Real Worst Case Scenarios For Black Folks in Trump's America

The president has outlined plans to eliminate the Department of Education (DOE). In preparation for four more MAGA years, Trump announced Linda McMahon, the former wrestling executive, will head the DOE he vows to abolish. The department does not develop school curricula, set requirements for enrollment or graduation, or accredit schools and universities, as Trump and MAGA republicans have suggested. But it does handle the billions of dollars that fund education nationwide, so it’s time we consider the stakes that the abolition of the 44-year-old DOE’s can have Black students.

Trump’s plan to “send all education work and needs back to the states” means every state will create its own budget and resources for education, including college. This means states like Louisiana — which has the second largest Black population in the country but also ranks 49th of all states in public school rankings, according to the World Population Review — will now have complete control over how and where this money is distributed. Since fall 2010, Black student enrollment has decreased by 23 percent, according to the Postsecondary National Policy Institute. And who’s to say when education funds run dry, that percentage won’t get even worse?

With talks of war with China, Mexico, in Middle East, and even with Canada, Americans are on edge about what will happen if war breaks out under Trump’s watch. In 2022, Black Americans made up about 20.3 percent of active members in the U.S. Army, but only 13 percent of the total U.S. population. So with Black soldiers signing up and risking their lives to defend the U.S. democracy, many wonder who will ultimately pay the price for Trump’s threats.

The Trump administration is already making conscious efforts to rewrite the past and erase key historical events from American history. Whether its removing videos of the Tuskegee Airmen from government agencies or banning diversity at the federal level, Trump and his cabinet are on a mission to “Make America White Again,” as former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi once said.

According to the New York Times, 199 words have been reportedly banned in the administration as they continue their “war on woke.” The list includes but isn’t limited to: “Black,” “anti-racism,” “discrimination,” “racial justice,” “diversity,” “trauma,” “at-risk,” “minorities,” “underprivileged,” “biased,” “climate science,” “women,” “female,” “socioeconomic,” “climate change” and “cultural heritage,” as The Root previously reported. 

With DEI banned and a slew of companies and organizations following suit, diversity is becoming a dirty word in the country. If we continue on this track, past efforts made by the Civil Rights Movement, Black Lives Matter, and even the Abolitionist Movement will all be at risk. Diversity efforts directly impact future generations of Americans. Black people are more likely to report a disability than any other race in the nation, according to the National Disability Institute. So for Black students with learning and/or physical disabilities, agencies like the DOE would no longer be able to protect them under Trump.

Inflation and tariff wars continue to impact everyday people, and as the wealth gap increases, so is the racial gap in America. According to the Brookings Institute, “between 2019 and 2022, median wealth increased by $51,800, but the racial wealth gap increased by $49,950 — adding up to a total difference of $240,120 in wealth between the median white household and the median Black household.”

One of the president’s first executive actions was to attack birthright citizenship, the constitutional right giving automatic citizenship to any person born in the states. It was originally framed as an attack on illegal immigration, but debates about the 14th Amendment go back to slavery. After the end of the Civil War war, three “Reconstruction Amendments” were added to the Constitution granting citizenship and righting the wrongs of slavery’s past, including the 14th Amendment. The Root previously reported over 22 states have filed lawsuits against Trump’s order, saying it goes directly against the U.S. Constitution.

If Trump is successful in his attempt to change the U.S. Constitution, debates over who is actually a citizen will surely radiate across the nation. Most African Americans have deep ties to U.S. chattel slavery, but without the 14th Amendment codifying citizenship, the Trump administration could begin to question the legitimacy of all groups of Americans, including Black Americans.

Even before he was elected president, Trump continuously targeted Black and brown migrants to fit his mass deportation agenda. We all remember when Trump and Vice President JD Vance perpetuated the debunked theory that undocumented Haitian immigrants were “eating the cats, eating the dogs” in Ohio. With more than 619,000 Black undocumented migrants living in the U.S., according to Prism Reports, concerns over immigration should impact everyone.

Trump has made his dislike for Black Lives Matter and other civil rights activist organizations very clear over the years. But last month, he named Joe Kent as the director of the National Counter Terrorism Center, and more folks should be spooked about it. Kent is the same man who said “We need to treat ANTIFA and BLM like terrorist organizations.” He also said, “we need to use the tools of the federal government, the FBI, the US Marshals — go after them like organized criminals and terrorists.”

Since being re-elected, Trump has worked to undo many efforts put in place after George Floyd was killed in 2020. Just in January, the president signed an executive order removing a federal system for doing background checks on police. Conservative media pundit Ben Shapiro even launched a petition requesting Trump to pardon Derek Chauvin, Floyd’s killer. And let’s not forget about attacks on measures of Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI), which were set up by former President Joe Biden and other politicians following Floyd’s death. With this in mind, progress made for Black Americans is likely to see a greater decline.

Changes made to the nation within the next four years have the potential to shape the next generations of Americans. So although many folks say they plan to “wait out” the rest of Trump’s term.... news flash: even after the president exits the White House, we will more than likely still have to deal with the repercussions.