During his inaugural address, President Donald Trump said he would end practices that lift up Americans who need a hand, calling them an attempt to “socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life.”
“We will forge a society that is colorblind and merit-based,” Trump said.
Hours later, he signed an executive order ending DEI programs in the federal government. It was the first of many that would also target education, sports and the military.
In a state that’s almost 93% white and voted 70% in favor of Trump in the last election, it may seem hard to imagine that many West Virginians would be affected by cuts to DEI programs.
Diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, is defined as programs that promote fair treatment and full participation of all people, particularly those who have been underrepresented and face discrimination.
But rural communities are some of those that have been considered underrepresented for years. In a 2024 progress report on DEI style programing in the federal government, the Biden administration consistently listed rural communities as an underserved group who needs help with roads, water and internet.
“A lot of people have a very sort of simplistic view: you’re white or black. But also, men and women are treated very differently. So are gay and straight people. Even where you’re born,” said Jesse Wozniack, a sociologist at West Virginia University.
Here are three equity programs West Virginians have benefited from for years, and stand to lose in Trump’s pursuit of being “merit-based.”
Clean water
The Trump administration has frozen grants to help clean up “forever chemicals” in West Virginia’s waters on the basis that the program is run on both DEI and environmental justice.
Environmental justice is a social movement that attempts to address the harm that has been done to poor and marginalized communities that are most often the sites of environmental hazards, extraction industries and pollution.
A good example in West Virginia is how the people in Institute, a majority-Black area, have dealt with pollution for years. Rural people in the state have long struggled with the ravages of the coal mining industry.
About 700,000 West Virginians, nearly half of the state’s population, are at risk because their drinking water is contaminated with forever chemicals. Areas most affected include the two panhandles and the Ohio Valley, all of which are overwhelmingly white.
Broadband
Funds set aside by the Biden Administration to address broadband shortages for rural and remote communities have been, including in West Virginia, has also faced delays.
West Virginia broadband officials planned to use those funds to get high speed Internet to every home and business.
But in March, Trump Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik started changing the rules for the program, just as West Virginia was set to apply for $1.2 billion in funds. The reason: “the prior Administration’s woke mandates, favoritism towards certain technologies, and burdensome regulations.”
The Commerce Department revamped the program, opening the door for Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service to become part of the buildout. But Starlink is more expensive and has spottier service than the fiber optic cable the state’s plan called for.
The workforce
While Trump’s executive orders against DEI have been tied up in court, lawmakers in West Virginia have already passed a law eliminating DEI programming in public education and state government.
But business leaders in the state say those moves could be counterproductive for a state that struggles with a declining population and generational low-employment rates.
Anti-diversity moves could cause businesses and those looking into high-skilled, unfilled positions from out-of-state to pass on making West Virginia their home.
Wozniack said that highlighting differences among people is part of a trend that has been used by coal mine operators, southern aristocrats and captains of industry throughout the country’s history.
For example, focusing on the tensions between races has kept workers from unionizing and working together to get better benefits for everyone, Wozniak said.
“If you want to take money away from them, you have to give them something in return. And so you give them a feeling of racial superiority, right?” Wozniak said.
But for those who voted to get inclusion practices out of government, and society as a whole, cuts like these are a potential wakeup call. The campaign against DEI does even more than just programs and projects, said Del. Antria Hamiliton, D-Monongalia and the only Black woman in the Legislature.
“Americans thought he was going to do this to African Americans, or the people that did not look like them,” Hamilton said. “So when they start cutting programs, now it’s like, ‘wait a minute. You cut my program.’”