review the excerpt below from a Real Clear Politics feature:  https://www.realclearpolitics.com/2025/02/23/trumps_anti-dei_executive_orders_641620.html? 
  An Excerpt: " Trump's Anti-DEI Executive Orders"  — "The accusation that he seeks dictatorial power has dogged Donald Trump since before he was elected president in 2016. Yet President Trump’s salvo of executive orders commencing shortly after he returned to the White House one month ago includes many that impose limits on government. Prominent among them is his Inauguration Day Executive Order, “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing.”
  Trump’s Jan. 20 anti-DEI executive order rescinded the pro-DEI Executive Order – “Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government” –  that President Joe Biden signed in January 2021 on his first day in the White House. The Trump directive withdraws from the federal government authority Biden granted it to prefer some individuals and disfavor others based on race. On. Jan. 22, Trump went further, issuing an executive order that abolished affirmative action in federal-government contracting. This one revoked President Lyndon Johnson’s landmark 1965 Executive Order 11246, which has been interpreted as mandating racial preferences.
  By terminating federal diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and affirmative action initiatives, the Trump administration aims to advance the president’s Second Inaugural Address promise to “end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life.” Instead, Trump stated, he would “forge a society that is colorblind and merit-based.”
  On Feb. 12 in “Trump Is on the Wrong Side of History by Design,” New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie decried “the right-wing crusade against ‘diversity, equity and inclusion.’”  . . .  Coming from the Trump administration, argues Bouie, the terms “colorblind” and “merit-based” serve as dog whistles for racism and white supremacy. The Trump team opposes, Bouie contends, “the mere presence of a woman or nonwhite person or disabled or transgender person in any high-skilled, high-status position” . . .  For Trump and the political right, the “alternative isn’t some heretofore unknown standard of merit; it is the reintroduction of something like segregation,” charged Bouie. Trump’s “attack on D.E.I. isn’t about increasing merit or fighting wrongful discrimination; it is about reimposing hierarchies of race and gender (among other categories) onto American society.”"
  Enough reading for this morning! Please stay safe and dry, and I hope to see you real soon.
  Warmly,
   — Rosa Colquitt
      State Party Chair
      Democratic Party of Oregon🌹