I found it more than ironic that Donald Trump’s swearing in as US president occurred on Jan. 20, the day we celebrate Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday. To me and to so many others it felt like a desecration.

 But that was only the beginning of the Trump invasion. February brought multiple ironies and blows to people and programs that boost peoples’ lives. There was decimation and erasure of Diversity Equity and Inclusion – DEI programs that were leveling playing fields, reducing racist and gender discrimination, and opening the doors to fairness and opportunity writ large. Trump claimed he was following Dr. King’s teachings – ensuring that people be judged by their character and competency and experience and not by their gender or race, as he interprets the mission of DEI.

 He obviously didn’t take Dr. King’s words to heart when he fired highly regarded Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. from his position as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and only the second African American to hold that post. There was a time when Black men were prohibited from fighting in our wars. 

 Then again, it seems as though Brown’s skin color and his allegiance to DEI were reason enough for Brown to be” kicked to the curb.” Go figure.

Earlier on the chopping block: Admiral Linda Fagan, a four-star admiral and the highest-ranking woman in the US military, ousted from her position as Commandant of the Coast Guard during an inauguration day ball. Following her termination, Admiral Fagan was given three hours to vacate her government-funded residence on Joint Base Anacostia Bolling in Washington, DC. Administration officials said that an “excessive focus” on diversity, equity and inclusion was one reason for her dismissal.

 Immediately after the inauguration, the Trump/Musk team acquired access to the personal files of all federal workers. Under cover of the Trump-created Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, a horde of young tech majors were unleashed on federal agencies. Department heads who refused to turn confidential information over to these college-aged intruders were immediately terminated from lifetime careers as stalwart civil servants.

 I am furious that thousands of my friends and acquaintances and others of every race, gender ,and ethnic background - who have been our government’s devoted workers - have been treated so harshly. I am sickened that strides made that decrease the racial and gender divide in America are being heartlessly erased and/or backpedaled.

 More recently, Trump’s cruelty has been on full display. His administration has thrown out protections from deportation for roughly half a million Haitians, meaning they would lose their work permits and be subject to deportation. The government vacated Temporary Protected Status in America for Haitians fleeing violence and death in their home country. Critics are calling the decision to send 500,000 people back to a country where there is such a high level of death “utterly inhumane.”

A few days ago, he and Vice President JD Vance, sitting in the White House, turned on Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky with harsh rebukes, sinking possibilities for further American aid to Ukraine, which is still in the fight for its life against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

 The hits keep coming. I want my country back. The country of Washington, Lincoln, Kennedy, Obama, Biden, and its 320 million current residents, the true Americans who want and need to embrace law, order, courtesy, decency, and compassion. All of us – passionate but practical people – want to live in and help perpetuate our Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

John J. Drew is a longtime community activist, advocate and leader in Boston and its neighborhoods.