Eliminating diversity programs in MO is ‘much more real’ as Republicans join Trump’s push
Missouri Republicans have renewed efforts to eliminate initiatives designed to address systematic inequalities in the state as President Donald Trump takes aim at similar diversity programs nationally.
For Kansas City activists and lawmakers, the push signals a significant step backwards in the fight over civil rights. Some also fear it sends the wrong message globally as Kansas City prepares to host World Cup matches in 2026.
“I feel like we have dropped right back into the ‘60s,” said Sheryl Ferguson, the founder of It’s Time 4 Justice, a Kansas City-based activist organization.
Republican state lawmakers moved swiftly last week, holding an hour-long hearing on Wednesday over a bill that would ban state agencies from spending money on diversity programs, staff or other initiatives.
And then the same day, top Republican state officials and U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt called on the Missouri Supreme Court to remove a requirement that all Missouri attorneys undergo one credit hour of diversity training, claiming the training could be used “for advancing social or political ideology.”
The push in Missouri comes as Trump embarks on a sweeping plan to eradicate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at the national level. The Republican president on Wednesday revoked a civil rights-era executive order that banned discriminatory hiring practices across federal agencies.
“We’re going to work hand in glove with the Trump administration in terms of addressing DEI,” Republican Lt. Gov. David Wasinger told reporters at a Missouri Press Association event on Thursday.
Missouri Republicans have for years sought to eliminate diversity initiatives, or DEI, arguing the policies treat white people unfairly or prioritize social justice over merit and achievement. But supporters of the programs fear a renewed energy with Trump back in the White House.
“Now that Trump has won his second term, this seems much more real, much more likely to happen,” said Rep. Mark Sharp, a Kansas City Democrat. “It’s going to be real hurtful and detrimental, especially to communities with a lot of diversity.”
DEI and other diversity initiatives are typically organizational programs that seek to promote fair treatment and participation of all people, particularly among historically underrepresented groups.
The acronym often refers to diversity training for employees. But, similar to the use of Critical Race Theory or CRT in politics, DEI has also become a shorthand among conservatives for any effort to address systemic racism’s role in U.S. history or politics.
Defenders of the programs, including Black state lawmakers from Kansas City, say diversity initiatives don’t prioritize one race over another — they instead try to address a history of discrimination against people of color.
State-level DEI ban
One effort in Missouri centers on a bill from Rep. Ben Baker, a Neosho Republican, that would ban state departments from spending money on programs and staff “related to ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ or similar initiatives.”
The legislation comes as the University of Missouri-Columbia, the state’s flagship institution, has already taken steps to prepare for the anti-DEI push, scrapping its Division of Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity last year.
Baker told the House Emerging Issues Committee on Wednesday that state funds should not be used on diversity efforts, flatly saying the programs don’t work. At one point, he recommended people read the Bible to solve inequity instead of offering DEI initiatives.
“We should not have preferential treatment, unfair treatment of our state workers,” he said. “Should not be focusing on DEI but should be focusing on merit and should be focusing on competency in our state departments.”
Baker did not provide the committee with specific examples of state programs at risk of being cut. However, when House lawmakers tried to add anti-DEI language to the proposed state budget in 2023, the move sent state agencies scrambling to figure out how their programs would be affected.
Some feared the state would lose out on federal funding while others questioned whether Missouri would be banned from working with any company with diversity-related policies. The budget language was ultimately removed in the Senate.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Kelvin Simmons, a lobbyist for Health Forward Foundation in Kansas City, urged the committee to reject the legislation. He said the state should be sending a message of inclusivity as Kansas City gears up to host World Cup matches in 2026.
“The world is going to look at the state of Missouri in 2026,” he said. “We are saying to the world, we are inclusive as the state of Missouri, please come. Please spend your money. Please do those things. So we want to be inclusive.”
In an interview with The Star after the hearing, Simmons said Missouri should put its best foot forward when trying to attract businesses to the state.
“If we enact policies where the next state over doesn’t, then those executives sometimes have to make a business decision of, ‘where are our employees going to be more comfortable?’” he said. “We take the risk of taking that off the table from an economic standpoint.”
Baker’s legislation is one of at least four Missouri bills that seek to eliminate diversity programs. Two would ban schools from using state funds on diversity efforts. Another would ban colleges from using diversity statements in hiring practices.
Kansas City already has issues surrounding diversity, said Ferguson, who pointed to the fact that the city’s police department, which has faced allegations of racism, is under a state-controlled board.
“With making a change to the diversity requirements, it makes it a more open door policy to have future Cameron Lambs,” Ferguson said, referring to the 26-year-old Black man who was shot and killed by former Kansas City detective Eric DeValkenaere in 2019.
Ferguson said she agreed with Simmons’ comments about the upcoming World Cup matches. She pointed to a 2017 travel advisory issued by the Missouri NAACP, which urged Black visitors to Missouri to travel with caution.
“We are going backwards in our mindsets and our thought processes of having a progressive country,” she said.
Attorney training
On the same day lawmakers heard testimony over Baker’s bill, top Missouri Republicans called on the state’s highest court to remove diversity training for lawyers.
The Republicans — Schmitt, Wasinger, Attorney General Andrew Bailey and Treasurer Vivek Malek — made the demand in a letter to Missouri Supreme Court Chief Justice Mary Russell.
The letter specifically targeted a requirement that lawyers take one credit hour “devoted exclusively to explicit or implicit bias, diversity, inclusion, or cultural competency” as part of their mandated continuing education classes.
“Missouri attorneys should not be forced to undergo politically charged training to maintain their licenses,” Wasinger wrote in a prepared statement. “This indoctrination does not enhance the ability of attorneys to serve their clients or uphold the law.”
Wasinger went a step further on Thursday and told reporters that candidates for judge positions, from the state Supreme Court to local circuit courts, should be asked about DEI during interviews.
“If a judge is unable to answer the question — that they are prepared to eliminate DEI, they should not be appointed to the Missouri bench,” he said.
It’s unclear what, if any, actions the state Supreme Court will take in response to the letter. The court typically deliberates its decisions in private.
Hannah Kiddoo Frevert, a spokesperson for the Missouri Bar Association, did not directly respond to the letter in an email to The Star. However, she said the association continues to offer programs to help lawyers comply with the continuing education requirements “so they can even better serve their clients and communities through professional, competent, and ethical conduct.”
For Sen. Barbara Washington, a Kansas City Democrat, diversity initiatives have never been about people of color receiving a better opportunity. They’re intended to prevent marginalized groups from being excluded, she said.
“It appears that we are stepping back to a time when people that looked like me were property,” said Washington, who is Black. She said she knows physicians who were denied entrance into medical schools — including in Kansas and Missouri — because they were Black.
“If I have the same education, I have the same experience and we’re equal, look at us like equals,” she said. “And so if our colleagues don’t want to do that, they are showing their white supremacy.”
