WASHINGTON — As black unemployment climbs amid threats to voting rights, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Color of Change, the NAACP, the Urban League, and other civil rights activists declared a state of emergency on the Black Economy on Capitol Hill this week. Rep. Ayanna Pressley said that the Black Economy is plagued by an economic crisis that is a “direct result of Trump’s reckless financial policies that are precisely targeting black communities who are already carrying the weight and now suffer from the daily impact of this crisis.”
Since President Trump’s Inauguration Day, Black America has been devastated by anti-DEI policies and the rollback of civil rights laws. With the closure of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Department of Education, and other federal government agencies and mass corporate layoffs, over 600,000 black women professionals have been purged from the workforce. Black unemployment rises to levels not seen since the pandemic, while voting rights remain under threat.
The press conference focused on the state of the Black economy, including Black unemployment, the need for strong guardrails on AI and algorithmic discrimination, rising costs, and affordability, and continued attacks on education that limit opportunity for Black families and communities.
Color Of Change is calling on lawmakers to advance policies that protect civil rights, expand opportunity, and make the economy work for Black people and, in doing so, for everyone.
Trump’s ‘Anti-DEI Economy’ Hurts All Americans
Many Americans, regardless of their racial or economic status, have been hit hard by Trump’s anti-DEI economy. Not only have black workers been excluded from the job market, but also the disabled, white women, veterans, and religious minorities. ICE raids have devastated immigrant-operated businesses and the economy, reducing consumer spending and destabilizing families and communities.
Corporations and the stock market have taken a hit from the growing political and racial unrest. Target was the first company to suffer from business loss due to boycotts over its support for anti-DEI policies. While tariffs and rising inflation have also impacted the major retail giant, The Wall Street Journal reported that investors are wary of a business comeback as shoppers are spending at other stores.
The National Urban League produced a 2025 State of Black America Report declaring that Black America is under a state of emergency on all fronts. Tera Murray, Executive Director of the National Urban League’s Washington Bureau and Senior Vice President for Policy and Advocacy, said that “what we are seeing now in the Trump Administration and what we are seeing now in this Republican controlled congress is an intentional effort to undermine Black economic advancement.”
Murray went on to say that Black families are paying more and falling further behind. Under Trump’s economy, Americans are exhausting their savings, reaching their credit card limits, and tapping into their retirement accounts to make ends meet. Financial reports noted that the “personal savings rate fell from 6.2% in Q1 2024 to 4.0% in Q1 2026 as Americans spend 93% of disposable income.”
‘Black Jobs’ Gone
Rep. Ayanna Pressley pointed out that the national unemployment rate is 4.3% while the black unemployment rate has skyrocketed to 7.3%. “That is a crisis. Trump’s attack on workers’ rights, the federal workforce, diversity, equity, and inclusion and accessibility are costing us black jobs, which we know he never cared about,” Pressley stressed.
As “Black jobs” disappear, the rest of the US workforce is under threat as well. Business Insider reported that over 30 US corporations have laid off workers, including Walmart, Amazon, and Intuit. The tech industry has already laid off over 150,000 workers alone this year, including at Meta, LinkedIn, and Cisco, in the name of efficiency and AI. Pressley went on to say that it was never immigrants that were taking away black jobs, but Elon Musk and Trump’s policies that have severely reduced economic progress for Black America.
To protect Black workers, Color of Change is advocating for lawmakers to pass the AI Civil Rights Act that regulates AI from engaging in digital discrimination during the job hiring process and requires technology to advance equity rather than reinforce existing systemic inequalities.
Nadine Smith, CEO of Color of Change, argued that there are few things you can lie to Black people about. “You cannot lie to us about money. You cannot lie to us about our grocery bills or about rent and layoffs,” she declared.
Black Political Power under Threat
With the new Supreme Court ruling gutting Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, possibly half of the Congressional Black Caucus could lose their seats by the mid-term election. The President of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Dedrick Asante-Muhammad, said at the conference that it was only in 2021 that African Americans finally received their share of representatives in Congress equal to their population. Critical issues impacting black voters, such as Medicaid, jobs, education, and reparations, are now at stake.
Smith noted that Kevin Roberts, President of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington DC, studied African American history for his doctoral dissertation. He was the architect of “Project 2025”, a conservative playbook to reshape the federal government that has disproportionately harmed Black America. Pressley echoed that it was “diabolical” to study Black history and then create policies to unravel Black economic progress.
Historically, civil rights leaders have used the court systems and Congress to push civil rights legislation. With a weak Supreme Court and a Congress unwilling to defend the Constitution, legal and political options are slim. However, Smith offered hope that the people would get to decide the future. “The reason why they fight so hard to come after Black voters is not simply to harm us, but they understand that Black voters have been the most reliable engine for progress in this country,” Smith argued.
Black Businesses lose contracts
Black-owned businesses have also taken a hit with new executive orders discouraging corporations from following long-standing contracting rules to partner with minority-owned businesses. Black Enterprise reported that Black contractors barely earn 1.2% of federal government contracts in a $774 billion market. Due to Trump’s anti-DEI policies, corporations seek to avoid risk and thus are hesitant to partner with minority-owned businesses.
Smith reiterated that “Black entrepreneurs are being squeezed by rising inflation. They are being squeezed by tariffs. They are being squeezed out of capital. At the same time, the administration is attacking the very pathways to build economic stability, including the federal workforce.”
The fight is not over.
Patrice Willoughby, Chief of Policy and Legislative Affairs at the NAACP, said that the unrelenting attacks on the economy and voting rights are inextricably connected because black political power has yielded economic progress for African Americans and other marginalized groups. “But economic racism and racism in general are a very expensive proposition,” Willoughby added. She said that by focusing on racism and not equity, Trump’s policies have caused a loss of $16 trillion to the economy, while diversity programs could add $5 trillion back into the economy.
Rep. Pressley urged Americans to vote and take political action during this crisis. “We are not taking this as inevitable. We have to fight. Voting is still my black job… When you don’t have black representation at the policy decision-making tables and in the corridors of power, it impacts the questions that are asked.”
