Admittedly, I’m only on page 375 of the almost 900-page Project 2025 manifesto. I’ve skipped to a few other parts as well, but most of it’s a long, painful read.
At the 10,000-foot level, Project 2025 talks about strengthening American families, cutting government red tape, supporting more individual liberty and securing our borders.
All stuff most people would sign on to. That is until you read the details of what all that means and how they intend to accomplish it.
One of those details is a not-so-thinly veiled plan to destroy Black America.
I could write about how this far right-wing plan, developed by Trump’s closest allies, including people who will serve in his administration if he wins, argues that funding PBS is awful, or how it wants to bring back long-ago-outlawed child labor so long as parents approve, or how it advocates ending free public access to weather reports, including tornado alerts.
That’s small stuff, though, compared to how the plan would turn back the clock on racial progress.
For clarity, not how it will put the brakes on racial progress. But actually reverse it.
I counted multiple references in the plan to how we need to return to a time when America was, in Project 2025’s words, “colorblind.”
The plan doesn’t tell us what year that would have been, but essentially what the plan advocates is for people to stop talking about race and instead go back to the good ol’ days:
“traditional American values as patriotism, colorblindness, and even workplace competence.” — p. 204
And that we would need to reinstate the:
“ideal of a colorblind society.” — p. 285 and 319
Or that teaching about race issues:
“is actively disrupting the values that hold communities together such as equality under the law and colorblindness.” — p. 342
To achieve its alleged goal of a colorblind society, the plan seeks to end diversity programs.
No more inclusion. No more equity efforts.
No more education about race.
No more training about how each of us operates out of unconscious bias toward others.
No more programs to help the inner cities in America.
But it’s worse than that.
Project 2025 wants to give cops carte blanche to do what they want to Black people.
It advocates ending police reforms enacted after George Floyd’s murder and absolves police departments under federal oversight instituted because of racial discrimination.
The plan seeks to increase sentencing, and it takes away the ability of federal prosecutors to weigh circumstances in any given case.
Not only will the plan allow more George Floyds to take place, but we know that harsher prison sentences with no efforts to actually get people help are likely to increase the already mass over-incarceration of Black men.
Project 2025 also wants to slash federal health care programs, including Medicare and Medicaid. This would have a drastically disproportionate impact on many Black people and provide less access to healthcare. Black women would fare worse under this plan.
Project 2025 also unabashedly seeks to destroy public education, which would have a massively adverse impact on Black Americans.
It advocates ending the 150-year-old Department of Education that was created after the Civil War.
The plan speaks about families being able to choose whatever schools they want. Including private ones.
Sounds great, but what happens to poor families who can’t afford private schools, even with vouchers? They would be left to attend public schools that would be vastly underfunded because the money is going to private schools others can afford.
You think some public schools are failing now. Take away their funding and see what happens.
Ending the Department of Education would also wipe out its Office of Civil Rights, a sub-agency that enforces civil rights laws and investigates schools accused of engaging in discrimination. Just in case you’re wondering whether they have any work, in 2023 alone, it had to deal with 19,000 cases of discrimination.
Project 2025 also wants to replace Title I funds, used for struggling schools, with block grants, allowing states to decide how they want to spend their share of federal tax dollars. Including on private schools.
The plan would destroy the public education system, which educates most Black students in America.
In Project 2025’s worldview, things will all be fine if we just practice colorblindness.
Centuries of slavery, abuse, laws, mass incarceration, no sharing of wealth and systems to create an inequitable society. And now that we have some actual programs trying to help undo all of that, maybe we just need to be colorblind.
Can’t we all just get along?
How convenient.
It’d be easy to just say, oh c’mon, the colorblindness goal is a great one. Why can’t we all just treat each other fairly?
But we know darn well the architects of Project 2025 aren’t seeking a just and colorblind society.
They’re intentionally out to dismantle and undermine the progress society has made on race.
And they’re using the word “colorblindness” to blind us.
We can’t create sidewall-shredding potholes in the roads and then one day just announce, “No more potholes,” but not invest in fixing the potholes.
Project 2025 is a racial time machine that only travels in reverse.
This post originally appeared on Medium and is edited and republished with author's permission. Read more of Jeffrey Kass' work on Medium.
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