Greene County Democrat

Tag: Andrea Lucas

  • Newswire Andrea Lucas, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) head wants White men to report DEI discrimination 

    Andrea Lucus

    Since becoming chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Andrea Lucas has shifted the agency’s focus to ending workplace DEI initiatives.
    By Joe Jurado, NewsOne

    According to AP, on Wednesday evening, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Chair Andrea Lucas wrote on X, “Are you a white male who has experienced discrimination at work based on your race or sex? You may have a claim to recover money under federal civil rights laws,” on a video of herself. She referred people to a “DEI-related discrimination” fact sheet posted by the agency and urged affected workers to contact the agency “as soon as possible
    Black women are disproportionately affected by rising unemployment rates, but this is what the EEOC chooses to focus on.
    Only a few hours before Lucas posted, Vice President JD Vance posted an article he said “describes the evil of DEI and its consequences.” Lucas cosigned the post, writing, “Absolutely right @JDVance. And precisely because this widespread, systemic, unlawful discrimination primarily harmed white men, elites didn’t just turn a blind eye; they celebrated it. Absolutely unacceptable; unlawful; immoral.”
    White supremacy is such weak-ass behavior. How are you the superior race, but constantly being victimized by the races you deem lesser? Make it make sense, y’all. 
    Lucas was named as the EEOC chair in November. Trump appointed her to the EEOCin 2020 during his forst term and elevated her to chair in 2025. Under her direction, the agency has shifted focus to “rooting out unlawful DEI-motivated race and sex discrimination.” David Glasgow, executive director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging at the NYU School of Law, told AP that Lucas’ post reveals a “fundamental misunderstanding of what DEI is.”
    “It’s really much more about creating a culture in which you get the most out of everyone who you’re bringing on board, where everyone experiences fairness and equal opportunity, including white men and members of other groups,” Glasgow added. The Meltzer Center tracks lawsuits that could affect DEI initiatives, and it’s found that while it has been used to discriminate in several isolated incident, there hasn’t been “any kind of systematic evidence that white men are being discriminated against.”
    Glasgow pointed out that CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are overwhelmingly white men, with white men still making up the majority of corporate leadership, state and federal legislators, and other notable fields. “If DEI has been this engine of discrimination against white men, I have to say it hasn’t really been doing a very good job at achieving that,” Glasgow said.
    Jenny Yang, a former EEOC chair, told AP that it was “unusual” and “problematic” that the agency is now prioritizing the civil rights of one group. “It suggests some sort of priority treatment,” Yang said. “That’s not something that sounds to me like equal opportunity for all.”
    She noted how, under Lucas, the agency has completely deprioritized workplace discrimination cases filed by transgender workers. “It worries me that a message is being sent that the EEOC only cares about some workers and not others,” Yang told AP. 
    It’s genuinely disheartening how much progress the Trump administration has managed to roll back in only a year. America has become far worse for Black, brown, and LGBTQ citizens, and the white folks who voted for this are still broke. So much winning.

  • Newswire : Trump’s EEOC firings mark dangerous turn for Civil Rights and Workplace Protections

     
     Charlotte Burrows and Jocelyn Samuels, fired EEOC Commissioners


    By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent


    As if Black America and other minorities needed a reminder that the United States is under a dictatorship, the country is barreling toward one of the darkest periods in its 248-year history.
    President Donald Trump fired two of the three Democratic commissioners of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), a move that civil rights advocates warn is aimed at dismantling workplace protections for racial minorities, women, and LGBTQ+ individuals. The Associated Press reported that Trump dismissed Charlotte Burrows and Jocelyn Samuels late last Monday night, an unprecedented action that strips the bipartisan agency of its independence.
    The firings, which occurred before the expiration of their five-year terms, leave the agency with just one Democratic commissioner, Kalpana Kotagal, and one Republican commissioner, Andrea Lucas, whom Trump recently appointed as acting chair. Trump now has the power to fill three vacancies, effectively reshaping the EEOC into a weapon against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Another Republican commissioner, Keith Sonderling, resigned after Trump appointed him Deputy Secretary of Labor.
    Burrows and Samuels both indicated they would challenge their removal, calling it a brazen violation of the EEOC’s independent mandate. “This undermines the efforts of this agency to protect employees from discrimination, support employers’ compliance efforts, and expand public awareness and understanding of federal employment laws,” Burrows said in a statement.
    The EEOC, created by the 1964 Civil Rights Act, investigates workplace discrimination claims and imposes penalties on employers who violate anti-discrimination laws. It also issues critical guidelines on workplace protections, ensuring that companies comply with laws preventing discrimination based on race, gender, disability, and other protected characteristics.
    Trump’s latest move appears designed to position the EEOC to target employers with DEI policies, aligning with his administration’s broader attack on civil rights protections. Lucas, the new acting chair, signaled this shift last week, vowing to prioritize “rooting out unlawful DEI-motivated race and sex discrimination,” while also advancing anti-transgender policies.
    Burrows and Samuels had previously condemned Trump’s executive orders targeting DEI programs and protections for transgender workers, stating that anti-discrimination laws remain intact despite the administration’s aggressive rollback of protections. Samuels, who was appointed by Trump in 2020, called her removal illegal. “This represents a fundamental misunderstanding of the EEOC as an independent agency—not controlled by a single Cabinet secretary but designed as a multi-member body,” she said.
    In a similarly alarming move, Trump also fired National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) member Gwynne A. Wilcox, the first Black woman to serve on the board since its founding in 1935, along with NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo.
    Civil rights organizations and labor advocates condemned the firings as a direct attack on workers’ rights. “Today’s outrageous firings send a cruel message that not all workers can count on the EEOC,” said Gaylynn Burroughs, vice president for education and workplace justice at the National Women’s Law Center. “Under the EEOC envisioned by Trump, the government will no longer have your back if you are a transgender or gay worker seeking fair treatment. And if you are a person of color or a woman, your success at work is evidence of ‘illegal DEI.’”
    Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) called Trump’s decision another sign of his disregard for the law. “These are yet more lawless actions by a president who thinks he is above the law and clearly could not care less about the rights of workers,” she said.
    Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), ranking member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, warned that the firings severely undermine the agency’s mission. “Ensuring that the EEOC can carry out its vital work should not be a partisan issue. In the end, President Trump’s actions fundamentally hurt workers and undermine the civil rights laws of this nation,” Scott said.