While President Donald Trump’s claims “beautiful Black women” were begging him to come to Chicago, many African American women leaders throughout the nation are doing just the opposite: fighting against his policies.
Trump’s remarks come as Black women bear the brunt of his administration’s purge of the federal workforce and rollback of civil rights protection, with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts and elimination of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programming on his first day back in office in January.
Reports show that roughly 12% of the federal workforce is made up of Black women, nearly double their share of the national labor force. Yet under Trump, hundreds of thousands have been pushed out of jobs.
“Black women are not just workers or numbers on a spreadsheet. We are the backbones of our families, our communities, and this country,” said Rep. Ayanna Pressley. “Nearly 70% of Black women are the primary breadwinners in their households. When we lose work, it reverberates far beyond our own families. Economists estimate that just 2% of Black women being fired this year has cost our economy $37 billion in GDP spending.”
It is targeted harm. Trump’s second term has been defined by mass firings, the dismantling of diversity programs, and public humiliation of Black officials.
The Center for American Progress called his policy agenda a bait and switch, concluding: “These policies have the deliberate effect of erasing the Black middle class and making it unattainable for any future generation.”
Trump’s History of Targeting Black Women
New York Attorney General Letitia James, one of several prominent Black women targeted by Trump, has faced indictments and threats from the administration after leading successful cases against his business empire.
“We conducted a two-year investigation based on the facts and evidence, not politics,” James said, calling the charges against her “baseless.”
Her experience mirrors that of Lisa Cook, the first Black woman to serve on the Federal Reserve Board, and Fani Willis, the Georgia prosecutor who brought election interference charges against Trump. Each woman rose to her position through merit, only to be met with retaliation and slander.
Trump has called James “scum” and used language reminiscent of racial slurs to describe her. He has also accused Willis of being “racist” and “out to get Trump.”
The Human Rights Watch’s Women’s Rights Division warned that Trump’s second term poses a significant risk to women’s rights.
“If we listen to what he says, we should be concerned about the significant impact on women’s rights his administration could have,” said Macarena Sáez, executive director of the women’s rights division.
Even Black officials inside the government have not been spared.
“We had targets on our backs, no doubt about it, by virtue of the color of our skin,” said Gwynne A. Wilcox, the first Black woman to serve on the National Labor Relations Board, after being removed by Trump. “But I did not get this job because of D.E.I. I got it because of my experience.”
Women Critical to Sustained Growth
Meanwhile, women like Bishop Leah D. Daughtry and the Rev. Dr. Brianna K. Parker have sounded alarms about the moral cost of his policies.
“We are the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs in America,” Daughtry said. “We drive trillions in consumer spending, and when Black women thrive, families and communities thrive. This is a national emergency. America cannot afford to sideline the very women who have always sustained its growth.”
Parker also emphasized the danger in the rising job loss among African American women.
“Soaring unemployment among Black women is not a footnote,” she said. “It’s a catastrophic moral failure at the highest levels of the American system.”
Pressley emphasized that Black women must fight back despite the president’s efforts.
“Trump wants to keep his knee on the neck of our economy and rob Black families of our dignity, our livelihood, and our futures, but not on our watch,” Pressley said.