Trump Sent Head Start A List of 200 Words To Stop Using To Describe Their Programming
The list included words like "accessible," "diverse," 'DEI," "inclusive," and "Black."
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is fighting back in court against the Trump administration and Heath and Human Services (HHS) Department’s attempt to attack programming aimed at early education and the education of marginalized groups.
“The Trump administration sent Head Start employees a six-page list of ‘prohibited words’ for grant applications, including terms like: disabilities, tribal, Black, and women,” the group wrote on social media this week. “The administration wants to erase communities and block access to early childhood services. We'll see them in court.”
Head Start is the national early education program that often serves kids with lower socio-economic statuses, kids of color, and kids with disabilities.
“It's clear that the Trump administration is using attacks on ‘DEI’ and accessibility to stop programs like Head Start from serving the diverse communities that Congress directed them to serve,” the statement continued. “We’re using this list in court to prove that.”
The wide-ranging list of 200 words has one thing in common: they are words centered on diversity, inclusion, accessibility, and acceptance.
Of course, while words like “women,” “tribal,” “transgendered,” “Black,” and “Hispanic” were included, words like “white” and “men” were not.
The case names HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Administration for Children and Families in addition to HHS itself.
The lawsuit, which was filed in April, also challenges the federal workplace cuts and funding cuts that have affected Head Start operations.
The ACLU has already been successful in getting a federal judge to block a Trump administration directive to stop some immigrant children from benefiting from Head Start services.
Head Start is a federal program that has offered free early education to some 40 million preschoolers across the nation, many from low-income families, for over 60 years.
“The sudden loss of access to Head Start’s early childhood education programs would be devastating to their children’s development and well-being,” said Clarissa Doutherd, the executive director of Parent Voices Oakland, and a plaintiff in the lawsuit, in a release. “[A disruption would] be even more severe for children who have disabilities, children who are experiencing developmental delays, and children who are experiencing homelessness, housing insecurity, financial instability, or other trauma.”
