By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent

A new poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows growing public skepticism toward the effectiveness of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. Conducted July 10–14, 2025, the survey of 1,437 U.S. adults revealed that only about one-third believe DEI efforts reduce discrimination against women, Hispanic people, or Asian Americans. Four in 10 say DEI initiatives help address bias against Black people. Yet nearly 30 percent believe these initiatives increase discrimination, including against white people.

The AP-NORC poll also noted a sharp drop in the number of Americans who acknowledge racial discrimination against Black and Asian people. In 2021, 61% said Black Americans faced a great deal or quite a bit of discrimination. That figure now stands at 40%. For Asian Americans, it dropped from 46% to 30%. Despite this decline in perception, 74% of Black respondents say their communities continue to experience significant discrimination. The polling results come amid escalating concerns about Project 2025, a sweeping 900-page policy blueprint published by the Heritage Foundation and widely viewed as a roadmap for a second Trump administration. According to the Legal Defense Fund’s Thurgood Marshall Institute, Project 2025 poses a direct threat to Black communities by proposing to dismantle civil rights protections, privatize education, and expand executive power with minimal oversight.

The LDF’s report, Attack on Our Power and Dignity: What Project 2025 Means for Black Communities, warns that the agenda would eliminate racial data collection in federal agencies, weaken anti-discrimination laws, and roll back protections for workers, students, and voters. “The assault on Black communities envisioned by Project 2025 will almost certainly condemn us to demise,” said LDF President Janai Nelson. Education is a central battleground. Project 2025 calls for eliminating the Department of Education and replacing federal oversight with state control, even in states with a documented history of racial discrimination. It also seeks to defund school programs that address systemic racism or acknowledge white privilege. These efforts echo past segregationist rhetoric.

In a February 2025 Newsweek opinion piece, Dr. Stephanie R. Toliver of the University of Illinois cited former North Carolina Justice I. Beverly Lake’s 1954 warning that inferior education was preferable to racial integration. Toliver drew a chilling parallel to the present: “Just as Justice Lake once saw inferior education as an acceptable price to pay for preserving racial purity, today’s rhetoric proposes that a substandard education is a small cost for maintaining racism, homophobia, trans violence, and antiblackness”. Human Rights Watch also issued a 2025 statement linking the rollback of DEI initiatives to the broader global assault on anti-racism efforts. The organization called the Trump-era movement against DEI a “clear example” of mainstreamed racism, urging governments to reckon with the legacies of slavery, colonialism, and apartheid by adopting reparations and structural reforms. As perceptions of discrimination wane and support for DEI programs declines, civil rights advocates warn that these attitudes reflect not progress, but apathy, denial, and a dangerous rewriting of history.

“Our democracy stands at a crossroads,” Nelson said. “A path of infinite promise towards a more inclusive, equitable, and durable democracy on the one hand, and one of immeasurable and, potentially, irretrievable demise on the other”

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By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent

Donald Trump’s latest tirade against a prominent Black media figure is drawing fresh scrutiny of his long-documented history of racist behavior. In a Truth Social post, the former president called Charlamagne tha God a “racist sleazebag” and “low-IQ individual” after the popular radio host criticized Trump’s return to the White House during an interview with Lara Trump on Fox News. “I don’t want to say that I think he did a terrible job, but if he’s doing a terrible job, I gotta call it like it is,” said Charlamagne, whose real name is Lenard McKelvey. “All we want is somebody in those positions that’s going to do a good job. I’m not a party person, in no way, shape or form”. Trump, clearly enraged, blasted Charlamagne’s moniker: “Why is he allowed to use the word ‘GOD’ when describing himself? Can anyone imagine the uproar there would be if I used that nickname?” He added that the host “has no idea what words are coming out of his mouth and knows nothing about me or what I have done”. While Trump claims he rebuilt the economy and closed the southern border, data shows core inflation is rising, and Black unemployment has reached its highest level since the pandemic.

A Decades-Long Pattern

Trump’s reaction to Charlamagne follows a pattern of racist attacks stretching back decades. According to PBS News, Trump has repeatedly used dehumanizing language to describe Black prosecutors, calling Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg a “Soros-backed animal” and referring to New York Attorney General Letitia James as “Racist A.G. Letitia ‘Peekaboo’ James” — a term experts say echoes racist slurs. He also accused Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis of being “racist” and a “rabid partisan,” running a campaign ad falsely suggesting she had a romantic relationship with a gang member — an ad she called “derogatory and false”. “He’s taking that historical racialized language that was offensive and insulting, and the subordinating of Black persons, applying it in a contemporary space,” said Dr. Bev-Freda Jackson of American University.

