When Sergeant Isaac Woodard was riding the Greyhound home to Winnsboro, SC on February 12, 1946, I’m sure there was a lot on his mind. After all, at 26 years old, he’d just finished serving four long years with distinction in the Pacific theater of World War II where he’d seen some of the worst and some of the best humanity had to offer. The America he’d left to fight in that great crusade had only just begun to emerge from the Great Depression and the rural South was still very much in its grip. But it had been four years. He’d seen the world change and his constant diet of patriotism and possibility had fed an idealism that carried him through the worst of the war and felt that hope stirring in his chest as he rode the bus home.

He’d see the world change for the better. No doubt America would have changed too.

But that hope was dashed when the driver stopped in Batesburg, SC when Batesburg Police Chief Lynwood Shull arrested, beat and blinded Woodard, still in his Army uniform, simply for asking to use the restroom. One of the officers had even asked him if he was still in the Army or had been discharged first.

It turns out that assaulting a soldier was and is a felony. But beating a Black man, as far as the officers were concerned, was downright encouraged.

Two years later, on July 26, 1948, President Harry Truman desegregated the United States armed services by signing Executive Order 9981 officially declaring “there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin.”

In 2023, President Joe Biden celebrated the 75th Anniversary of that historic moment recognizing the countless stories of men and women like Sergeant Woodard who stepped up to defend liberty and freedom overseas only to face discrimination, oppression and violence when they returned home.

Two years ago, President Biden honored that history. Today, President Trump is trying to erase it.

Medger Evers was an American hero. He fought in the Normandy landings during his time in uniform and he kept fighting for freedom when he came home to Jim Crow Mississippi. He went on to become one of the most remarkable and recognized civil rights leaders in America whose unflinching commitment and sacrifice inspired a generation. He was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery which used to feature information about Evars on its website. Not any more though.

Today, following Trump’s orders to erase all remnants of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), Medger Evars’ history has been deleted along with icons like Gen. Colin L. Powell, the Tuskegee Airmen, Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and more.

Even Jackie Robinson wasn’t safe when, following Trump’s orders, the Department of Defense removed an article about the trailblazer from its website prompting an outcry that was so loud that they had to put it back.

But, as horrifying as it is, I’m not writing to talk about website articles. I’m writing because this is only the latest in the MAGA mission to turn back the clock until folks like you and I stop fighting for equal rights and equal treatment and go back to the kitchens and cotton fields.

This is only the latest in a long line of attacks that include pardoning white supremacists, legalizing employment discrimination, reinstating private prisons, stopping civil rights investigations, prosecutions and police reform and targeting schools that help disadvantaged students.

Back in the 60s, the federal government banned segregated facilities from all federal contractors. Trump reversed it. We’re talking about segregated housing, water fountains, swimming pools and lunch counters. What is this, Woolworth? Somebody call the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). It’s time to get to work.

This isn’t about lowering the cost of groceries. It’s not even about helping white folks. It’s about hurting Black folks, pure and simple and that isn’t the same thing…not by a long shot.

The MAGA crowd isn’t satisfied with banning books anymore. They want to lock them up and anyone who’s read them. They’re done pretending the Civil War wasn’t about slavery. Now they’re pretending it didn’t exist.

For the MAGA crowd, America hasn’t been great since Brown v Board of Education and 1954. Well, there’s a measles outbreak and the White House supports segregation. Looks like we’re halfway there.