President Donald Trump’s war on diversity, equity and inclusion continued its march into Palm Beach County last week when county commissioners, mostly reluctantly, suspended programs designed to help women, minorities and other disadvantaged groups succeed.
Faced with losing $329 million in federal grants, commissioners said they had no choice but to stop giving women- and minority-owned businesses preference in county contracts. Instead, the firms will compete for contracts against other small businesses that are mostly owned by white men.
READ MORE: Florida's university leaders defend DEI restrictions
The decision, which prompted three commissioners to emotionally recount their own experiences with discrimination, came roughly six weeks after the county school board took similar action. Under threat of losing federal money, Clerk and Comptroller Joe Abruzzo said he recently did the same.
Commissioners also eliminated the county’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Created in 2021, it was never staffed. They also removed the words “gender identity or expression” from the county’s non-discrimination policy.
But the policy will continue to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation.
County Attorney Denise Coffman said she will be reviewing other county laws and policies to make sure they don’t conflict with Trump’s executive orders.
Trump called for the elimination of diversity programs, which he described as “dangerous, demeaning, and immoral,” and banned the use of the term “gender identity.”
Ending ‘a terrible way for society to thrive’
“It’s awful,” Commissioner Gregg Weiss said of the decision facing the commission.
But, he and others said, short of filing a lawsuit to challenge Trump’s orders, commissioners had no choice but to eliminate the program that was created when a $700,000 study in 2018 showed women- and minority-owned businesses weren’t getting their fair share of county work. A $450,000 follow up review is underway.
The threats facing the commission were significant. Not only have federal agencies threatened to withhold grants from municipalities that don’t comply with the orders, but Attorney General Pam Bondi has said she would file criminal false claim charges against government leaders.
“The reality is that if we don’t comply, we lose millions in federal money that our taxpayers sent to Washington,” Weiss said. “Losing that money will hit our most vulnerable residents — seniors, families and kids who need county services — the hardest.”
Commissioner Sarah Baxter, in contrast, gave full-throated support to Trump’s policies, which face hundreds of lawsuits across the country.
Quoting the dictionary, the Bible and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Baxter said she was glad to be rid of the minority- and women-business enterprise program that was launched in 1991, abandoned for a decade and hailed as “historic” when it was revived in 2018.
“I can’t be any more in support of something that gets rid of things based on race whether it’s one way or another,” Baxter said. “That’s a terrible way for society to thrive. And we got rid of it and to go back to it is awful.”
Dueling quotations from Martin Luther King Jr.
A merit-based system provides the best value for county taxpayers and follows the teachings of the Bible, which “is all about love and bringing people together regardless of the color of their skin,” Baxter said.
It also channels the goals King espoused in his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, she said.
“He said he dreamed of a day when we would be judged based on the content of our character, not the color of our skin,” she said, paraphrasing the speech King gave during the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. “That is exactly where I want to be.”
While Commissioner Marci Woodward said she shared her colleague’s views, other commissioners disputed Baxter’s claims. Commissioner Bobby Powell, the only Black commissioner, said Baxter was not painting a full picture of King’s views or his dreams.
He quoted King’s "The Other America” speech, where the civil rights leader railed against millions of Blacks “perishing on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.”
“Dr. King did have a dream, but there are also two Americas,” Powell said.
U.S.-born Flores told to go back to his country
Commissioner Joel Flores, the only Hispanic on the commission, said people who haven’t “walked a day in my shoes” don’t understand the myth of a merit-based system. As a combat veteran, with a master’s degree and the ability to speak two languages, he said he is still judged by his Hispanic heritage.
Knowing that, he said, “every time I want to speak in public I have to polish the words I’m going to use so my God-damned accent doesn’t show up,” he said. It’s a practice repeated by Latino youth, who know they won’t be judged on their merit.
Some, he said, don’t hide their disdain for him. “I’ve been told by fellow military personnel to go back to my country,” said Flores, who was born in the United States.
“You have not seen what I have seen,” he said. “You have no idea how my heart breaks right now. Don’t try to paint this as something else than what it is. We deserve better. We deserve the freedom that I fought for.”
Weiss also tried to get Baxter to understand the reality of prejudice. “There’s places in this county that I can’t join, that I can’t be a member of,” said Weiss, who is Jewish. “It’s not because of what I’ve accomplished or not accomplished. It’s because of who I was born to.”
Ultimately, however, with Commissioner Marci Woodward joining Baxter in supporting a merit-based system, the commission voted 6-1 to eliminate the programs and excise the words Trump finds offensive. Powell was the lone dissenter.
Weiss said he hoped the halt in the women- and minority-business enterprise program would be short-lived. Assistant County Attorney Masimba Mutamba said it could be at least a year before the issue is decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
“These programs give more people the opportunity than ever had the opportunity before,” Weiss said. “There’s a need. There’s a continuing need.”
This story was originally published by Stet News Palm Beach, a WLRN News partner.
