U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Call to White Men Fuels Right-Wing Effort to Portray Privilege as Victimhood

The recent push by federal officials to urge White men to file workplace bias complaints is being framed by many as a deliberate gaslighting campaign tied to right-wing white extremist narratives. EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas posted on X: “Are you a white male who has experienced discrimination at work based on your race or sex?” and added that the agency is committed to eliminating discrimination “including against white male employees.” To marginalized communities, the messaging attempts to invert decades of documented inequity while pretending that the most privileged demographic in the workforce is under siege. As the article explains, this call aligns with a Trump-era worldview insisting that diversity initiatives are creating a “new” form of discrimination rather than addressing long-standing structural harm.

Vice President JD Vance escalated this claim by describing DEI as a “deliberate program of discrimination primarily against White men.” He amplified an essay alleging that DEI destroyed the futures of White male millennials, prompting Lucas to call the story “chock full of unlawful discrimination.” These statements ignore data showing that White workers make up two-thirds of the workforce yet only represent about 10% of race-based claims. Nevertheless, right-wing commentators celebrated the EEOC shift as validation, with Manhattan Institute’s Christopher Rufo declaring it “a massive shift” toward naming so-called anti-White racism.

Advocates for equity describe these claims as a distortion designed to erase history. David Glasgow of NYU’s Meltzer Center explained that DEI seeks “a fair and level playing field so that people of all identities and backgrounds have equal opportunity.” He added pointedly: “It would be truly wonderful to see people who are so passionate about the value of equality when it comes to White men demonstrating the same passion when it comes to eradicating inequalities affecting people of color.”

After businesses increased diversity efforts following the killing of George Floyd, groups aligned with Trump, including America First Legal, began aggressively soliciting “reverse discrimination” complaints from White workers. Trump himself campaigned on eliminating DEI entirely, claiming it created “anti-White feeling,” and once in office began stripping programs across government, academia, and corporate America. The result, analysts note, has been shrinking representation for Black workers in leadership even as White men continue to dominate executive roles. As Glasgow put it, looking at wealth gaps and corporate leadership, it is impossible “to think that White men are at a systemic disadvantage.”

Link: USA Today