in Politics, Racism & Bigotry, US History 808 Words

A War on Civil Rights

I didn’t want to post a blog on a Saturday, but here I am.

On Thursday, April 23, 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order titled “Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy.”

Under the guise of allegedly encouraging “meritocracy and a colorblind society, not race- or sex-based favoritism,” the order calls for an evaluation of all pending proceedings under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), which was passed in 1974 and was amended in 1976 to prevent lenders from discriminating against women based on marital status.

Only Congress can change the law, but an Executive Order muddies the water. If a lender chooses to follow the order, they can do so.

If a woman or a person of a racial minority thinks they have been discriminated against by a lender, they can file a complaint with the lender or thet can hire a lawyer and take their case to court. It could be years before the case is heard and settled. In the meantime, they did not get that credit card, or home improvement loan, or that loan that would have made it possible to buy a car or a home.

As reported by Newsweek, “The EO’s main target is the principle of disparate-impact liability, the idea that racism, sexism, or some other form of discrimination can occur without explicit intent. The President believes that disparate-impact liability is a key tool in a ‘pernicious movement’ that ‘endangers’ the U.S.’ foundational principle of ‘creating opportunity, encouraging achievement, and sustaining the American Dream.’”

In Trump’s mind, making sure that a dark-skinned person is not discriminated against equates with denying a white-skinned person being discriminated against. Or, the law making sure women are not discriminated against by financial lenders equates with denying men the opportunity to borrow money or get a credit card.

But that isn’t what it means at all!

Just because a woman gets approved for a loan does not mean that a man applying for a loan gets denied. There is enough pie for everyone who qualifies for a loan.

But this is all smoke and mirrors. Through Executive Order, Trump is putting dark-skinned people and women in their place. He is putting them at a disadvantage. He is denying them an equal opportunity to attain the American Dream.

That’s exactly what this is about. This is nothing but a white men’s backlash because some of them want to go back to “the good old days” when they didn’t have to compete with women or dark-skinned people. Some of them don’t want a level playing field.

Photo by Unseen Histories on Unsplash

In case you are saying, “So what?”

In case any of this sounds all right or good to you, you are obviously not a woman “of a certain age” or a black person.

I am a white woman of a certain age, so I can and will speak to this. I grew up in the era in which women could not necessarily get credit or a loan without a man co-signing.

Women of a certain age know exactly what Trump’s end game is.

I was turned down for a credit card by a major gasoline company in the early 1970s, and the reason I was given was, “we don’t give credit cards to single women.” But who needs Exxon or Texaco? Amoco gave me a credit card and I was a loyal customer for years.

When I bought my first car (used) at the age of 22 in 1975 after earning a Bachelor’s degree, I was told by an agent for a nationally-recognized car insurance company that my rate for car insurance would be higher because I was a single woman. My father was with me, and this made him as mad as it did me. We stormed out of the insurance agent’s office. Rest assured, my father nor I ever considered doing business with Nationwide Insurance again.

I was interviewed for a job with the City of Charlotte in 1977 after I had earned a Master’s degree in public administration, and the interviewer said to me, “I don’t think a woman can handle this job.” My father had died. I was single. I was desperately looking for a job in my chosen field. Cities and counties weren’t exactly lining up to hire women for management positions. I didn’t want to burn my bridges, so I didn’t file a complaint.

I want women who came of age after the late 1970s to believe me when I say, “You don’t want to go back.”

Until my next blog post

Find time to read a good book and take a break from the chaos, but then come back and continue the fight for our democracy.

Remember the people of Ukraine, Myanmar, and western North Carolina.

Janet

28 thoughts on “A War on Civil Rights”

  3. And here’s this one, from the 1950s: my mother (well, the woman who would later become my mother) had a department store credit card. Then, she got married, and the store cancelled it. Because now they needed her husband’s authorization on that card.

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  5. Thank you for your reporting, Janet. I was a beneficiary of the work of the generation of women before me to get the right to have their own credit card, mortgages and loans. Thank you. (PS paragraph five typo: loan rather than load.)

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  6. Ooops! Thank you for letting me know, so I can correct it. I was fortunate to come along late enough that as a young adult I began to benefit as changes were made.

