Black Agenda Building in Trump Time

By Nayaba Arinde
Editor at Large
@nayabaarinde1
While President Donald Trump has had his new administration ban acknowledgment of Black History Month, MLK Day, Juneteenth, etc., it has no actual effect on the Black folks who will continue to honor these days and all the others.

This past weekend, Brooklyn NAACP hosted “an evening of connection and community” at Peaches Prime in Downtown Brooklyn. They gave the community “a chance to unwind, network, and continue the day’s conversations over small bites and drinks while supporting local Black businesses and keeping our dollars circulating in the community.” These are the types of proactive actions taking place in boroughs, cities, and nationwide.

In the face of the changing American domestic policies in the form of healthcare, education, and social and economic strategies, organizations like Brooklyn’s NAACP are building the “opportunity to build relationships and strengthen our collective advocacy.”

With the hashtag #BlackBrooklyn2025, they cited that this assembly, like other events, is “a collaborative space where participants receive training on the New York City and New York State legislative and budget processes and actively contribute to developing an agenda that prioritizes the needs and aspirations of Black Brooklyn residents.”

Community proactivity is a chosen activist verb three weeks into Trump’s second term.
With his ICE agents raiding public spaces all over the city for undocumented immigrants, the streets are just a little bit quieter. And there is an edge.

Immigrants who used to be seen working, shopping, on the school run, and moving around the community infrastructure–but now the fear of an ICE visit has kept hundreds, if not thousands, hiding not in plain sight. But underlying the nervousness is that the Black community lets-get-on-with-it energy.

“We need to kill the fear and embrace what we believe in as a village,” said Danny Goodine, 20-year Department of Education school aid and founder of Brownsville’s Men Elevating Leadership. “Attendance is really dropping low. I see every parent holding on to their children a little tighter before they go into school. But I guarantee we protect our community.” “Trump is Trump, but the village is the village.”

At the same time, NYC Mayor Eric Adams is front and center of the Trump conversation.
The relationship between Brooklyn-born Queens-raised New York Mayor Adams and Queens-born President Trump has become national news. The Adams legal team has reportedly offered intricate support of Trump’s immigration plan in return for dropping the federal case against Adams.

The multi-indicted Mayor is running for reelection in a crowded field of challengers. There will be a June primary. Among the wannabes is high-polling, as yet undeclared former Governor Andrew Cuomo, with an Honan Strategy Group poll giving him 35% over current City Comptroller Brad Lander at 10%, Adams at 9%, and Brooklyn State Sen. Zellnor Myrie at 3% of voters’ support.

“African Americans continue to be frustrated politically because of our lack of unity and vision,” Rev. Conrad Tillard from Black Clergy for Economic Empowerment told Our Time Press.

“We have a mayor who has consistently empowered Black people at every level of government, is accessible and relatable. We should stay the course and re-elect Eric Adams. On the national scene, Trump is the president for the next four years, and we have to deal with him for the benefit of our people.

The problem with us politically is that we live in a two-party system but only have a one-party strategy. We put all our eggs in one basket. The question is, will Black leaders have the courage to petition the administration on behalf of our people? You can’t speak truth to power if you won’t even go in the room.”

As a Maryland federal judge on Wednesday, February 5th, blocked Trump’s 14th Amendment defying birthright citizenship ban, “We are witnessing a constitutional crisis. This is what the beginning of dictatorships looks like,” charged Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Abdullahi Omar when Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) stopped certain members of Congress from entering the USAID government building.

Over the past week, Trump caused mass national and international confusion with his tariff flip-flop. While last-minute negotiations halted his tariffs on Canada and Mexico, he upheld the 10% tariff on China, which in turn retaliated with tariffs on American coal, liquefied natural gas, crude oil, and farm equipment.

Trump has his unelected, almost deputized government official Elon Musk help gut or rearrange the USAID, the DOE, FBI, and CIA. The president floated a lead balloon when he announced the closure of social services federal funding affecting Medicaid, headstart, Social Security, all federally funded programs, housing aid, and more.

Would it float? No.
There was an apparent unified outcry from healthcare workers, parents, veterans, and politicians across the aisle and the general public “They’re testing. I don’t believe for a second that a glitch turned off the Medicaid portals. They’re seeing which things they can delete without a fight. Vets benefits Abuse shelters? Aid to children? Cancer research? They don’t care who gets hurt. Just what they can get away with. Keep. Fighting. Back,” saying, “Stay vigilant, we will win,” community advocate Amadi Ajamu re- posted ‘Democracy advocate’ Fred Wellman’s statement on Instagram.

Folk who ordinarily do not get involved in the matches and rallying and the rhetoric are responding too.

Like the immediate refusal to spend dollars at the once big chain stores that decided to end their DEI policy, Rev. Al Sharpton, for example, led a “buycott” to Costco in New York and Newark as Target dropped the federal program. Perhaps feeling the economic hit of less busy stores within the week of announcing their decision, and as online and on-the-ground activists launched the ‘Buy from the Black vendors directly and not the store,’ Target began promoting their Black-owned stock for Black History Month.

While one strike of the Trump executive order pen wipes out DEI and any federally funded Black History programs, Black folk opted instead to get on with established programs regardless.

Cinque Brath, son of famed historian and international activist Elombe Brath, told Our Time Press, “I can only say that in 2025, we need to actively incorporate the seven principles of Nguzo Saba and live Kwanzaa daily because nobody can pretend that they don’t see what things are foreshadowing for us in 2025. We will either flourish collectively or perish individually.”