Protesting for justice.
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The election in 2024 presents a defining moment for the nation, particularly for Black communities, who have historically borne the brunt of systemic inequities. While the incoming administration has emphasized economic growth, educational reform, and energy independence, the policies underpinning these efforts carry implications that could deepen existing disparities.
To move forward, it’s critical to understand these challenges, examine their roots, and chart a course toward resilience and justice.
Economic Policies: Progress Built on Unsteady Ground
The incoming president’s record has often been marked by policies that claim to promote economic opportunity. Inflation, housing instability, and fears of an economic downturn offered fertile ground for a message that claimed to prioritize “hardworking Americans.”
During his first term, Black unemployment did reach historic lows, but those gains were built on unsteady ground, more a result of broader macroeconomic trends than purposeful, systemic change. For every sign of progress, there was a shadow—policies that either ignored or outright harmed Black lives. Tax reforms that widened racial wealth inequality, Opportunity Zones that displaced Black renters while offering little to Black businesses, and healthcare cuts that left many in our communities even more vulnerable.
As we look ahead, Black America must reckon with what we know. Affordable housing remains a foundation of stability in our communities. The push for deregulation weakened protections and intensified health risks in neighborhoods already burdened by environmental hazards. Trade policies and tariffs drove up consumer costs, hitting Black households the hardest as they already spend a greater share of their income on essentials.
Education: The Battle Over Identity and History
When it comes to the incoming administration’s stance on education, we know the push for “parental control” over curricula has often been a deliberate effort to rewrite history. These policies have stripped classrooms of the stories that honor Black identity and contributions while teaching about the systems that continue to shape our lives. By erasing these truths, they deprive all students a full understanding of America’s past and the injustices that persist. Education should empower, not diminish, yet these efforts have done just that, leaving gaps we now must work to fill.
Environmental Justice: The Cost of Deregulation
Environmental deregulation has disproportionately harmed Black, Brown and low-income communities. More often than not these Neighborhoods located near industrial facilities face greater exposure to air and water pollution, leading to higher rates of asthma, cancer, and other chronic illnesses.
The administration’s emphasis on traditional fossil fuels, coupled with its stated intention to redirect unspent funds from the Inflation Reduction Act away from climate initiatives, undermines the potential for clean energy to drive economic growth and create jobs in historically excluded communities. While there’s no clear commitment yet to rolling back Executive Orders like EO 14008 or EO 14096, efforts to scale back environmental justice-focused initiatives threaten the crucial investments needed to cut pollution and advance environmental equity in low-income and disadvantaged areas.
Voting Rights Under Threat
We must also brace ourselves for renewed attacks on our voice for justice and inclusion. Stricter voter ID laws, limited access to mail-in ballots, and aggressive voter roll purges—packaged as “election integrity”—have long served to disenfranchise Black and Brown voters. These measures, combined with the rise of extremist rhetoric, only strengthen the structural barriers designed to silence us and limit our ability to shape the future of this nation.
The Path Forward
So where do we go from here? We organize. We strategize. We make noise where there is silence. When housing policies threaten our stability, we fight for local and state programs that prioritize affordability and equity. If the economy continues to push us out to the margins, we double down on supporting Black-owned businesses and strengthening financial networks built within our communities.
When voter suppression tries to quiet our voices, we mobilize, we educate, and we make sure our votes count. And if our history is erased from classrooms, we must take it upon ourselves to tell our stories in our homes, in our churches, and in our community spaces—wherever our children gather to learn who they are and what it means to stand tall as Black and powerful in America.
This is far from the end of our story. Black Americans have faced and overcome even greater adversity, and we will do so again. Incoming president policies may present challenges, but it does not define us or limit what we can achieve.
No matter who occupies the Oval Office, we are, and will always be, the authors of our destiny.
Lucille Clifton captured it perfectly: “Come celebrate with me that every day something has tried to kill me and has failed.” We celebrate, not because the fight is finished, but because we are still standing, still resisting, still thriving. Let’s use that strength to plan boldly, build fearlessly, fight relentlessly, and love deeply. The future is still ours to shape and claim. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded us, “Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope.” Let us keep pushing and determined to fight the good fight of Faith!
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Publish date : 2024-11-27 06:18:00
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