Trump’s DEI War Roils Corporate Giants in Cradle of Civil Rights

The Trump administration’s crackdown on diversity programs arrived last month for Atlanta’s airport, with a demand to cancel inclusion policies or lose federal funding. Mayor Andre Dickens refused— forfeiting tens of millions of dollars for the world’s busiest aviation hub.

But for Dickens, who’s led the city since 2022, it was worth it. Atlanta is, after all, the place that gave rise to the US civil rights movement; the city that promoted itself in the 1960s with the slogan that it was “too busy to hate.”

The mayor’s statement summed up the dilemma he faced after refusing to make ...