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Trump’s Appalling Racial Legacy
The Supreme Court’s gutting of the Voting Rights Act has cemented President Trump’s legacy in erasing civil rights and equal opportunity
THE AMERICAN PROSPECT
By Derrick Z. Jackson
Read the Full ArticleWhether by coincidence or direct effect, the disappearance of diversity is paralleled by the evaporation of jobs for Black people. Start with the federal government. It has long been an employment refuge from discrimination. In fiscal year 2021, Black women accounted for 12 percent of the federal workforce (compared to 6.6 percent of the civilian labor force). But Trump’s massive contraction of the federal government resulted in Black women accounting for 95,000—35 percent—of the 271,000 job losses, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Put another way, the Institute for Women’s Policy Research estimated that Black women lost more than 30 percent of their employment in the federal government last year, nearly three times more than women overall. In the overall workforce, that institute found that Black women, 14 percent of the nation’s workforce, accounted for nearly 55 percent of female job losses.
Inside and outside government, Black women suffered one of the highest shocks of unemployment in a quarter-century, with Black women with bachelor’s degrees suffering the greatest job losses.