Research Confirms Trump’s Rhetoric Has Real Impact

Trump’s language has had measurable consequences. A 2023 peer-reviewed study in Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology found that Trump’s 2016 election increased dehumanizing views among white Americans who supported him. Trump voters were more likely to rate Black people as less “evolved” after the election than before. The study confirmed what many already suspected: Trump didn’t just reflect racism—he amplified it. “Trickle-down racism” became a reality, validating fears expressed by figures like Mitt Romney, who warned Trump’s rhetoric would legitimize hate.

Systemic Efforts to Erase Black History

Beyond rhetoric, Trump has taken deliberate action to erase and distort Black history. In 2025, the National Park Service attempted to scrub references to Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad from exhibits, a move the Trump administration reversed only after public outrage. Around the same time, Trump issued an executive order targeting the National Museum of African American History and Culture as “divisive,” prompting director Kevin Young’s resignation. He also created the 1776 Commission, an effort to push “patriotic education” that whitewashed America’s legacy of slavery and racism. The move was a direct attack on initiatives like The 1619 Project, which Trump called “toxic propaganda”. Historians say the goal is clear: to rewrite and sanitize history. “It seems like we’re headed in the direction where there’s even an attempt to deny that the institution of slavery even existed,” one historian told POLITICO regarding Trump’s order targeting the Smithsonian’s African American museum.

From Housing Discrimination to Charlottesville

Trump’s racially charged behavior isn’t new. In 1973, he was sued by the U.S. Department of Justice for discriminating against Black renters. During the investigation, Trump allegedly told a DOJ attorney, “You know, you don’t want to live with them either”. In 1989, he took out full-page newspaper ads calling for the execution of the Central Park Five—five Black and Latino teenagers later exonerated. Even after DNA evidence proved their innocence, Trump maintained they were guilty. His political rise was fueled by the racist “birther” conspiracy against President Barack Obama, and he infamously referred to the white supremacists in Charlottesville as “very fine people”.

Cliff Albright of Black Voters Matter has previously reminded the world that, “This is who Donald Trump is. He’s been this way all his time in public life.”

Oakland Post

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By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent

The U.S. economy added just 73,000 jobs in July, continuing a three-month trend of sluggish growth, according to the latest data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The national unemployment rate held steady at 4.2 percent, with little movement across key sectors.

While health care and social assistance industries posted modest gains, federal government employment continued its decline, shedding 12,000 jobs in July and bringing total losses in the sector to 84,000 since January. The overall number of unemployed individuals stood at 7.2 million in July. Black workers continued to face a disproportionately high unemployment rate at 7.2 percent—nearly double the rate for white workers, which remained at 3.7 percent. Hispanic workers saw a jobless rate of 5.0 percent, while Asian workers had a jobless rate of 3.9 percent.

Teenagers experienced the highest unemployment rate of any group at 15.2 percent, while adult men and women reported 4.0 percent and 3.7 percent unemployment, respectively. The labor force participation rate remained at 62.2 percent, continuing a yearlong decline of 0.5 percentage points. The employment-population ratio also changed little, standing at 59.6 percent, down 0.4 percentage points over the past year.

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The number of people unemployed for 27 weeks or longer rose to 1.8 million in July, an increase of 179,000, and now accounts for nearly one-quarter of all unemployed individuals. Meanwhile, the number of new entrants to the labor market—those looking for their first job—rose by 275,000 to 985,000. Wage growth continued modestly. Average hourly earnings for all private-sector non-farm employees increased by 12 cents to $36.44, marking a 3.9 percent increase over the past 12 months. Production and nonsupervisory workers saw average hourly wages rise by 8 cents to $31.34.

Job gains were most notable in the health care sector, which added 55,000 positions, including 34,000 in ambulatory services and 16,000 in hospitals. Social assistance added 18,000 jobs, primarily driven by a 21,000 increase in individual and family services. But nearly all other major industries—including manufacturing, construction, retail, professional services, and transportation—saw little to no job growth.

The average workweek for all employees edged up slightly to 34.3 hours. For production and nonsupervisory workers, the workweek increased to 33.7 hours. Revisions to previous reports revealed a much weaker job market than initially reported. The May payroll number was revised down by 125,000 to 19,000 jobs, and June’s total was lowered by 133,000 to just 14,000. Combined, these adjustments wiped out 258,000 jobs from prior estimates. The BLS noted that employees on paid leave or receiving ongoing severance are still counted as employed in their surveys.

The following employment report, covering August 2025, is scheduled for release on Friday, September 5.

Stacy M. Brown

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