Although there are plenty of themes to retouch on as we pass to 2026, the one that actually grabs my fancy right now is at the national level. Number one is the Trump administration’s consistent attempt to roll back (or directly kill) Black social-legal progress in the U.S.A.
Having been raised during the bright lights and tense dramas of the Civil Rights Movement in the US, I am considered a C.R.B.—a Civil Rights Baby. This means that I am permanently attached to reports of gains in the legal/social rights of African Americans. Though other political issues may raise my interest and energy, the progress of Black folks in the U.S. remains a priority interest for me, my children, and my folks.
During his first and second terms, POTUS Trump’s administrations have trampled on the regular enforcement of civil rights in the U.S.A. (now regularly confused with D.E.I. concerns). As one commenter recently put it, “During his first term and through actions proposed or initiated in 2024, the Trump administration has been rightly criticized by civil rights experts for pursuing policies that have undermined key civil rights protections and enforcement mechanisms designed to combat racial discrimination in the U.S.”
These include trying to destroy the “disparate impact” standard in the U.S.A. This means the Trump folk have initiated a “hit and kill” policy against the current “disparate impact” standard used since the 1960s as the dominant legal tool against policies that are seemingly neutral but that have the effect of disproportionately harming Black and marginalized communities in housing, education, and employment situations.
The Trump administrations have made it a policy to fire as many Black federal employees as possible, particularly those working in federal civil rights enforcement activities like the Department of Education and the Office of Civil Rights. Only a handful of such workers currently remain. The Trump administration has also managed to confuse the purpose of U.S. civil rights acts, having his people interpret those laws in a way that favors historically privileged groups and define efforts toward diversity as “unlawful discrimination.”
Additionally,
1. The policies and practices under the Trump administration currently seek the termination of all federal DEIA programs, offices, and related contracts, and require all federal contractors to certify that they do not maintain such programs. For example, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)—the federal agency responsible for enforcing worker rights—just announced that it would no longer investigate complaints about company policies that may disproportionately harm certain groups but don’t discriminate explicitly. This ends decades of progress in workplace equality, “stripping away a key mechanism that has helped expose and remedy hidden bias in the workplace.”
2. The Trump administration cut virtually all staff and funding for civil rights offices across all federal agencies, including the Department of Education, Department of Labor, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). This virtually killed the possibility of investigating and remedying discrimination complaints.
3. The Trump administration rescinded all non-discrimination orders. These were long-standing federal executive orders that prohibited discrimination in federal contracting, including the famous Executive Order 11246, which had required affirmative action to ensure equal opportunity in the workplace.
4. Trump ordered job cuts that disproportionately impacted Black women, who had been very well-represented in the federal service. This reduced a historic pathway to middle-class stability in Black America.
5. Trump eliminated the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) personnel and funding requests, thus jeopardizing thousands of Black-owned businesses that relied on the agency for contract acquisition and support.
6. Finally, but not least, Trump’s administration rolled back environmental protections and reopened projects like pipelines and freeways through low-income and Black communities, most of which are already overburdened by pollution and unaddressed health hazards. We will be glad when he’s gone.
Professor David L. Horne is founder and executive director of PAPPEI, the Pan African Public Policy and Ethical Institute, which is a new 501(c)(3) pending community-based organization or non-governmental organization (NGO). It is the stepparent organization for the California Black Think Tank which still operates and which meets every fourth Friday.
