Donald Trump is again the leader of the free world, but his tactics in ensuring “America Is Great Again” are being captured through various lenses—some supportive, some oppositional. During Trump’s first 100 days in office, the politician signed executive orders, including reversing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the foreign service. While his supporters applauded his acts, many Black political figures, media giants, and community experts believe that dismantling laws written in the Constitution clouds Trump’s judgment and creates a dictatorial society, especially for marginalized people.
Though many fear the Trump administration’s practices and upcoming policies, prominent Black organizers vocalize their disdain for the current political landscape and the administration’s attempt to rewrite history.
Recently, the humanitarian and advocacy collective Harriet’s Daughters gathered a panel of experts and a collective to combat racial inequalities within the Black community. Chicagoans amplified their voices to pursue a resilient future despite current injustices.
Black Coalitions Inacting Change To Prevent An Autocratic Society
Racism, sexism, and xenophobia were spewed during Harris’s and Trump’s race, causing her political agenda and intellect as a Black woman leader to be slightly overshadowed by hateful rhetoric. Although 92% of Black women voted for Harris in the last election, the Trump administration ultimately prevailed, making women’s rights vulnerable. Despite the outcome, Nikole Hannah-Jones agreed that Black women utilized their Fifteenth Amendment rights for communal efforts. As she quoted author Audre Lorde, Essence chatted with the award-winning journalist and documentarian about Black women defending their honor while prioritizing their mental health.
“Self-care is the act of resistance. Black women, we were the greatest offenders of this democracy. We voted against what we’re seeing in terms of a government that’s increasingly looking autocratic at the highest rate of any group,” she emphasizes before speaking on the panel.
“We can’t work on behalf of our people in democracy if we’re sick, if we allow the stress and this work to deteriorate our body. So it’s essential that we take rest, that we find joy in our community and there’s so much that we cannot control and that this administration is doing, but they cannot control how we act in community and our ability to hold on to the joy that we have.”
Hannah-Jones recounts how Black Americans used Reconstruction as a gateway to fulfill economic and civil freedom. The 1619 Project creator sees a parallel between today’s events and the early 1900s, when Black people gained and lost their rights.
“The Trump administration that is not trying to take it back to the 1960s, they wanted to take us back to that period where we weren’t able to fight for integration,” she exclaims.“Where we go is also going to be determined by us because we’re also people who know how to resist, who know how to fight, and know how to strategize, and who know how to force this country back to its highest ideals. I think they’re doing what they’re doing, and then we’re gonna do what we’re gonna have to do.”
Though Black revolutionaries and the policies that police us are critical, lawmakers like Janai Nelson give the people insight on preparing for resistance. The NAACP Legal Fund Defense Fund President and Director-Counsel believes the people have taken our rights “for granted.” Since Brown v. Board of Education, Nelson expresses that America’s history is periodic, and the people should not be complacent when enacting change within this country.
“I do think that as a result of all the successes of the civil rights movement, as a result of us being able to see ourselves in some positions of leadership, we may have forgotten the inertia of white nationalism in this country that has always dragging us backwards,” she told the audience.
Nelson told the congregation to engage actively in the local voting ballots and hold city councilpersons accountable for an easier pathway within this democracy, stating that our collective voice holds weight against any politician. The civil rights lawyer demanded that everyone save the US Senate’s contact number to combat H.R. 9495—a bill wrongly accusing non-profit organizations of being terrorist-supporting organizations. This bill threatens local churches, charities, and legal businesses from operating.
Historically, activism and spirituality intersect, especially in the Black Baptist churches. Senior pastor at Trinity United Church in Chicago, Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III, testifies that the prophetic churches practiced independence while instilling communal efforts for the next generation. Though he says these organizations practice sanctification, white evangelism infected their congregation to be colonized and enlightened. Moss III concluded that prophetic churches spread the word but disregarded major media outlets to guide their followers.
“The Black church tradition is a prophetic church tradition and sees itself in connection to human flourishing, churches that just have Black people are, I would say—essentially capitalism ecclesial art,” he said.
Demolishing the Black Wall Street Created Financial Disparities That Interfered with Generational Wealth
Living in a capitalistic nation, money is power, and Black people’s spending overshadows Black dollars invested within our communities and education—especially between 1992 and 2016, according to the Ariel Investments owner and chairman, John W. Rodgers Jr. He said the federal reserve reported Black colleges saw their wealth decline 10% while PWIs saw their wealth increase 90%—a roughly 25-year period. The investor’s lineage of resolute ancestors used their education and resiliency to overcome white supremacy in the rural, Jim Crow South.
