African Americans are facing a broad, racist assault in the United States, aimed at reversing every socio-economic and political gain won by this oppressed segment of the population.
President Donald Trump claims the Black population gets unfair advantages over most whites, particularly young white men.
Policies like affirmative action, diversity, equity and inclusion are under attack and derided as “woke-ism”. African Americans’ qualifications and skills — the basis of merit — are ignored.
When Trump and his underlings say they plan to go after the “radical left”, at the top of his list are civil rights groups.
Capitalism and national oppression
The source of these assaults is rooted in the structure of the capitalist system where billionaires interests come first and working people’s come last.
US capitalism is deeply rooted in its historic race-based class structure.
Before the war of independence from England in 1776, the white European settlers who founded the colonies in North America saw the First Nations peoples — who welcomed them to their shores — as inferior.
Historically, Blacks — the largest oppressed group — have been targeted as “less than” since African slaves were brought to North America. Mexicans, other Latinx peoples and immigrants of colour have been seen as invaders.
It took a Civil War (the Second American Revolution) to end slavery and enable former slaves to become citizens.
The founders never supported equality for non-white people. First Nations tribes faced genocide. It is not surprising that the future white rulers of both major capitalist parties imposed a white-supremacist system, based on legal segregation and exclusion of African Americans through “last hired, first fired” practices.
Black women suffer compounding racial, economic and sexual oppression. Trump’s Republicans are rolling back abortion rights and even access to contraceptives. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth even questions whether women should still have the right to vote, and transgender people face physical threats.
Rising unemployment
Employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows the true nature of US capitalism and Black oppression. Black workers face systemic barriers in hiring and promotion and persistent disparities in employment due to their concentration in urban areas with high-unemployment.
African Americans continue to face the highest unemployment rate, nearly double that of white workers. In August, the unemployment rate for African American workers was 7.5%, compared with the national average of 4.3%. The unemployment rate was 3.8% for white workers, 3.6% for Asian workers and 5.3% for Latinx workers.
Among younger Black workers (ages 16–24), unemployment can exceed 19%.
What the data doesn’t show, however, is the rise in homelessness due to workers being sacked and unable to pay rent and mortgages.
Hardest hit are Black men and women, including those with school-aged children and those without permanent addresses. Cuts to food stamps (known as SNAP) and fewer free meals provided at public schools mean families are experiencing undernourishment, especially Black and Latinx families.
Asian Americans consistently have the lowest unemployment rate, often attributed to their higher educational attainment and concentration in high-demand sectors.
Black women hit hard
Black women have been among the hardest hit in Trump’s federal workforce cuts, especially women who got jobs and benefits not available to them in the private sector and who were shut out of jobs because of discrimination. According to the Hamilton Journal, “Black women make up 12% of the federal work force, nearly double their share of the labour force overall”.
Peggy Carr, the chief statistician at the Education Department, “knew there was a risk of becoming a target” when Trump started dismantling the federal public service and sacking public servants, reported the Hamilton Journal.
“But her 35-year career at the department spanned a half dozen administrations, including Trump’s first term, and she had earned the respect of officials from both parties. Surely, she thought, the office tasked with tracking the achievement of the nation’s students could not fall under the president’s definition of ‘divisive and harmful’ or ‘woke’.
But, “[o]n a February afternoon, a security guard showed up to her office just as she was preparing to hold a staff meeting. Fifteen minutes later, the staff watched in tears and disbelief as she was escorted out of the building.”
Unity needed
Since the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the federal government has aggressively enforced affirmative action in hiring and anti-discrimination rules.
Trump calls these programs “reverse racism” against allegedly more qualified whites.
The right, including a majority in Congress and the White House, defend Trump’s overhaul of the federal government as an effort to “right-size” the work force and to “restore a merit-based approach” to advancement.
During the first two weeks of Trump’s second term, the federal Education department began purging employees. It was a preview of what would unfold in the following months. It included firing Susan Monarez, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Lisa Cook, the first Black woman governor of the Federal Reserve.
The Supreme Court majority ruled in July that Trump could continue his racist firings across the federal public service.
This is why defending DEI must be front and centre of the resistance to accelerating moves to entrench Trump’s authoritarianism.
Working class unity to defeat the far right is not possible unless that occurs.