The journey toward racial justice has not been one of steady progress in the United States. There have been major steps forward and then back throughout our history. However, I think we need to face that in 2025 we saw the worst increase in overt racism in governmental policies, actions, and statements, that has occurred in more than a century. The word “racism” is rarely used, but so much of what is happening has racial injustice and manipulation of feelings about race at its foundation.
In his first week in office, the president signed executive orders forbidding Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) activities in the federal government, removing federal money from DEI initiatives anywhere, and threatening removal of funding from any schools that don’t cease DEI activities. In response to pressure from the administration, companies such as Target, Amazon, and McDonalds have backed out of previous commitments to racial equity policies and hiring. More than 400 universities that Donald Trump threatened with loss of federal funds have also caved to the pressure to eliminate DEI centers, programs, and activities.
While Trump signs the executive orders and makes outrageous comments, I think it is a mistake to think this is all him. There is a whole network of right-wing think tanks, consultants, advocates, advisors, and government officials who are writing the executive orders that he signs and vigorously promoting the whole range of efforts to dismantle racial justice commitments and enforcement.
Trump has sent thousands of armed National Guard troops into major cities with Black mayors and/or sizable Black populations. Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Chicago, Memphis and New Orleans all have had unwanted troops in their streets. The administration has falsely claimed that this has been to reduce crime and enforce immigration laws. In most cases crime rates in these cities had already fallen and this militarization has been opposed by most mayors, governors, and community leaders. Most have seen this as perpetuating racial stereotypes, creating fear, and perhaps preparing for troops to be involved in disrupting future elections.
One of the most egregious situations in Chicago was described by Pro Publica this way: “Shortly after midnight on Sept. 30, some 300 agents from Border Patrol, the FBI and other agencies stormed [a] 130-unit apartment complex. SWAT teams rappelled from a helicopter, knocked down doors, and hurled flash-bang grenades.” They dragged residents, including babies, out into the night, often in their nightclothes. Many, including some U.S. citizens, were zip tied and detained for hours. In the end they arrested 37 immigrants, mostly Venezuelans, but none of these were ever charged with crimes. I’ve recently talked to Black people and Latinos from different parts of the country, who are still feeling a visceral fear that this could happen to them at any time.
Clearly the administration is seeking to sow fear in people of color. Masked ICE agents with no badges or identifying information, and often with guns drawn, are snatching people off the street and detaining or deporting them. The administration claims that some 600,000 immigrants were deported in 2025. Their own records show that more than 70% of those had no criminal conviction.
The Black unemployment rate has gone up to 8.3%, its highest rate since before the COVID pandemic, as a result of the administration’s economic and domestic policies. Over 300,000 Black women lost their jobs mostly as a result of the DOGE cuts to the federal workforce. The general affordability crisis and the new tariffs are putting severe financial stress on many Black families and small Black businesses.
Trump and his MAGA minions have also: begun dismantling the U.S. Education Department and its programs that benefit people of color; whitewashed U.S. history; eliminated Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for immigrants from Haiti, South Sudan, Honduras, Nicaragua, Ethiopia, and other nations; fired or illegally removed Black leaders in government; called Black members of Congress “garbage” and “low-IQ”; made drastic cuts to health care and food programs that many people of color rely on; and abandoned enforcement of legal civil rights protections.
Trump himself has made countless statements that are so blatantly racist that 15 years ago any one such comment would have ended the political career of any politician of either party who dared to utter it. This normalization of blatant racism is an especially harmful effect of recent actions.
A belief in white superiority and a desire for white domination underlies everything in the MAGA agenda. This is not true of everyone who voted for Trump, but many white people support the moves against racial justice, believe that white people are the real victims in the U.S. today, and advocate white supremacy.
Regardless of MAGA’s immense unchecked power right now, a majority of the population disapproves of the job Trump is doing, We don’t know much about the percentages of those who support his attacks on racial justice and those who oppose them, but we can be confident that millions of people in this country want more racial justice, not less. It is with these allies, that we can, over time, rebuild a powerful movement for racial justice in this country — a movement rooted not in domination, but in unity, mutual respect, and love.
Russ Vernon-Jones lives in Amherst and is a member of the Steering Committee of Climate Action Now (CAN). The views expressed here are his own. He blogs regularly on climate justice at http://www.russvernonjones.org and can be reached there.