The Trump administration has issued a memo ordering federal agencies to end racial sensitivity training, declaring it “un-American propaganda,” according to the document obtained by The Washington Post.
The two-page memo released Friday notes that President Donald Trump seeks to prevent federal agencies from spending “millions in taxpayer dollars” on the training sessions — and that any contracts involving instruction on “white privilege” or “critical race theory” be canceled immediately if possible.
“The President has directed me to ensure that federal agencies cease and desist from using taxpayer dollars to fund these divisive, un-American propaganda training sessions,” states the memo, written by Office and Management and Budget Director Russell Vought.
The memo says trainings that mention white privilege or asserting that racism is part of the country’s foundation “engender division and resentment” and “undercut” the federal government’s “core values.”
It also directs agencies to end contracts for sensitivity training which teaches that America is an “inherently racist or evil country.”
Vought referred to an unnamed “press report” that he claimed says federal workers “have been required to attend trainings where they are told that ‘virtually all white people contribute to racism’ or where they are required to say that they ‘benefit from racism.’”
The memo was issued as Trump this week slammed “anarchist” participants in protests against police killings of unarmed Black Americans.
The memo concluded that the president and his administration “are fully committed to the fair and equal treatment of all individuals in the United States.”