Advocates call out Trump for linking DEI to deadly plane crash: 'It's offensive.'
USA TODAY01/31/2025
WASHINGTON ‒ Civil rights leaders and disability rights advocates slammed President Donald Trump Thursday for implying that initiatives supporting workplace diversity could have contributed to a deadly plane crash near the nation's capital.
“Blaming a tragic air crash on what makes our country great, which is our diversity, equity and inclusion, it's offensive and it's wrong especially because we know these values make our nation stronger,’’ said Margaret Huang, president and CEO the Southern Poverty Law Center.
At a press conference at the White House Thursday, Trump offered condolences to families of 67 people killed after the collision of an Army helicopter and an American Airlines plane as the plane was landing at Reagan Washington National Airport. Trump also pointed to diversity, equity and inclusion or DEI efforts in agencies, including the Federal Aviation Administration, as part of the problem.
Asked why he thought DEI could be a factor, he responded: "I have common sense."
Trump also said jobs should be done by "naturally talented geniuses," and then criticized the Biden administration for allegedly allowing people with intellectual and psychiatric disabilities to work for the Federal Aviation Administration.
"They want them in, and they can be air traffic controllers," Trump said. "I don't think so."
Other Trump officials also brought up DEI efforts at the press conference. “We will have the best and brightest in every position possible,” Pete Hegseth, the new Defense Secretary said. “The era of DEI is gone at the Defense Department.”
The remarks come on the heels of Trump signing an executive order last week requiring federal agencies to eliminate initiatives across the government that support diversity, inclusion and equity, including those targeting people with disabilities.
The administration has defended its efforts saying jobs should be awarded based on merit. Critics counter that the initiatives don't override merit.
Huang and other civil rights activists who held an online press conference after Trump's remarks said the tragedy had nothing to do with DEI.
“I find the president's outrageous comments disgraceful and unbecoming of the office that he holds,’’ said Huang, who landed at Reagan National herself Wednesday just after the crash. “Above all, they're a lie.’’
'Enough is enough'
More than 20 national civil rights leaders, led by the National Urban League, gathered last week to express their concerns about Trump's effort to eliminate DEI efforts. Some said Thursday, Trump’s remarks about the plane crash were part of his effort to scapegoat often marginalized communities.
“He is the great divider of our times,’’ Damon Hewitt, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said Thursday. “Do not be fooled. He is engaging in fear tactics to stoke division.”
Fatima Goss Graves, president of the National Women’s Law Center, said she was “both disturbed and unfortunately unsurprised to see within hours the leaders in this country, including up to this president, once again demonizing diversity, demonizing equity to try to distract from the responsibility of leading in this time.’’
“Enough is enough,’’ she said.
Separately, Derrick Johnson, president of the NAACP, criticized Trump for what he called “unpresidential, divisive behavior.”
“The president has made his decision to put politics over people abundantly clear as he uses the highest office in the land to sow hatred rooted in falsehoods instead of providing us with the leadership we need and deserve,“ Johnson said.
Advocates for people with disabilities called Trump’s remarks insulting.
“I don't work in air safety. I am not an FAA employee, but even I know that there are thousands of factors in any flight crash investigation and that none of them are the diversity hiring initiative that may or may not have been utilized to hire the workers,’’ said Jess Davidson, communications director for the American Association of People with Disabilities.
There are standards for any job and people hired must be able to do it.
“There are incredibly rigorous standards for air traffic controllers,’’ she said. “So to imply that people who are not capable of doing that job are being hired into it just because they are disabled and that they are being put into a position in which they are set up to fail ‒ that is that is such a lie and is really insulting to everybody who's in those jobs, no matter what their identity is.’’
Activists said they plan to pursue legal action to halt Trump’s executive orders that violate the nation’s civil rights laws.
“We are absolutely determined not to allow this administration to get away with any of those actions,’’ Huang said. “We are going to be looking at litigation, at advocacy and at mass mobilization to make sure that this administration gets the message: ‘We're not going to stand for this.’ ‘’