Sheria Smith is the latest victim of Donald Trump’s anti-DEI efforts. Since taking over the White House in January, after a landslide victory against Kamala Harris, the President has joined hands with Elon Musk‘s DOGE to make significant cuts to the federal government. Among the other agencies, the Department of Education is also witnessing mass terminations of employees. Linda McMahon, the new secretary, is successfully carrying out Trump’s plans to dismantle Education Department.
Smith, who is a Harvard graduate received the notice of her lay off on Tuesday as her dream to support the future of Black students is now in danger. Talking to theGrio, she revealed, “I received notice on Tuesday evening after I was informed that we should leave the office and not come back on Wednesday.”
In 2016, she joined the Education Department as a civil rights attorney in a high-paid, fancy corporate position. She had already helped children as a teacher before pursuing a career in law. After joining the public service, she had only one goal.
“It was really important to me that Black students, students like me, had full access and opportunities in American classrooms and that they were not excluded from AP classes or magnet programs because of the color of their skin or that they were not harshly punished minor infractions or disciplined because of the color of their skin,” Sheria told during the interview with theGrio.
The Harvard-educated civil rights lawyer was also the President of the American Federation of Government Employees, a union representing all DOE workers. She complained that according to the union bargaining policies, she should have been informed of the restructuring beforehand. Not only that, Smith insists that she should have been given a chance to bargain as well. While Sheria was just one of the 1300 other DOE employees who have received termination notices, she blames the “improper” layoffs on Donald Trump‘s anti-DEI efforts.
Texan Sheria Smith, President of @AFGENational Local 252, was just FIRED from @usedgov along with 1,300 other professionals.
We won’t stand for it! Public education is a top priority for Americans, but Trump & Musk are slashing DOE to give billionaires another handout! #FireElon pic.twitter.com/MMvuxoNp8I
— Texas AFL-CIO (@TexasAFLCIO) March 12, 2025
Sheria Smith lamented, “What is distressing about these terminations, which have started since Jan. 21, is the disparate impact on Black employees in our agency and certainly in the federal government and the lack of accountability or legitimate explanation for these terminations or placements on leave by this agency.” She noted that out of the recent round of 970 layoffs, 568 identify as persons of color: “That is an over-representation of people of color on a layoff list.”
Earlier this year, DOE began firing workers accusing them of doing undercover DEI work that goes against Trump and Musk’s efforts. Smith clarifies that 77 of the layoff included those who were not involved in DEI work. Based on her count, 70 of the terminated workers were women and 30 were Black.
The attorney is now putting her energy into fighting back against the system. “We are challenging them. I am a lawyer by trade and so litigation and lawsuits, they all take time, but we are absolutely working. We’re using this time to work for our people and to challenge these actions,” Sheria told theGrio.
She further added, “If we’re educated about American civics, things should not happen just with one branch of government. This should never have happened unless there was also congressional approval. So now we must contact our members of Congress and our senators and let them know that we expect them to do their jobs. Their job is to check the power of the President…It is critical that we remind lawmakers who they work for, and it’s us.”
Sheria believes education is an issue worth going to war with the administration. She is now encouraging Americans who care about the future of Black students to voice against Trump’s efforts to dismantle the Department of Education.
“We’re going to have a loss of talented people who want to continue their higher education and happen to be Black because of the loss of federal student aid. So that’s going to be devastating not only to those individuals but devastating to the Black community because, generally, Black people who want to teach are teaching Black students,” Smith lamented once again, pointing at how the anti-DEI efforts are putting young people’s future in danger.