Rodgers Jr. reminisced about his great-grandfather being indicted and nearly lynched for being falsely accused of being a leader in resistance during the Tulsa massacre. His grandfather vigilantly used his legal skills to extradite and liberate his father. This act was carried out for Rodgers’ mother, who was the first Black woman to graduate from the University of Chicago. Though Rodgers’ ancestors define what Black Americans categorize as “Black excellence,” he acknowledges the same narrative in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles of eliminating Black businesses from economic advancement. The business owner told the audience he’s returning to Tulsa, a place where his great-grandfather nearly met his demise, to advise institutions to collaborate with Black businesses and give them true economic opportunities.
“If you think about it, large white banks, white corporations, white institutions, white universities, white hospitals, white museums, still only work with white technology firms, almost without exception. So you think about how do we rebuild that, we have to be included in parts of the economy and wealth being created,” he said.
“Give us some fair share of it. If we don’t speak up, nothing will change, it will continue to get worse and worse and worse.”
How Education and Community Bridges The Gap For Future Leaders
Hannah-Jones believes Black institutions like HBCUs create a space to protect and safeguard democracy. To her, educating the youth on Black tradition plays a vital role in resistance against treasonous propaganda. For a better future, she advised the audience to invest in Black communities to decolonize our worth in white institutions.
“If you want to get the full experience, you gotta come home. My personal ethic, I live in a black neighborhood. I live by choice. I sent my daughter to black schools by choice,” she said. “We all have to understand that because we have a community that has been generationally disinvested. So, how are you ever going to change that? If you’re not willing to sacrifice?”
Like Hannah-Jones, Moss III believes Black people have a spiritual and moral obligation to utilize Black spaces to motivate the younger generation to combat right-wing and neo-nationalism. Black churches, universities, and masonic temples are spaces Black leaders trusted to organize and empower moral ideologies. The seasoned preacher gatekeeps his church as a safe space for the next generation to flourish.
“We stand on the shoulders of those who experience incredible hardship and terror, and for us to have the resources that we do and feel that we are impotent to change anything is a spit in the face of our ancestors,” he exclaimed. “If we do not fulfill that responsibility, then the generation that comes after us will be looking at us and say, ‘What in the world were you all doing?’”
A patron asked the spiritual leader about collectivism in public schools to prevent dropouts and inspire higher education. Moss III advised teaching vocational schooling and creating journeys for young adults to thrive, not survive. He sought Black Greek organizations and communal partnerships to refocus students in classrooms.
“There needs to be a conversation about education and not training. Education is illumination, you train dogs,” he said.
Rodgers Jr. created the Aerial Community Academy, where elementary school children from first to eighth grade are taught about the stock market, receive money, and watch their investments grow. The investor adds that the Black wealth gap and discrimination have heightened— limiting economic opportunities for those seeking generational wealth. Even for younger adults graduating from Ivy League schools and other prestigious institutions, they adhere to unfair treatment within the corporate ecosystem. Rodgers urges us to “make a dent in the wealth gap” before it steadily declines. He created a conference called Black Corporate Directors for aspiring Black financiers to visualize being a leader in the boardrooms, urging the new figureheads to analyze and represent Black businesses.
Erasure Of Black History and Policies Threatens All Citizenship
Hannah-Jones claims that legitimizing and privatizing public education is not coincidental. Public ed mainly contains Black and other POC children, while white children transition to private schooling—an attempt to ignite hierarchy through white supremacy. Since the 1619 Project has gotten national attention, the investigative journalist, New York Times staff writer, and Pulitzer Prize winner fights for regional inclusivity amongst Black children. However, threats to ban books in particular Black history and critical race theory interrupt a child’s “basic right to learn.” The novelist advises parents to attend school board meetings to protect diversity, accurate history, and a multiracial democracy.
“Black history is political, because the mythology you want to have about the United States is believed in exceptionalism,” she said. “The map for Project 2025 began right at the period of the Civil Rights Movement. As soon as we achieved our rights, they strategized how to return us back. As people, we got complacent. The time for complacency is over.”
As we know, the 14th Amendment grants Black people citizenship within this country. It’s the same law the current administration is pushing to rewrite for full control. Nelson acknowledged Trump’s unlawful executive orders and cited the 137 executive orders issued that have led to 122 out of 211 legal actions refuting the president’s orders. Nelson celebrated eradicating orders made to oppose trans rights and oppositions to make it necessary to produce documentation that proves your citizenship again to register to vote. She applauds the intention behind her colleagues’ vote. However, she encourages the community to withstand illegality.
“If we can’t rely on the rule of law to create orderly processes for dissent, for us to resolve our disagreements, we are going to be in a place of anarchy,” she stated. “It is important that we hold the line for the rule of law, and in order to do that, we need not just the courts, we need the people.”