Federal Overhaul is a multipart series that explores the impact of the Trump administration’s restructuring of the federal government on Black communities. President Donald Trump and his allies have turned diversity, equity, and inclusion into a catchall slur. The administration claims to be eliminating DEI, but what it’s doing is conflating issues, attacking long-established civil rights […]
Donald Trump
Posted inPolitics & Policy
For Black Immigrants, a Second Trump Term Hits Different
In a matter of weeks, everything changed. A trip to the grocery store. Going to Mass. Meeting with recent arrivals from her native Haiti, or asking them to meet her. It all suddenly feels too risky for Farah Larrieux. Now that Donald Trump has returned to the Oval Office with a compliant Congress and what […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Extreme Weather
Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Policies Undermine Recovery in Black Disaster Zones
For two months, hundreds of workers have cleared smoldering, toxic ashes in Altadena, California, removing what remains of a historic Black neighborhood. All the while, many don’t know how much longer they’ll be in the country. Since Hurricane Katrina, undocumented immigrants have been the backbone of America’s disaster recovery system, trailing nature’s fury from hurricanes […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Incarceration
What a ‘Pardon Czar’ Could Accomplish During a Trump Administration
Newly appointed “pardon czar” Alice Marie Johnson’s role has been met with cautious optimism from decarceration advocates, given President Donald Trump’s unpredictable stance on criminal justice reform. Johnson, a prominent figure in efforts to reform federal mandatory minimum sentences, will advise Trump on clemency decisions, multiple media outlets have reported. “I am deeply grateful for […]
Posted inCulture, Politics & Policy, Public Safety, Rural Issues
Meet the Black Women Who Say Survivalism Is a Necessity, Not a Trend
Kelli McGuffey Pilkington hunts deer and squirrels, fishes whenever she can, stores jars of preserved food she cans herself — and keeps a holstered Smith and Wesson .38-caliber handgun under her T-shirt, just in case. Pilkington, 48, is a sturdily built 6-foot-tall Black biracial woman who lives in a 644-square-foot cabin on 18 acres of […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Unsafe Water
Millions Face Toxic Water as Trump Reverses Key Environmental Reforms
Less than a year ago, the Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency unveiled the first national plan to remove lead pipes and limit the levels of harmful chemicals in drinking water — and they chose to do so in front of Black North Carolinians. For decades, residents in the Tar Heel State have been concerned by […]
Posted inEmployment, Federal Overhaul, Politics & Policy
How the Cutting of Federal Jobs Puts Black Workers at Risk
Federal Overhaul is a multipart series that explores the impact of the Trump administration’s restructuring of the federal government on Black communities. When Theodore Johnson was a young boy in Raleigh, North Carolina, he and his family had to be strategic to make ends meet. They often went shopping at Kmart months in advance, putting clothes […]
Posted inCulture, Politics & Policy
Kendrick Lamar’s Multilayered Halftime Show Was About Far More Than Just a Rap Beef
Prior to the ascension of Donald Trump, rappers and America’s political right wing were not friends. They enjoyed — and often profited from — a mutual enmity. For nearly 30 years, from the perch of his eponymous and often top-rated Fox News show, commentator Bill O’Reilly consistently used hip-hop to gin up white conservative fear […]
Posted inBlack Migration, Partner Content
Black Americans Find a Racism Respite Through ‘Blaxit’
This article was originally published by The Emancipator, a nonprofit digital magazine that reimagines the nation’s first abolitionist newspapers for a new day. Twanna Hines watched her television in shock on Jan. 6, 2021, from her Washington, D.C., home as hundreds of people who believed the lie that Donald Trump had won the 2020 election […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Anti-DEI Assault Gains Momentum Under New DOJ Leadership
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi is bringing the U.S. Department of Justice in line with President Donald Trump’s platform, as she continues the administration’s anti-diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility purge and appears to reverse the pro-civil rights agenda of her predecessor. On Wednesday — her first day in office — she issued a litany of […]