The Black History Month reception, held at the White House on Thursday, featured all the majesticism of past celebrations. Guests sipped champagne and snacked with lamb chops and collard greens. The crowd snapped a selfie, pleased with their invitation. And as President Trump left with Tiger Woods, one of the world's greatest black athletes, the crowd cried out their phones into the air.
But the cacophony of the East Room was jarring.
Trump may have praised Black Americans for their contributions on Thursday, but he has spent several weeks in office after he took over a federal program aimed at combating inequality in America. He suggests that efforts spurred by the civil rights movement have driven victims out of white people. He condemned the fatal crash of a plane on the Potomac River in the Federal Aviation Administration's diversity program.
On Thursday, Trump tried to show his appreciation to the black community by celebrating those seen as representatives of Black American progress.
“Let's ask me,” Trump said as he began his remarks, “Is there anyone like our tiger?”
Trump and Woods are actively negotiating for a lucrative golf merger agreement, and the president repeatedly introduced him to Woods at an address that lasted about 20 minutes. Woods was not the only black athlete to scream. Trump also told Muhammad Ali and Kobe Bryant.
The president, who benefited with black voters in 2024, told a crowd of over 400 guests, “We're going to work with you.”
In his remarks, Trump mostly mentions issues that have historically plagued the black community, such as rising poverty rates, gaps in wages and wealth between black and white Americans, and gun violence. It wasn't. He has promised to place the statues of black Americans in the new “National Garden of American Heroes.”
Among those who receive the honor was Prince Estabrook, the first black American, a man enslaved in the Revolutionary War, along with Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Billie Holiday and Aretha Franklin. . I said.
The president also used black history. This was the year when the first enslaved Africans arrived in America, and has been widely recognized in recent years.
“The last administration tried to reduce all of American history to a year in 1619,” Trump said. “But under our administration, we honor the essential role that Black Americans have always played in the immortal causes of another date, 1776.”
The comments highlight the parallelism with conservatives who debated a project released by the New York Times called the “1619 Project,” and investigated the history of American slavery, and on the backs of those who have been enslaved. We explained how it was constructed. During his first term, Trump created the 1776 committee in response to a recently revived project.
Events on Thursday move forward despite the White House may choose not to hold a Black History Month celebration this year as government agencies have closed such events in light of Trump's executive order I did.
Trump's spokesperson Caroline Leavitt asked last month whether the White House would be marking opportunities. “We will continue to celebrate America's history and contributions by all Americans who have made in our great nation, regardless of race, religion or belief,” Leavitt said. I did.
Trump critics said Thursday's events were a clear example of the president simultaneously celebrating and undermining black history.
“This White House, celebrating black history, is like asking cattle to serve steak,” said NAACP, the oldest and largest civil rights organization in the country to not receive an invitation to this year's event. said Derrick Johnson, president.
“He is celebrating while banning people from learning about history and civil rights,” Johnson added. “As young children say, he's deeply troubled by the fact that he's playing with our faces.”
White House officials are Trump on diversity, equity and inclusion programs aimed at combating the impact of discriminatory policies faced by women, black people, people with disabilities and others in minority groups. He defended his crusades. The administration says the program is wasted and costly to reverse discrimination.
Trump administration officials argued that the order to repeat the DEI's efforts was intended to advance racial progress towards a “color brand” society rather than restraining black history. The administration also says federal policy is consistent with the Supreme Court's 2023 ruling and banning racially conscious admission practices at universities.
Hours before the Black History Month reception, Stephen Miller, Trump's deputy White House policy chief, said he had lightly paraded Dei's policies.
“This country is plagued and crippled by illegal discrimination, diversity, equity and inclusion policies,” Miller said. “It strangled our economy. It's undermining public safety. It's making every aspect of life more difficult, more painful and less safe.”
Black Republican leaders present included Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina and Scott Turner, secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Many conservative influencers were also present, including journalist Sage Steel and lawyer Leo Terrell. Participants wore hats in various colours, “make America great” and one hat was decorated with the word “Maga Black.”
Rev. Stephen Perry, a Michigan pastor who supported Trump after voting for Biden in 2020, said he was honored to be able to attend the event. He said he supported Trump because he was the leader who followed his promises.
“No one can take away what we did in this country, and that's clear,” Perry said of Black Americans. “We have to learn that there are many things to be proud of, whether someone recognizes us or not.”
“We need a leader who can help us do what we need to do. Don't make our feelings,” he said.
Trump's Black Republican supporters are also defending his tactics.
President Byron Donald, a Florida Republican and a stubborn advocate for Trump, faces the issue of “fairness,” which was the center of President Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s agenda in a television interview last month. He said he is having. , he said, “put your demographic standards at the forefront of the line before your actual qualifications.”
“At the end of the day, we want to make sure that everyone gets the job is qualified to do them,” Donald said. “That's the most important thing. But we can't just put diversity for diversity rather than qualifications. It's not 1972, but 2025, and we're in a different stage in the United States.”
Dr. Courtney R. Baker, who attended a Biden White House event, which included a film screening about Emmett Till, said that a single event would not exempt Trump from the civil rights work that is still needed today. He said that. She is a television series that reserves one episode to explore and resolve racism rather than “participate in the realities of African American living conditions.” Equated with his organisation of the reception, celebrating history months.
“This administration is giving token approval to black lives, but it's very wise, I might say it's moving away from the facts on earth,” says Baker, a professor at the University of California Riverside University. The doctor said.
Damon Hewitt, president and executive director of the Law-based Civil Rights Commission Committee, said the event was like “scrubbing salt on the wounds.”
“What he appears to be celebrating is the support he believes he has received from his black supporters, so it's about him, not us,” Hewitt said. “It's like a cruel joke.”
