Since January 25, 2025, the Trump Administration has unleashed a relentless wave of executive orders (EOs) that target African Americans in ways both direct and indirect. These EOs span criminal justice, housing, higher education, employment, and civil rights. They are not neutral policies; they are calculated attacks on the progress our community has made.
So severe are these measures that the National Urban League has declared Black America is living under a state of emergency. The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) now maintains a dedicated tracker to document Trump’s orders. Below are just three examples that expose the anti-Black core of this executive action blitz.
Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets (EO #14321)
Issued July 24, 2025, this order criminalizes poverty while pretending to address public safety.
- Makes it easier for states to hospitalize individuals experiencing homelessness or mental health crises without their consent.
- Eliminates support for “housing first” policies, which had provided unconditional shelter and resources to unhoused people.
- Defunds harm reduction initiatives, including safe consumption sites that reduce overdose deaths.
- Expands law enforcement powers to remove encampments and increases federal policing in urban neighborhoods.
Reforming Accreditation to Strengthen Higher Education (EO #14279)
Signed April 23, 2025, this order rewrites accreditation rules to gut diversity in colleges and professional schools.
- Criticizes racial diversity standards as “discriminatory” and instructs accrediting agencies to abandon them.
- Targets Black representation in law schools, medical schools, and universities by pressuring institutions to ignore systemic disparities.
- Authorizes federal agencies to investigate schools that retain DEI-linked accreditation measures.
Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity (EO #14173)
This EO, issued January 21, 2025, is one of the most destructive yet.
- Eliminates DEI programs across the federal government, rescinding protections dating back to Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society.
- Prohibits federal contractors from using DEI or affirmative action, chilling opportunities for Black businesses and workers.
- Forces agencies to dismantle affinity groups, terminate recruitment programs for underrepresented groups, and even cancel Black History Month events.
The Breadth of the Attack
These three EOs are just the tip of the iceberg. Trump has signed many more executive orders that, taken together, reveal a coordinated assault on racial progress:
- EO 14151 — Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing (Jan 20, 2025): Terminates DEI offices, programs, and grants across federal agencies.
- EO 14149 — Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship (Jan 20, 2025): Positioned as free speech, but used to suppress discussions of systemic racism and equity.
- EO 14190 — Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling (Jan 29, 2025): Threatens to defund schools that teach honest racial history, labeling it “indoctrination.”
- Smithsonian / Museum Directive (Feb 2025): Orders museums, including the National Museum of African American History and Culture, to remove exhibits deemed “divisive.”
Together, these actions represent the most sweeping rollback of civil rights, educational opportunity, and economic mobility for African Americans in half a century.
The Economic Hit: Black Unemployment Has Spiked
The economic fallout is already visible. The Black unemployment rate jumped to 7.5% in August 2025, up from 6.0% in May and 6.8% in June — the highest level since 2021. By comparison, the overall jobless rate was 4.3%, showing how disproportionately African Americans are being hit.
Why? Because Trump’s executive orders directly undermine the pathways where Black workers have historically gained stability:
- Federal workforce cuts + DEI rollbacks strike hardest where Black workers are concentrated. African Americans make up roughly 18–19% of the federal workforce, well above their share of the overall population. Slashing DEI programs and freezing diversity-related hiring pipelines removes opportunities and creates chilling effects in federal employment.
- EO 14173 and contractor restrictions forced agencies and private firms to abandon DEI recruitment, supplier diversity, and affinity programs. Corporations like Target, Disney, and Meta rolled back equity initiatives, cutting off billions in commitments to Black-owned businesses and job pathways for young Black professionals.
- First fired, last hired: In every slowdown, Black workers are historically the first to be let go and the last to be rehired. With public- and private-sector DEI ladders dismantled, the result is predictable: a sharp, early rise in Black unemployment while the broader economy adds only modest jobs.
Bottom line: Trump’s anti-DEI crusade is not just cultural—it is economic. The spike above 7.5% Black unemployment is proof that his executive orders are dismantling Black progress on every front, from housing to education to jobs. Refer to the chart below
Where Do We Go From Here?
This is why AAMKA exists—African Americans Mobilizing for Kingdom Advancement. We cannot afford to be passive. Trump’s EOs show us plainly: the fight for justice is here and now.
- We must educate our people about the specific ways these orders harm us.
- We must organize politically to resist their impact.
- We must build alternative systems of support rooted in righteousness and justice.
As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reminded us, “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” That message is more urgent today than ever.
AAMKA is committed to resisting these attacks and advancing God’s Kingdom of justice and righteousness in our community.
Take Action With AAMKA
This is not the time to sit on the sidelines. Trump’s executive orders are dismantling decades of progress, and our silence will only embolden more attacks. AAMKA — African Americans Mobilizing for Kingdom Advancement — is building a movement rooted in justice, righteousness, and the power of community.
- Join our mailing list to stay informed.
- Share this article so others understand what’s at stake.
- Stand with us as we fight back with knowledge, faith, and strategy.
Together, we can resist oppression and build the future our people deserve.
