MINNEAPOLIS—Not content with abolishing “diversity, equity and inclusion” in the federal government and whitewashing U.S. history, the racist Donald Trump regime has gone one step further: It’s suing the Minneapolis School District for deliberate discrimination against white men as teachers.
And, not to be outdone on the reverse discrimination front, Trump’s toadies in his current residence, Florida, are suing Starbucks for the same reason: Too few whites, too many of everybody else.
The two cases are the latest and most offensive-minded steps in the white nationalist crusade to reshape the country in their image and, not coincidentally, blight the economic prospects of non-white people. Both the racists and their silent corporate backers often view anyone who is not a white male as a threat to their economic hegemony.
Trump’s Justice Department Civil Rights Division has been turned on its head, ordered to seek out and halt discrimination against white men, especially “Christian” men, not against traditionally oppressed groups, including people of color and LGBTQ people.
There’s a union twist to this, too, in the Trump Justice Department’s court papers against Minneapolis. Trump targets unionists as much as he targets non-whites. And the union contract between the Minneapolis Federation of Educators/AFT and the school district is a big part of the case.
In its December 10 lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, Trump’s DOJ says the Minneapolis schools discriminate against white male teachers in hiring because of Teachers/AFT Local 59’s contract. DOJ adds that the school district also plays favorites with a private non-profit group dedicated to training African-American men to be teachers, by establishing a separate hiring track for them.
The policy DOJ cites, written into the contract in 2022 to help end a two-week strike, does not explicitly mention race. Instead, it aims at increasing numbers from “underrepresented groups” among the school system’s teachers. DOJ calls that “a proxy for race.”
Some one-fifth of Minneapolis public school teachers are non-white, but two-thirds of their students are. Studies show both white and non-white students learn more and have better school outcomes if there’s a better mix of teachers.
“The collective bargaining agreement (CBA) requires defendants”—the school system–to ‘excess’ or involuntarily reassign teachers based on seniority unless a teacher is ‘underrepresented,’” DOJ alleges. “In that case, the CBA requires defendants to skip the ‘underrepresented’ teacher and ‘excess’ or reassign a ‘non-underrepresented’ teacher instead.”
The non-underrepresented teachers, DOJ says, are white men. There is no mention of their religion.
But the whole thrust of Trump, his Attorney General Pam Bondi—a Floridian Trump lawyer—and his Justice Department has been to pursue perceived “reverse racism” against whites in general and white “Christian” men in particular. That group is a large, militant, and militarized share of Trump’s MAGA movement.
“Defendants’ CBA also requires them to reinstate ‘underrepresented’ teachers first, ignoring seniority order and the order in which the ‘excessing’ or layoffs occurred,” the Trump Justice Department charged. “The CBA further allows defendants to exempt “underrepresented” teachers from layoffs.”
The school system’s “unlawful classification of, and discrimination against, their ‘non-under-represented’ teachers is even more manifest in its Memorandum of Agreement with a third party called ‘Black Men Teach’ included in the CBA. Defendants offer ‘Black Men Teach Fellows’ extra paid training days and exempt them from normal layoff policies.
“Of course, only black men can be Black Men Teach Fellows, so women, whites, Asians, and others need not apply. While defendants claim these provisions are to stop discrimination,” DOJ alleges there’s no evidence of past discrimination in the Minneapolis schools.
The school district had no immediate comment, due to the pending lawsuit, the Minnesota Reformer reported. A spokeswoman for Minneapolis Public Schools said the district does not comment on active lawsuits. Teachers’ union President Marcia Howard texted “#ReleaseTheEpsteinFiles” when reached by text for comment.
In the Florida lawsuit, the aim of racist GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis’s regime is the same: To smash DEI. But the target is different: One of the nation’s biggest oligopolies, the giant Starbucks coffee chain. Right-wing State Attorney General James Uthmeier sued Starbucks on December 11. He demands more white baristas.
“Starbucks made DEI more than a slogan,” he said in a video. “They turned it into a mandatory hiring and promotion system based on race.”
Starbucks is also battling its 12,000 unionized workers who are on a national strike against its labor law-breaking, formally called unfair labor practices. Bargaining between the workers and the firm broke off months ago after what the workers, in Starbucks Workers United, called an insulting wage offer and with no path to gaining benefits.
Florida AG Uthmeier bases his suit on both individual complaints from white workers and on company policy, instituted five years ago at a time of rising corporate responses to Black Lives Matter protests nationwide. Many of the other responding capitalist firms have since backtracked, especially and often gleefully reacting to Trump’s racist anti-DEI campaign.
Kowtowing to Trump now, they figure, helps the bottom line—just as agreeing to DEI did pre-Trump.
One 17-year Starbucks worker, unnamed, told Uthmeier’s office that Starbucks pays different wages for the same job, based on race—and that workers of color get paid more.
And the AG denounced what he called hiring quotas, adopted in 2020, of hiring people of color in 40% of retail positions and 30% of corporate jobs by 2025. He claimed Starbucks also created “race-based quotas” for suppliers and excluded people “of certain races” from networking and mentorship.
Uthmeier did not say whether Starbucks met those goals or not. But he claims millions of Floridians suffered discrimination and wants to fine Starbucks $10,000 for each proven instance of it, plus damages and an injunction.
Starbucks denied the charges. “Our programs and benefits are open to everyone and lawful. Our hiring practices are inclusive, fair and competitive, and designed to ensure the strongest candidate for every job, every time,” it said in a statement.
“The coffee empire set numerical racial targets for their workforce, and they tied executive bonuses to those targets,” the Attorney General said. That’s “reverse discrimination,” Uthmeier retorted. “And it is against the law.”
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