In his inaugural address, Pres. Trump thanked minority voters for “the tremendous outpouring of love and trust that you have shown me with your vote” and said that “I will not forget it.”

Later in the same day, he signed an executive order that directed the “termination of all discriminatory programs,” including DIE and other related program and policies.  With regard to employment or benefits, no longer will the effect on “diversity” or “equity” or “inclusion” be a consideration.  Instead, as the president stated earlier in the day, “we will forge a society that is colorblind and merit-based.”

No doubt, many will say that minorities will suffer, and so Trump has already forgotten the minorities that supported him.  But is that really the case?

In the short term, at least with respect to some minorities losing preferences with respect to getting jobs, the effect may be negative — not just comparatively, but in absolute terms as well.  But does this mean that Trump forgot the minorities who gave him their vote?  Only if we restrict ourselves to economic considerations.  But, as the Bible informs us, “man does not live by bread alone.”

But even if man could, the bread that race-based government programs provide comes at a price: the price that its recipients accept the condescension toward the minorities on which such assistance is inescapably premised.  They may have contempt for themselves for accepting such condescension, and they may hate the society that provides the benefits to them.  But they take them.  (On necessities of life, sometimes they have to.  But let us be clear: we’re not talking here about aid for necessities.  We’re talking about race-based aid to promote “diversity,” “inclusion,” and “equity.”)

With Trump, no more.  With Trump, no more condescension for select minorities written into the law.  For better or for worse, all Americans will, under the law, be treated as equals.  And if they are treated as equals, they will, regardless of any lost race-based benefits, see themselves as equals.  That is more important than benefits — not freely given, but required from others by law.

As Jesus asked long ago, “What does it profit a man to gain the world, and to lose his soul?”  What does it profit a race to receive benefits based on race and lose their self-respect?

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