Dr. Julianne Malveaux is an economist and author based in Washington, DC. Juliannemalveaux.com
It has not yet been sixty days, but in two scant months the 47th President has upended business as usual, in federal government, in classrooms, in business. Many of us who cover this news are experiencing extreme whiplash. Wolf tickets barked at our allies. Tariffs here and gone tomorrow. Tantrums in the Oval Office. State Departments of Education being threatened. Stock markets crashing, with the market’s logging its worse performance for a “new” President since 2009. People are apprehensive about their pensions and their jobs and have dialed back their spending as a result. Consumer spending drives the economy, and many consumers aren’t confident enough (consumer confidence is down by more than 9 percent) to take on extra spending. We are in the middle of a “ball of confusion” the Temptations referenced in their 1970 song.
The 47th President promised no business as usual. What he meant was no business at all! The disruption that has riddled both the federal government and our total way of life is, at best, disturbing. Not everyone is experiencing it, but everyone knows someone who is. What are we to do? I say that in the middle of disruption, of being shaken up, we go back to basics, back to our roots. What does that mean? We shop Black, work Black, live Black, aspire Black. Too many of us drank the integration Kool-Aid without tasting all the integration flavor. In other words, nothing wrong with integration if we value ourselves. The white man’s ice is not colder. White man’s laws are not fairer. Those deluded folk who seemed to think that the 47th President would be better for the economy are now about to find out what Malcolm X meant when he talked about “chickens coming home to roost.” Some of the very people who were touting 47 in November are now whining about job losses, portfolio shrinkage, and deportation.
We’ve been there, done that with government cutbacks. The most glaring history is that of the racist President Woodrow Wilson who fired most of the senior Black people in his administration. Most notably, the demotion of Daniel Murray, Assistant Librarian of Congress was a disgrace that reminds us that those who serve at “the pleasure of the President” can be easily let go. Their firings may be challenged but the work of their agencies will slow, if not stop. And the 47th President’s overreaching has a chilling effect on the progress of some agencies.
For example, the 47th President attempted to remove Gywnne Wilcox as a member of the National Labor Relations Board shortly after he was installed. A federal judge reminded 47 that he did not the authority to fire the member of the independent agency. In her decision, US District Judge Beryl Howell wrote that “An American president is not a king – not even a elected one – and his power to remove federal officers and honest civil servants like plaintiff is not absolute. The NLRB were crippled for a few weeks because they lacked a quorum. What else can we look forward to.
As an African American history scholar, I am especially concerned about Smithsonian Leader Dr. Lonnie Bunche, an amazing scholar and leader. His term lasts until 2027, but if he serves “at the pleasure” of a President who does not believe in Black history or diversity, his days may be numbered. Similarly, Dr. Carla Hayden, the 14th Librarian of Congress, was appointed by President Biden to serve as the first woman and the first African American in that role. Her term ends in 2026. 47 may hold his powder, or he may go after her sooner. These amazing public servants may find themselves on the chopping block as 47 and his co-President Musk take their buzz saw to the federal employees.
It’s overtime for us to fight outward and build inward. Fight outward – protest, protest, protest. Build inward — strengthen our connections, work more collaboratively, and when folk like Dr. Bunche and Dr. Hayden are threatened, prepare to clap back.
In 1919, the Harlem Renaissance poet Claude McKay wrote:
If we must die, let it not be like hogs, haunted and penned to this inglorious spot.
While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs.
Making their mock at our accursed lot.
The powerful poem was written when the Red Summer of 1919 saw multiple massacres of Black people in at least 26 cities. Been there, done that? The poem ends both defiantly and as inspiration for today.
Like men (Malveaux adds women) we’ll face the murderous cowardly pack,
Pressed to the wall, dying but fighting back.
In the middle of disruption, we must return to our roots, and we must fight back, surgically and strategically. We have no choice.