Over the course of this MAGA
regime, there have been memes posted on social
media with the basic goal of disconnecting
Black folks from the movement to expose and
resist the authoritarian rise of trump. My
tech-savvy social media friends have explained
that most of these efforts are part of a
disinformation campaign to keep us divided and
demobilized. I’ve been told that some of these
calculated memes and messages are
AI-generated, and that along with so-called
Black influencers, they are paid by the
extremist right (domestic or foreign) to aid
in the spread of misinformation. While this
may be true, I’ve seen more Black people
parroting the views lately. I also think some
of us may legitimately hold such misguided
views if we are not actively engaged in
multi-racial organizing.
The campaign is part of a
broader attempt to isolate the righteous
struggles against U.S. racial capitalism and
to fracture our organic unity around a common
enemy. It reminds me of when there’s a
struggle centering Latina, Chicana and Asian
American Pacific Islander peoples’ liberation
and I’ll read something that discourages Black
folks from standing in solidarity because
“they don’t support our struggles.” This
couldn’t be further from the truth as history
can show us. I’ve written articles over the
years to dispel this kind of misinformation,
like my response to the slaughter of Asian
Americans in Atlanta by a white gunman.
Historian Carter G. Wood reminds us that
the miseducation of the negro is ongoing. In
2025, there are numerous ways to effectively
confuse our people and undermine resistance.
We must be humble in admitting that Black
people have also drunk the same Kool-Aid that
we accuse others of drinking, resulting in our
harm to self and to other oppressed
peoples.
We all should know by now that
any phenomenon that negatively affects people
in this country will be compounded for those
of African descent. That’s whether it’s mass
incarceration, HIV/AIDS, COVID-19, war - and
now, the twisted policies of trump and his
MAGA minions.
I have been very vocal that
white people, especially those who
self-identify as radical or progressive, need
to step up in more leadership roles against
the growing authoritarian rise under the trump
administration. White people, many new to
movement spaces, appropriately showed up
during the No Kings protests to oppose the
attacks on democracy and to expose the
consolidation of power by the white,
patriarchal elite. The day of protest
galvanized an estimated 10 million people in
over 2,000 U.S. cities and would spread across
the globe. I’ve acknowledged that the unified
front of outrage against the trump regime must
go beyond one day, but it certainly
represented a powerful step in a focused
direction.
The attacks against Black
history, culture, communities and Black bodies
have accelerated under the Third Black
Reconstruction (since the Obama
Administration). For Black organizations and
agencies of any stripe not to have pivoted to
address this hostile, anti-Black political
period is one of disservice to our people. The
Black working class, struggling for daily
survival, has not been able to keep up with
the dizzying number of decisions by trump that
devalue and criminalize our very existence in
the U.S. They are relying on the woke element
to keep them informed and activated.
The current administration made
sweeping mutilations of policies, institutions
and programs which celebrated and protected
diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Cuts in
Medicaid, veterans’ affairs, education for
public institutions and housing directly
impact Black people. Attacks on voting rights,
LGBTQA+ rights and workers’ rights is about
us. The rise of the police state targets us.
Immigration and the travel ban restrictions
include us. Black livelihoods and Black bodies
are all in the crosshairs. To pretend that
trump’s policies will not disproportionately
affect poor and working-class people,
especially Black folks, is disingenuous.
Further, any effort to persuade Black folks
against fighting for their survival and
uniting with other groups of people with
common cause, is counterrevolutionary.
We are in dangerous times and
our people need more guidance and motivation
to get organized, not less. This is not the
first regime in history to consolidate state
power, to silence the media, to dismantle
internal checks on abuse of power, to
legitimize the criminalization of sectors of
society, to expand the police state and target
dissidents. Let us recognize the period we are
in, learn from the lessons of the not-so
distant past, and prepare our communities for
the battles ahead. One important lesson to
highlight is that a passive or an unorganized
response to fascism doesn’t end well for a
democracy and its people.
