July 21, 2025FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS STATEMENT
CONTACT: apr@fenton.com
July 21, 2025 –– Dr. Andrea Abrams, executive director of the Defending American Values Coalition, a member of the American Pride Rises Network, issued the following statement in response to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s decision to quietly rescind its civil rights and DEI policy meant to support Black farmers and other underserved communities:
“This decision is about erasure—not efficiency or fairness. The USDA’s quiet dismantling of its own DEI policy is a shameful retreat from justice and a stark betrayal of the Black farmers who have fought for generations to be seen, heard, and treated equally.
This decision is not a one-off bureaucratic adjustment—it is part of a broader, coordinated campaign to reverse hard-won progress on civil rights and racial equity in America. The same forces that demonize inclusive education and silence corporate leaders are now targeting federal protections designed to level the playing field for historically excluded communities.
By abandoning these DEI safeguards, the USDA is sending a clear message: that equity is optional, that the voices of Black farmers don’t matter, and that this government will not be held accountable to the people it has disenfranchised for centuries.
Black farmers have endured decades of discrimination—from being denied loans and subsidies to having their land stolen and their livelihoods threatened. This DEI policy was about expanding opportunity by repairing the deep and ongoing harms of systemic racism in agriculture.
These attacks on DEI are not happening in a vacuum – this is a concentrated effort across agencies and government programs to erase progress and legalize discrimination. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth just replaced the first woman to lead a US naval academy with a Marine Corps general and has previously stated that “women cannot physically meet the same standards as men.”
We cannot allow this culture of rollback and revisionism to go unchecked. The decision to gut this policy isn’t just a bureaucratic move — it’s a moral failure and a direct attack on American values of fairness, opportunity, and accountability.
American Pride Rises stands with the Black farming community and with every advocate fighting to protect the future of inclusive democracy. We will not be intimidated. We will not look away. We will fight for a country where diversity is not disposable, and where justice is not selective.”
About American Pride Rises:
American Pride Rises (APR) is an initiative committed to protecting pathways to the American Dream by fighting for a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive America for all.