National Urban League Says African Americans Are in Recession
Unemployment rates are twice that of whites as attacks on Civil Rights and DEI have worsened prospects for jobs and economic growth
By Abayomi Azikiwe
Editor, Pan-African News Wire
Wednesday June 17, 2026
Political Review
In a recently released report by the National Urban League (NUL), it illustrates that African Americans are in a deep recession attributed to government policies under the administration of President Donald Trump.
It is no secret that the administration has deliberately targeted African Americans and other oppressed communities under the guise of eliminating any form of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
These attacks have resulted in massive job losses particularly within the federal government which the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) facilitated under the initial leadership of Elon Musk. While the African American people have borne the brunt of these job cuts, spending for domestic repression against migrants has increased creating turmoil across the United States.
Not only has the job losses impacted the social status of African Americans, in the southern states where the majority of them still reside, the recent Louisiana v. Callais decision by the Supreme Court has threatened to remove many members of the House of Representatives who are members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). The Voting Rights Act of 1965, Section 2, has been rendered practically moot.
The Supreme Court along with the southern state legislatures dominated by the Republican MAGA adherents have already redrawn districts to effectively disenfranchise millions of African Americans. In Memphis, the one district which encompasses a majority African American constituency has been broken up into three sections.
Although Louisiana has an African American population which is one-third of the entire state, their representation is further threatened by the Supreme Court and the legislature. These developments are being replicated across the South.
The combination of job losses and the right to elect representatives of their choice will only result in a renewal of the national-oppressive conditions which have been in operation since the collapse of federal reconstruction during the latter decades of the 19th century. After the passage of the post-Civil War 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, prospects for democratization in the U.S. brought African Americans to state legislatures, the House of Representatives and Senate. However, by the late 1870s and 1880s there was the dissolution of Black representation in government on local, state and federal levels.
It would take another 80 years to pass the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1964. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed as a result of profound sacrifices of African Americans and their allies throughout the U.S.
Nonetheless, during the third decade of the 21st century there have been tremendous setbacks as reflected in events of the last 17 months. Leading elements within the 6-3 majority at the Supreme Court have proven their extreme hostility towards Civil Rights for African Americans whether related to the job market, higher education and universal suffrage. Under the guise of a false sense of eliminating “racial preferences”, the oppression and exploitation of African Americans have intensified.
In a statement issued by the National Urban League during June, it says of the present situation:
“For Black America, the recession has already arrived. Even worse, the Black recession isn’t driven by natural market cycles alone. It is the predictable outcome of the deliberate policy choices of the Trump administration —choices that have aggressively dismantled the very protections meant to advance equity and stabilize communities historically shut out of opportunity. Not only did the administration take a sledgehammer to federal diversity, equity, and inclusion programs on Day One, it has spent the last year slashing agencies that have long served as engines of mobility for Black workers, including the federal civil service. More than 327,000 federal jobs have been eliminated, not through attrition or organizational modernization, but through deliberate cuts that have eroded pathways to the middle class built through generations of civil‑rights gains.” (https://nul.org/news/black-america-already-recession)
Historically African American unemployment has always been higher than that of whites. The level of household wealth has also been unequal. This was further aggravated in the first decades of the 21st century due to the predatory lending by financial institutions which robbed the African American people of the bulk of their equity in housing.
After the collapse in the housing market between 2007-2011, conditions have only worsened for the African American people. The loss of household income and wealth is further aggravated by the disproportionate incarceration rates between African Americans and whites.
Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies Reinforces the NUL Position
A Black-led think tank, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies (JCPES), through its monitoring of the U.S. economy and its impact on African Americans reinforces the contention of the NUL. Although they say that there has been some improvement in the job market over the last several months, it will remain unclear whether this is actually true due to the often readjustments of employment figures in the U.S.
Moreover, an escalation in racist violence against African Americans by the police and vigilantes inevitably damages economic prospects and social mobility. These racist attacks in southern states such as South Carolina, Texas and other areas, has demonstrated the hostility by the broader white society.
As African Americans continue to be stereotyped as criminals, their prospects for economic advancement will remain bleak. In addition to the targeting of oppressed people for arrest, prosecution, imprisonment and murder, the elimination of affirmative action and DEI will only hamper their efforts to find viable employment.
In a report issued by the JCPES during June, it says that:
“May’s jobs report brought some encouraging news for Black workers. The Black unemployment rate fell from 7.3 percent in April to 6.6 percent in May, a meaningful one-month drop. The number of Black workers with jobs also increased by 101,000. Black women saw notable improvement. Their unemployment rate fell from 6.9 percent in April to 6 percent in May. Black men also saw a decline, though smaller, with their unemployment rate falling from 7.6 percent to 7.3 percent. The report also shows why one month of progress should be viewed with caution. Black unemployment is still higher than it was a year ago, when it stood at 6 percent in May 2025. In other words, May’s improvement is welcome, but it also reflects a partial recovery from recent setbacks. The picture is also more troubling for young Black workers. Their unemployment rate rose from 13.4 percent in April to 14.1 percent in May. That increase suggests that younger Black workers are not benefiting from the labor market in the same way as older workers. Those challenges are part of a larger pattern. At 6.6 percent, Black unemployment continues to be the highest among major racial groups. It is well above the unemployment rates for White and Asian workers, both at 3.8 percent, and Hispanic workers at 5 percent. It is also higher than the national unemployment rate of 4.3 percent.” (https://jointcenter.org/may-2026-jobs-day-analysis/)
Gendered Oppression Escalates
These developments give weight to the notion that the African American people are an oppressed nation within the U.S. They have and continue to be the “last hired and first fired” within the labor market.
Moreover, African American women have been special targets of the MAGA administration through the layoffs in the public sector especially within the federal government. Trump’s opprobrium directed against African American women cannot be denied.
The National Partnership website makes this point in an article by Jessica Mason and Katherine Gallagher, which says:
“The Trump administration’s harm to Black women continues a long history of racist policymaking that has deliberately impaired Black women’s economic security and well-being. As National Partnership President Jocelyn Frye writes, ‘Black women have a long history as workers in the United States – from the early horrors of their traumatic, involuntary arrival as forced slave laborers to their present-day reality where they must navigate persistent gender and racial norms and expectations about workplace roles and job advancement opportunities.’” (https://nationalpartnership.org/weak-job-market-leaves-black-women-behind-jobsday-feb-2026/)
A renewed campaign of resistance is therefore required to address the present conjuncture. African Americans must take the lead since they are the most impacted by the MAGA imposed austerity, discrimination and state repression.
Despite the heightened discriminatory policies, economic and political pressure can still be effective tools in fighting oppression. If African Americans withdrew a fraction of their purchasing power, it would further negatively impact the profit margins of the ruling class corporations which have gone along enthusiastically with the Trump program.
Also, mass demonstrations and other forms of resistance could shift the balance of political forces since it could easily attract other elements within the working class into a broader struggle aimed at moving away from monopoly capitalism towards a socialist program of renewal. Labor must be activated in a mobilization effort to reverse the economic decline while enhancing the power of the working class in an anti-capitalist movement, encompassing millions throughout the U.S.
