Right-wing group funded by Project 2025 launches ‘DEI Watchlist’ targeting mostly Black federal workers
The website publishes professional and personal information, which it characterizes as "DEI offenses," including salaries, resumes, and even social media posts.
In an escalation of the political right’s crusade against diversity, equity, and inclusion, a recently published website titled the “DEI Watchlist” targets mostly Black federal workers in an apparent attempt to intimidate and advance the Trump administration’s aim to root out all employees it deems as DEI hires.
The website, created by the conservative nonprofit American Accountability Foundation, has published so-called “dossiers” of more than 60 former and current federal workers. It publishes professional and personal information, which it characterizes as “DEI offenses,” including salaries, resumes, and even social media posts.
The so-called watchlist has sent a chill down the spines of not only the federal workers whose pictures and profiles are plastered on the site but also other former and current federal workers, based on off-the-record conversations theGrio has had with former White House and federal government officials. The main worry among Washington, D.C., circles is that those targeted (and their families) could face unfettered harassment or, worse, violence.
A review of the website shows that its creators dug up details like political contributions to Democratic campaigns, reposts or acknowledgments of observances like Transgender Day of Visibility or World Indigenous Peoples Day, and any past or present professional work under the umbrella of DEI or what the group considers “woke” Some were ridiculed for posts supporting Black Lives Matter, COVID-19 lockdowns, or posting their pronouns on their social media pages.
The watchlist website targets mostly employees from federal health agencies, such as the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
“These right-wing-funded intimidation campaigns are just another tactic in the toolkit to diminish our institutions, silence those who speak well-evidenced truths, and impose a white nationalist ideology at the highest levels of government,” said Markus Batchelor, national political director at the progressive advocacy group, People For the American Way. “It’s both a corrupt and dangerous tactic that threatens the livelihoods and physical safety of dedicated civil servants — virtually all of them Black Americans.”
What’s more, the American Accountability Foundation is backed by the Heritage Foundation, which notably published Project 2025, the conservative manifesto that laid out an incredibly detailed conservative playbook for a second Trump administration. The plan included many actions already taken by the Trump administration, including purging tens of thousands of federal workers, eliminating DEI across the federal government, and transforming traditionally nonpartisan agencies to Trump’s political will. According to the New York Times, the nonprofit received a $100,000 grant from the Heritage Foundation last year.
President Donald Trump and his 2024 campaign repeatedly said during last year’s election cycle that there was no connection between him and Project 2025, despite it being written by many former Trump administration officials. On Thursday, Project 2025’s lead architect Russell Vought was confirmed as Trump’s director of Management and Budget, a powerful White House office that controls the disbursement of the federal budget.
But while the Trump administration continues to root out employees it deems to be DEI hires in an effort to eliminate “woke” ideology and cut so-called federal spending “waste,” civil rights and advocacy groups argue that the actions ignore data that clearly shows racial gaps and disparities in health, employment, housing and more, and threaten to exacerbate outcomes for Black, brown and other vulnerable communities.
“The proposals contained within Vought’s Project 2025, much of which is already underway, threatens to wipe away decades of progress our coalition has fought to make real,” said Maya Wiley, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “This anti-civil rights agenda — one that benefits white nationalists and the rich and powerful over everyone else — must be rejected.”
Batchelor of People For the American Way said that in his first days in office, President Trump and “MAGA Washington” have “put on display the makings of a hostile government takeover.” He added, “They’ve shown they’re willing to achieve their goals no matter the cost or who gets hurt.”
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