Authors of Project 2025 placed under scrutiny at mock trial held as part of Selma’s Jubilee

The authors of Project 2025 were placed under scrutiny at a mock trial at the Dallas County Courthouse March 7.

Project 2025 is a political initiative to reshape the federal government of the United States and consolidate executive power in favor of right-wing policies, according to Wikipedia. The plan was published in April 2023 by The Heritage Foundation, an American conservative thinktank, in anticipation of Donald Trump winning the 2024 presidential election.

As part of the Bridge Crossing Jubilee, The Heritage Foundation was called to the stand to defend the document. The purpose of the trial was “to educate,” organizer and attorney Faya Rose Toure said.

The trial’s Judge was former Tuscaloosa County Circuit Judge John England. Serving as prosecutors were Onye Collum and Kamesha Logan, with Foot Soldiers Park’s Youth Advisory Board representative Carmen Benjamin.

They argued that DEI programs in America uphold democracy, and there is no legal or just cause to remove them from government, education systems or job culture.

“This is not about fairness or neutrality,” Collum said. “This is about regression, and regression has no place in a country built on the promise of equality.”

Defending the authors of Project 2025 and The Heritage Foundation were Fourth Circuit District Attorney Robert Turner Jr. and Angela Betts, with YAB representative Micah Thomas. Authors of the Project 2025 agenda are Kevin Roberts and Paul Dans.

“My clients have done nothing wrong, and we respectfully ask that this court dismiss this case in its entirety,” Betts said.

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Former NAACP President Dr. Ben Chavis testified that Project 2025 is “institutionalized ignorance against people of color.”

Congresswoman Maxine Waters was met with loud applause from the audience. Turner jokingly told Judge England, “Respectfully, Your Honor, we don’t think we can handle her,” which was met with an uproar.

Waters said efforts to shut down the Department of Education and reducing Medicaid will have a profound impact on people of color.

“People will die. People will not get the services. People will not have an opportunity, -- and particularly people of color -- to be able to deal with those diseases that are prominent in our communities,” Waters said. “So, it is very dangerous.”

“We have a fight on our hands,” Waters said. “Now, I know that this is not a rally, this is a courtroom, and I’m trying to answer your questions. But, hell, we’ve got a fight on our hands.”

During her cross examination, she testified that wealth is being kept from people of color through disparities in economic and educational opportunities.

John M. Cash, who has a master’s degree in constitutional history, testified that there is a “historic and social need” DEI programs.

In the end, the jury ruled in favor of the plaintiff. Project 2025’s authors would have to take the loss.