We Aren’t Supposed to Notice

One doesn’t have to be a scholar of American history to understand that for centuries legislation, budgets, executive authority, and state laws have supported practices that help those in power sustain their control and wealth at citizens’ expense. A few examples from the last century include Jim Crow Laws, the G.I. Bill and redlining, internment of Japanese Americans, and the PATRIOT Act and expanded surveillance; these and many more have cloaked harm and discrimination in legitimacy.

At a time when injustice and harm can be seen as the common denominator of many government actions, and when so much is crying out for attention and action, it’s helpful to find focus. For Follen’s Racial and Economic Justice Group, that’s the impact on poor people and communities of color, which many civil rights organizations, lawmakers, and community leaders know is disproportionate. As always, the impact is multidimensional, touching on areas such as income, voter rights, education, health care, immigration, housing, and the environment – for starters.

Parsing what is happening today under the current administration is clearly a topic for a book, not a newsletter. But here are some facts and observations to chew on.

Issues

Income Inequality

Income inequality as it affects all Americans is a good place to start. CBS News reports that data from the Federal Reserve shows that “low- and middle-income households are falling further behind as the richest Americans pull away. Collectively, the wealthiest 1% held about $55 trillion in assets in the third quarter of 2025 — roughly equal to the wealth held by the bottom 90% of Americans combined.”

According to the 2024 census, about 35.9 million Americans (10.6%) have household incomes of 125% of the poverty threshold–the amount used for some benefit eligibility, such as Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP). U.S. poverty includes about 23,310 million white Americans (9.2%), 9,236 million African Americans (18%), and 10.3 million Hispanics (15%).

A report entitled State of the Dream 2026 (PDF) from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a Black think tank, summarizes some takeaways from data review. Please keep in mind that while the report focuses on Black Americans, many current changes negatively impact all low-income households and marginalized groups equally.

Employment and Unemployment

By December 2025, Black unemployment increased to 7.5% (it’s currently 7.1%) from 6.2% in January of 2025. Unemployment data for Black youth showed dramatic fluctuations, going from 18.6% in September to 29.8% in November and then back at 18.3% in December.

Federal Job Cuts

The federal workforce shrank by 10.3% in 2025, or a net of nearly 238,000 workers. As of last year, the Office of Personnel Management no longer publishes data on the gender, race, ethnicity, or disability status of federal workers. Because Black workers are disproportionately represented in the federal workforce, it’s likely they have been especially affected. Agencies with high concentrations of minority employees, such as the Department of Education and the Veterans Administration, have seen deep reductions.

Tax Policy

The current administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 entrenched permanent tax cuts for high-income and high-wealth households and corporations, reduced investment in poverty-alleviating programs, and left support for working families stagnant or diminished. Rather than expanding direct support for struggling households, policymakers made permanent the extended 2017 tax rate cuts, preserved business tax preferences, and maintained estate tax and capital gains benefits that flow overwhelmingly to wealthy households.

Entrepreneurship

Recent executive orders have shifted federal support away from disadvantaged businesses, threatening an estimated $10 billion to $15 billion in lost federal support for Black-owned firms while simultaneously defunding the U.S. Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institution Fund and dismantling the Minority Business Development Agency, the only federal agency dedicated to minority business development.

Financial Deregulation and Digital Assets

The gutting of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the uneven, largely untested shift in cryptocurrency and other digital asset regulations have left Black and poor communities disproportionately vulnerable to predatory fees, discriminatory lending, and financial fraud, while shifting the burden of protection to states, researchers, and community institutions that cannot fully replace federal enforcement.

Artificial Intelligence

The executive order “Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence” shifted away from precautionary regulation toward a more deregulatory, innovation-driven posture. The reversal marks a sharp departure from the prior focus on civil rights, transparency, and safety in federal AI policy.

Housing Policy

The disparity in homeownership between Black and white people has been consistent for generations. The latest U.S. Census Bureau data reports Black homeownership at 45% and white homeownership at 74%.

Also of Note…

Severe Rollbacks of DEI Efforts

The administration issued executive orders to abolish diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices across all federal agencies. This includes prohibiting race-conscious hiring and promotions, which critics argue limits pathways for Black and Brown professionals to advance. It has also revised or deleted government sites’ presentation of historical facts celebrating the accomplishments of people of color.

Rolling Back “Disparate Impact”

The Justice Department moved to eliminate the “disparate impact” rules, threatening decades of progress against systemic discrimination. This tool allowed for challenging policies that appear neutral but have discriminatory effects, and its removal makes it harder to prove discrimination in housing, employment, and education.

Voting Rights

Ouch… So much to say here, starting with gerrymandering of district boundaries, the proposed SAVE America Act, and other attempts to severely decrease the electoral rights of low-income and communities of color.

HBCU and Pell Grant Cuts

Proposed budget cuts to the Department of Education include reductions in funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Pell Grants, which more than 75% of HBCU students rely on.

Expirations of Affordable Care Act Tax Credits

Substantial changes to SNAP take effect this month, driven by the $187 billion reduction over 10 years in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and new state-level measures. New food rules, stricter work requirements, and lower benefits for some groups now in effect disproportionately affect poor people and people of color. Until now, SNAP has been a powerful poverty alleviation program.

And we haven’t even talked about decimation of the Department of Justice’s civil rights division, overall access to healthcare, ICE abuses, and immigration policy!

There is SO MUCH going on that captures headlines and lodges in our chests as profound worry. By design, we are drowning in distractions. Meanwhile, underneath it all is a network of interrelated legislation, policy changes, funding cuts, executive overreach, and state laws that harm millions of people and therefore us, too.

As in the past, we aren’t supposed to notice.