Trump’s EEOC chair issues PSA to white men telling them they can claim money for race and gender discrimination

“Stunts like this demonstrate the lengths Trump is willing to go to…once again unbalance the scales in favor of privilege and white supremacy,” said Markus Batchelor, National Political Director at People For The American Way.

The chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a PSA specifically to white men, encouraging them to file a claim of race and gender discrimination in the workplace with her office.

“Are you a white male who’s experienced discrimination at work based on your race or sex? You may have a claim to recover money under federal civil rights laws,” said Andrea Lucas, appointed by President Donald Trump, in a video message posted online on Wednesday.

Lucas, who has previously argued that civil rights laws are “colorblind,” continued, “The EEOC is the federal agency charged with enforcing federal anti-discrimination law against businesses and other private sector employers. The EEOC is committed to identifying, attacking, and eliminating all forms of race and sex discrimination, including against white male applicants and employees.”

Lucas’s appeal to white men was met with criticism from those who say it further drives the Trump Administration’s focus on protecting white men from so-called discrimination as opposed to Black and other marginalized groups, who continue to see disparities in hiring. As theGrio previously reported, this week the Black unemployment rate has skyrocketed to 8.3%, which is disproportionately higher than the national average of 4.6%.

The unemployment rate for white men is ironically below the national rate at 3.6%.

“Stunts like this demonstrate the lengths Trump is willing to go to dismantle institutions meant to do good and make them tools that once again unbalance the scales in favor of privilege and white supremacy,” said Markus Batchelor, National Political Director at People For the American Way.

He told theGrio, “A call for ‘color-blind, merit-based’ employment falls flat from a White House that is overwhelmingly white, wealthy, and unqualified to govern.”

In January, President Trump signed a series of executive orders eliminating DEI federal programs and decades-old enforcement of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Advocates warned that the moves by the Trump Administration would ultimately result in a loss of job opportunities for Black, Brown, LGBTQ, and disabled Americans and women.

As EEOC chair, Lucas has focused on rooting out DEI in the public and private sectors. In her Wednesday PSA, Lucas urged potential white male victims of work discrimination to visit the commission’s website to learn more about so-called “DEI-related discrimination.”

An analysis report of Trump’s executive orders prohibiting DEI by The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights found that while the number Black Americans with college degress has increased over the last two decades, “Black people remain relegated to lower wage jobs and less lucrative industries compared to white people with similar levels of education, and Black women experience some of the largest pay gaps.”

“If the Trump administration fully implements these EOs, they will erect new barriers to federal programs and employment, making the federal government less able to meet the needs of the nation,” reads the report. “The EOs also try to empower the Trump administration to interfere in private sector efforts to open up opportunity. Ultimately, these EOs will weaken our economy, endanger our national security, and threaten our multi-racial democracy.”