Anti-racism work has been happening for decades. However, it reached a critical mass in the late spring with the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and too many more. As people worldwide hunkered down at home due to the pandemic, they were forced to witness, contemplate and reconcile our individual and collective responsibility to create systemic change. Anti-racism work can now be found anywhere from the corporate world to grass-roots community organizing.

So it came as a surprise when buried at the bottom of the page in Saturdays The San Diego Union-Tribune, ironically in the Racial Justice in America section, was an article reporting President Donald Trumps ban on diversity training that discusses White supremacy or critical race theory. The rationale given was that these trainings were divisive and un-American.

Divisive? Not at all. When we study the Jewish Holocaust and the systems created to terminate an entire group of people based on race, is this divisive or is it critical knowledge to ensure history does not repeat itself? When we study how the German people were susceptible to a tyrant like Adolf Hitler and why so many were able to overlook these atrocities, is this divisive or is it a critical study of human behavior so that we as a people are never again complicit with the disregard of any human life?

Un-American? Not at all. The United States was birthed as a nation by White, Protestant Christian men running from religious persecution. It is a nation birthed from the womb of revolution against a religious system of oppression. Did our founding fathers falter in creating a country that was truly equitable for all? Yes. This is widely known and undebatable. We have learned how our nation was built, from the onset, on the backs of enslaved Africans on land stolen from Indigenous people who were here long before our founding fathers.

To be unwilling to acknowledge the historic truths about our country sends the message that only some are valued while other peoples lived experiences, family histories and day-to-day realities are of no consequence and are deeply unappreciated in todays United States.

Could it be that the president has conflated divisive and un-American with uncomfortable? The idea that we should be made to feel comfortable by others is in itself a concept born out of White supremacy and is a luxury that has only been afforded to some. On the contrary, the discomfort that the memorandum is encouraging be avoided is not something that we need to shy away from; rather it presents an opportunity to realize that our learning our growth often happens inside of this very discomfort.

Through discomfort we have learned to adopt a common vocabulary, and now normalized vernacular that includes terms like anti-racist, White supremacy, anti-Blackness, systemic oppression and racism as regular parts of conversations across the United States. Every person plays a role in perpetuating or dismantling systems of oppression and White supremacy. We are unable to be effective in our roles without a clear understanding of the complexity and pervasiveness of this issue.

Understanding the impact of systemic oppression and racism through the voices and experiences of those who are direct targets of it is the cornerstone of critical race theory. The theory is based on the belief that racism is embedded in the fabric of the country and its institutions, and impacts social structures, policies, practices and exchanges. In other words, it examines the systems that were created centuries ago and recognizes that these systems were created by those in power, White people, to preserve that power structure White supremacy and continue to effect the opportunities, relationships and resources for people today. This does not mean that all the White people who continue to benefit from these systems are bad people, but instead provides us with an understanding that can help forge better realities for ourselves and future generations.

With this knowledge, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) and White people have come together to begin deconstructing and reconstructing these systems to better represent the culturally, racially diverse people of today. The work is uncomfortable, and at times painful, and it comes at a personal cost for all involved. It forces us to open our eyes to our own biases and behaviors that contribute to the sustaining of racist and oppressive systems.

Acknowledging our imperfection is not a flaw in the human condition. Regardless of discomfort, anti-racist work is the necessary action we must take to build a nation that lives up to its potential.

Salde Encarnacion is a Community Voices Project contributor. Melendrez is executive officer of equity and engagement at Southwestern College and a co-founder and co-president of an equity and inclusion firm.

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Commentary: Trump's ban on diversity training is misguided. The training is neither divisive nor un-American. - The San Diego Union-Tribune