White House Will Celebrate Black History Month As Some Government Agencies Skip After Anti-dei Order

The Trump administration will celebrate Black History Month at the White House on Thursday, preserving a tradition at the same time that President Donald Trump's executive order ending the federal government's diversity, equity and inclusion programs has disrupted its observance elsewhere.

The ceremony comes as Trump has called DEI programs "discrimination" and pushed to eradicate diversity programs from the government, directed that DEI workers eventually be laid off and exerted similar pressure on the private sector to shift to an exclusive focus on merit.

The sweeping effort has sown discord and confusion across federal agencies, which have variously interpreted the order to limit how they can acknowledge race in history and culture or report demographic data on race and gender .

Joining Trump at the East Room event will be Black political figures and activists who have been his vocal supporters. The guests, according to a White House official, include Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina Republican Rep. John James of Michigan prison reform advocate Alice Johnson, whom he pardoned in 2020 Alveda King, a niece of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and Herschel Walker, the football legend who is Trump's choice as U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas.

Other guests will include figures from sports and entertainment, including former ESPN host Sage Steele former NFL player Jack Brewer and rap stars Kodak Black, Lil Boosie and Rod Wave, according to the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.