Cong. Clarke on Trump Administration
By Nayaba Arinde
Editor at Large
“There’s a scarcity of morality in this administration,” said new Congressional Black Caucus chairwoman, Brooklyn Rep. Yvette Clarke, charging that President Donald Trump and his cabinet are “very focused on unleashing as much cruelty and ugliness as possible.”
As Trump canceled Temporary Status Protection for thousands of Haitian immigrants, Rep. Clarke and Haiti Caucus co-chairs said, “With Haiti continuing to grapple with unspeakable violence and a horrific humanitarian, political, and economic crisis, this is a shameful decision that could be a death sentence for more than 500,000 Haitian nationals living in the United States.”
This as Trump and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head, Elon Musk, fired thousands of federal workers as they rearranged government agencies, including immigration, the Treasury, nuclear energy, education, healthcare, and the military.
With tomorrow’s February 28th national boycott highlighting everyday people’s action in protest of Trump and Musk dismantling the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policy across all government agencies and cutting essential services from health care to education, grassroots organizing is back in full effect.
However, despite all the earnest reaction to punishing companies who seemed to want to deny Black inclusion, access, and employment opportunities, John Hope Bryant, founder, chairman, and CEO of Operation HOPE, advised the infuriated masses to get over it because “DEI is dead.”
“I don’t care about DEI. If you want to kill it, kill it. It’s already weaponized. It’s been politicized. DEI as a program is effectively dead…There’s no need to argue. There are not enough college-educated, successful white men to drive GDP (Gross Domestic Product) for the next 20 years.”
The mainstream decades-long dreaded “browning of America” is here; Bryant determined that while the nation is about “40% Black and brown, in ten years, it will be a majority of minorities.”
He said folk should not be “obsessing about DEI. I want you to be focusing on DIY–Do It Yourself…Black people are not even prioritized…It was created for us, but it actually benefits white women and others.”
Determined to express immediate outrage, though, boycotts must be the new Black because Pepsi, Coke, Google, Amazon, Walmart, and Target are among the international DEI-cutting companies feeling the resulting customer response. And there is money-withholding action galore in the next couple of months, including March 7 -14—Amazon, March 21–28—Nestle, April 7 – 14th—Walmart, April 18th—another economic boycott, et al.
Saying that in two years, after the midterms, DEI may be back in one form or another, instead, “We need to focus on local power, that which we can actually affect,” said former City Council and Assemblymember Charles Barron.
The Operation POWER co-founder and WBAI radio host told Our Time Press, “We need to take back the power of the people so we can have control in our own communities. We want to elect representatives who will provide real affordable housing, new schools, community centers, and parks, fight for young people to have access to employment, and maintain life-building opportunities. We must get involved in land trusts where we can determine what happens to the open spaces, which real estate has plans for to pad their bottom line, but are unbeneficial for our neighborhoods.”
DIY
“As conditions change, our strategy and tactics must develop,” community advocate Amadi Ajamu told Our Time Press.
As Women’s History Month begins, on March 1st, 2025, Brooklyn’s Medgar Evers College hosts ‘African Women Must Lead” From Resistance to Liberation.’
Organizers encourage the community to “Join this important panel centered on the critical issues facing African women. Moderated by Yejide Orunmila, President of ANWO, this discussion will explore resistance strategies that take us beyond survival organizing for true liberation and self-determination.”
“African women have historically played key leadership roles in our liberation struggle,” said Ms. Ajamu. “We are facing dangerous times now, and we must intensify our work on many levels. I am looking forward to the African National Women’s Organization forum on March 1st to kick off Women’s History Month. We must be organized and build collectively. More importantly, we must be able to teach and learn from each other.”
Meanwhile, there has been a massive reaction after MS/NBC chose Black History Month to suddenly get rid of popular major Black anchors Joy Reid – who hosted the “Decision 2024 ‘Fascism versus Freedom” conversation, and Lester Holt, host of NBC Nightly News. The important voices on current affairs unceremoniously being yanked from the airwaves did not sit well with folk who noted the steady removal of influential Black journalists from platforms nationwide.
The Black under and overground response has been immediate.
Speaking on the abrupt firing of Joy Reid, @Blackhomeeducators declared, “They can cancel your show, but they can’t silence your power. We will follow you wherever you go. Build your own. Rejection is redirection.”
Michael Laws, Commissioner of the African American Advisory Commission in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, said, “The recent shakeup at MSNBC is not just a shift in programming—it’s a calculated erasure, a deliberate silencing of voices that dared to reflect the diversity of this nation. They’ve removed Black and minority anchors, dismantling the very representation that the media claims to champion. Lester Holt, a man who carried the weight of integrity and truth, a man who made Bryant Gumbel look like Malcolm X in comparison, has been sidelined. Yet, they keep Morning Joe, a show that bent the knee to Trump, a show that contributed to the very ratings plunge they now scramble to fix.”
Laws continued, “This isn’t just about ratings or lineup changes—it’s about who gets to speak, who gets to be seen, and who gets to shape the narrative. It’s about appeasing a base that thrives on division, a base that seeks to make America—and its media—white again. This is not progress; this is regression. This is not diversity; this is exclusion…It is a modern-day Montgomery, where the seats at the table are reserved for the few, and the many are left to fight for scraps. Shame on them. Shame on us if we stay silent.”
But, as Trump decimates DEI policies nationwide, dozens of Black conservatives, business people, influencers, and celebrities gleefully accepted the invitation to attend the paradoxical White House Black History Month event, with guests like self-proclaimed “Calibasian” golfer Tiger Woods, Dr. Martin Luther King’s niece Alveda King, rappers Kodak Black, Lil Boosie and Rod Wave, former NFL player Herschel Walker, former ESPN host Sage Steele, and South Carolina’s Sen. Tim Scott.
“Make it make sense,” @Blackhomeeducators posted regarding the curious Black White House P.R. event. “They went to the WH to celebrate with a president who, on Day 1, signed an executive order to get rid of DEI, and who says schools that teach that their enslaved ancestors built this country will lose funding.”
She added, “Trump ended DEI, and his followers use it like it’s the new N-word. He then held a Black History event at the White House, and [Black] folks were there chanting, ‘Four more years.’ I see why Harriet Tubman left some behind.”