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Thank you. I feel called to do it as long as I can, although I did not anticipate my little weekly blog turning into this. It seems to be my purpose. I realize if our rights continue to deteriorate, there might be a high price to pay. So be it.

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Heather, thank you for sharing that story. It triggered a memory for me that I wish I had thought of to include in my post. My parents had a joint credit card from a large national bank based here in Charlotte. Three days after my father died in 1977, the bank notified my mother that their credit card had been cancelled. My mother couldn’t believe the bank was literally paying someone to read the obituaries in The Charlotte Observer, but that’s all we could figure was going on.

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  14. Thanks for this very eyeopening postings. Under this circumstances and with this specal promotion meritocracy means at least the same like the bonus system in China? 😉 Personally for me it has a bit smell of feudalism. Best wishes, Michael

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  16. Thank you for reading my blog, Michael, and for taking the time to leave a comment. Yes, this does sound like a China policy. Nothing is as it was before Trump’s inauguration on January 20. It’s been three months and seems like three years.

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  17. Right, because God alone knows what those widows could cost a bank. It was that important to stay on top of it.

    And it hasn’t been that long. It hasn’t taken long to forget about it; but it won’t take long to reinstate those practices, either, once the relevant folks decide to do it.

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  18. Hard to believe what’s going on! I too am old enough to remember not being able to get credit without my dad acting as guarantor, though it changed while I was still a young adult. The problem, as you point out, is that most people are young enough not to remember these things, so they don’t see these backward steps as particularly scary until it’s too late.

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  19. Thanks for this, Janet. I popped in today for the first time in a long while — life has taken me on some unexpected turns — and am so glad I did. I’m currently reading Nice Racism, Robin Deangelo’s latest. I highly recommend. Please keep up the good work you are doing.

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  20. That’s right, Heather. There’s no telling what kind of financial havoc my mother could have created four days after her husband died of cancer. Those banks had to stay on top of things. I still visualize some woman barely making minimum wage working at the bank probably 37 hours a week (so she wouldn’t qualify for full-time employee benefits) having to read obituaries every day and check each one to identify bank customers. How very sad for her and for the new widows! All that progress made in all aspects of civil rights in the 1960s and 1970s now seems like ancient history. I wish I shared your optimism that these rights and opportunities will someday be reinstated. Perhaps someday after I’m gone.

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  21. My great-nieces and even their mothers who are in their 50s do not recognize what is at risk because they didn’t experience it themselves. The risk isn’t even on their radars because (1) they assume it could never happen or (2) they aren’t even aware of the risk at hand because they don’t see the importance of keeping up with current events… especially events in the political arena. You’re right. One day it will be too late for them to take an interest.

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  22. I am delighted to hear from you today, Janet! I’m sorry life has taken you on some unexpected turns. I detect that perhaps they were unpleasant ones, and for that I am sorry. I hope you will have better days ahead. Thank you for dropping in on my blog today. My little weekly 500-1,000 word blog has morphed into around 2,000 words a day, five or six days a week. This is not what I set out to do and not what I anticipated prior to last November’s election. It seems to be my purpose now, though, and I’m trying to rise to the occasion. It is disheartening that in these times it is growing more and more challenging to have those difficult conversations that you wrote about in your book and that we discussed in your wonderful online group. Thank you for your encouragement. I was not familiar with Robin Deangelo’s book, so thank you for the recommendation. I just checked and it is available at the library. I shall check it out tomorrow. The blurb sounds like it is a thought-provoking read. Thanks again. It is wonderful to hear from you.

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  24. Wow – indeed, I shared that optimism, too. Sadly, it looks like that optimism is just an artifact of unclear grammar. I was thinking: how quickly we’ve forgotten about the bad old days. And how quickly they will come back, if/when folks in power decide to bring them back. [Sorry to be the bearer of pessimism, though.]

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  26. It feels like the rug is being pulled out from under us. Rights can disappear so much faster than they can be gained. We are witnesses. Women under the age of 60 or so have no idea. I don’t think you’re being pessimistic, Heather. I think you’re being realistic.

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