The government plays a central role in the community. The government is supposed to protect the individual rights and freedoms of its citizens. The government is supposed to manage its citizens economically through monetary and fiscal policy by providing essential services and regulation. The government is supposed to provide emergency services and establish law and order by ensuring justice. With all, here today in 2025 why does it not feel like this? Why is the elected government/ current administration actively trying to sabotage the Black community and other marginalized communities instead of protecting them? With the latest news in the Trump administration comes the gutting of the federal government. If you listen to the Elon Musk’s and Charlie Kirk’s of the world, they will tell you that this current gutting and downsizing of the government is needed. They are true conservatives in the sense that they believe that smaller government is better, more efficient and leads to less waste fiscally. They continue to make up stories about government waste and how the democrats are solely responsible for government fraud and waste but there have been no arrests or narrowing down to whom is responsible. I, on the other hand, am totally against that premise. If it wasn’t for government, Black people in America would have nothing. Whether it’s the government making slavery illegal, Civil rights act of 1964, Voting rights act of 1965 or Brown V Board of Education 1954 the federal government has always played a role in shaping the opportunities that Black Americans do receive. Less governmental intervention is a nightmare for Black Americans and marginalized communities because there will be a lack of economic regulation and worker protections, less civil rights enforcement and a shrinkage amongst social safety nets.
America has a deep history of racism that hasn’t provided many Blacks with relatively stable career paths in a variety of fields. For decades, really since the end of slavery, federal employment has been a lifeline for Black families and communities. The government has been one of the only employers for Black Americans that have somewhat practiced equal opportunity hiring, offered civil service protections and jobs with benefits. As of 2025, Black Americans are 14% of the United States population but make up 18% of the federal workforce. The department of defense, department of housing and urban development and the postal office are all great examples of federal government agencies that are significant employers of Black people. Cuts in these departments would destabilize local Black economies basically on their last legs. Unemployment would skyrocket for many educated Black Americans who are currently drowning in student loan debt because they were sold a dream of going to college and being able to lift themselves and their communities out of poverty. In 2025 the average Black college graduate has $53,000 worth of debt compared to the average white college graduate who has $28,000… nearly double. Exacerbating these problems would only contribute to the income disparity and family wealth gap that Black Americans face. In my opinion, the conservatives know this information and they choose to continue to gut the federal government. This is economic terrorism right at home on our doorstep.
The problem becomes so much more than people losing their job. People were given jobs with protection and economic stability. This being snatched away will result in people relying on social services more. Which is also being stripped and defunded at the same time…. In the Black community there has become a debate around whether people relying on social services is a problem. Many argue that people relying on social services are lazy and looking for handouts and that the welfare state should be eliminated. But these same critics don’t say anything when Elon musk has received 38 billion dollars in government support over the last 20 years. Underfunded communities need programs like SNAP (food assistance), Medicaid and housing support. These programs give people access to healthcare, housing and food security that they would not have had before. What are Black communities and marginalized communities left to do with government gutting budgets overnight like this? What are these communities supposed to do when the only sector that has somewhat had their backs turns on them like this?
With the attack on the Black professional class by conservatives’ what’s next for Black Americans? With less Blacks in the federal workplace, there will be less participation in government from Blacks, less representation in government from Blacks and meaningful policies focused on housing, education and healthcare will not have any input from Black Americans and our needs. This will give us policies that hurt and will not help the community because of neglect from local and national leadership. A community with no representation is a community that will be forgotten and betrayed. This can be represented in the idea that Trump wants to deregulate the environmental protection agency (EPA). Black Americans are more likely to live in areas with higher pollution. I can’t even begin to describe the negative impact deregulating the EPA will have. Remember the flint water crisis? Imagine that in every metropolitan city. Less clean air and less clean drinking water is what will happen if we de-regulate the EPA. With the lack of Black leadership already in the country, the last thing Black Americans need is less Blacks with opportunities to become community leaders. Many Black leaders have emerged from the public sector through educational institutions and workplace institutions. Reducing the federal government directly decreases these opportunities. Since Trump has came into office in his second term there have already been 275,000 federal workplace layoffs. So much for the president who claimed he would create the “most jobs” of any president. Trumps administration has argued that the reducing of the federal government through budget cuts, layoffs and de-regulation will control government waste and promote individual responsibility, but they have it all wrong. These are people and communities who cannot survive without the olive branch extension of the government. Defunding the department of health and human services will result in a shutdown of programs that assist with mental health, addiction and other overall well-being services. Cuts to the department of education means that school teachers already struggling to find funding will be left out to dry by the current administration and a majority of these schools will have to close just like the underfunded schools in big cities such as Detroit, Baltimore and Newark who have seen hundreds and hundreds of their schools shut down in these areas because of financial challenges.
Gutting the federal government isn’t just horrible for Black economic progress but it sabotages the livelihood of anyone not upper class that has to rely on government services and programs. With the Trump’s administration current attitudes towards workplace protections and civil rights protections reversals, I fear that more and more Americans will agree with these actions because of propaganda and in return deepen racial disparities across the board. There is a plethora of negatives to government gutting in comparison to the very few positives that MIGHT come with it. The impact will forever be felt by Black communities especially and will lead us down a path to unexpected but worse outcomes… Who Will Survive in America???
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