Read Executive Orders! (Issue #12)

They'll tell you who the President really is.

Author

Chris Musei-Sequeira
May 02, 2025

This photograph shows Donald Trump signing a document on March 6, 2017. He is in a dark suit with a red tie, and he sits at a dark brown desk. Behind him is a portion of the American flag on the far left. A window is directly behind him, and another window is to the right of the photograph. Through the windows, green plants and a daytime sky are visible. SOURCE: File:Trump signing Executive Order 13780.jpg - Wikimedia Commons. (2017, March 6). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Trump_signing_Executive_Order_13780.jpg. LICENSING: This file is a work of an employee of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, taken or made as part of that person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, it is in the public domain.

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Here's an easy way to learn what the White House thinks: Read Executive Orders! And you don't have to read all of an Executive Order either—just read the first few paragraphs. Those paragraphs serve as the marketing copy—the hook to draw the reader in and attempt to convince the reader to think like the President.

A number of people on my feed have referenced a brand new Executive Order on law enforcement in the United States of America. This Executive Order portrays America's police forces as unjustly criticized and unfairly restricted from doing their jobs. Whether that's true or not is not of issue here. What I want to emphasize is the portrayal as shown in the Executive Order—or really, ANY Executive Order that is released by a presidential administration in the United States of America.

Executive Orders are publicly available, right here: White House Executive Orders

Executive Orders will give you a picture of what the President considers to be reality. They will give you a picture of who the President is.

So, I'll just leave you with the quote from Maya Angelou: “When people show you who they are, believe them the first time.”

Where to find the perspectives you’ve been missing

FIRST: Subscribe to the Morning Tinto podcast, where my friend Heather Luna and I use the lenses of oppression and resistance to talk about events that happen right before recording.

SECOND: Subscribe to our professional offers-and-needs networking events announcement list. Heather and I regularly host FREE online events where professionals can offer help (free or paid) and ask other professionals to meet their needs.

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FOURTH: Forward this issue to people you know who are doing decolonial and anti-oppression work.

Got something to say to me?

I’m Chris, the Principal of CJSC, LLC, and I’m (un)learning along with all of you — so hit the “reply” button and give me a piece of your mind!

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My name is Chris Musei-Sequeira, and I use he/him pronouns. My mother was born in Trinidad and Tobago as a descendant of African slaves brought to the islands during the time of European colonization. She came to the United States of America (USA) at the age of 10. My father is Goan and was born in India, in Mumbai, and raised Catholic and English-speaking. He came to the USA for his graduate studies, where he met my mother.

My sister and I were born in the USA and lived a middle-class life in the suburbs of multiple American cities. I studied aeronautical engineering and technology policy in university, then worked at the Federal Aviation Administration and as an aviation consultant. I've lived in cities up and down the USA East Coast since the age of 18; I now reside in Queens, New York with my wife.

I thank Heather Luna and Lavinia Muth for showing me the importance of publicly expressing our positions. Because of our positions, all of us are very familiar with some aspects of the world while having no idea of other aspects. Positionality expresses how our individual positions affect our relationships with other people and with the world as a whole.

Introductory image: History of the United States of America. Native American council and conquistadors meeting around a fire. Engraving by Vernier. Panorama Universal. History of the United States of America, from 1st edition of Jean B.G. Roux de Rochelle's Etats-Unis d'Amerique in 1837. Spanish edition, printed in Barcelona, 1850. Later colouration. Source: Mary Evans Picture Library. Last accessed December 18, 2024.