Community Empowerment in the Face of Political Adversity

By S.E. Williams
The Voice
https://theievoice.com/

Overview: The Black Voice News held its third annual Festival of Ideas, bringing together 60 local nonprofits, advocates, and influencers to share ideas, exchange information, and identify ways to work in partnership to create the future they desire. The event was held in light of the current political environment, which requires a focus on sustainable solutions to navigate the current and future crisis. The Black community has faced similar attacks in the past, including the Reagan and Bush administrations, and it is clear that they are being hunted. Nonprofits are at risk due to government cuts and a loss of donors, but they have the power to change the narrative and write the next chapter of their story.

S.E. Williams

Community based solutions are more pertinent today than ever before and Black Voice News remains committed to being a part of the effort to help identify them. 

Last Friday, Black Voice News convened over 60 local nonprofits, advocates and influencers for our third annual Ideas event. The purpose, to share ideas, exchange information and identify ways to work in partnership in a continued local effort to create the future we desire. This year, however, as we maintained a focus on the future, the current political environment required that collectively, we focus like a laser on the present. 

“One of the marvelous things about community is that it enables us to welcome and help people in a way we couldn’t as individuals.”Jean Vanier

The reality is, we must coalesce as a community and find sustainable solutions to not only navigate our way through the current  crisis, but to also identify and implement solutions that are innovative and malleable enough to carry us through future crisis. If not, we risk leaving many of the most vulnerable in our community without the local safety nets many of these nonprofit organizations provide. Without sustainable solutions, we will remain like an old weathervane that is forced to twist and turn every time the wind shifts and switches direction depending on how the wind blows.  

I advocate for sustainable solutions because although today we are dealing with a Donald Trump and his extremism, the Black community has faced similar attacks–though less aggressive but no less sinister–from other presidents of similar ilk. 

Consider Ronald Reagan, although given a pass by some Blacks because he signed legislation that created the Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday, his overall record related to Black Americans was abysmal. During his administration (1981 to 1989) Blacks experienced the highest unemployment rate in recent history–an average of 19.5% compared to 8.4% for whites; between the years 1980 and 1983, 1.3 million additional Blacks fell into poverty; and 36% of all Blacks in the nation lived in poverty during his time in office. Many have identified Reagan as the most racist president since the Jim Crow era. 

Reagan was followed by George H.W. Bush who led the nation from 1989 to 1993. Although he promised during his campaign to be ‘kinder and gentler’ to Blacks than his predecessor, he failed to walk his talk. For example, his 1988 presidential campaign is probably best remembered for the infamous and racist, Willie Horton ad (see link below).

Once elected, Bush once again failed to walk his talk as he quickly vetoed the 1990 Civil Rights Bill.  And, perhaps the most devastating blow he dealt to the Black community was the appointment of a conservative Black man, Clarence Thomas, to the U.S. Supreme Court to replace celebrated NAACP, Legal Defense Fund Civil Rights attorney Thurgood Marshall.

The self-hating Thomas was only 43 years old when appointed to his lifetime position on the court. Since his appointment to the nation’s highest court in 1991, Thomas has ruled against the interests of Black people at every opportunity. In one instance he even ruled that the beating of a Black inmate by prison guards in Louisiana was not cruel and unusual. Thomas is an unwanted gift from George Herbert Walker Bush to Black America that just keeps giving in a way that is most damaging to Blacks.

And then there was Baby Bush (George W. Bush) who led the nation from 2001 to 2009. This guy opposed Affirmative Action to such an extent that he tried to get Congress to ban it. He was also against consent decree mandated reforms aimed at eliminating police brutality and racial profiling. He was also a strong supporter of the death penalty and oversaw the legalized murder of a number of Black men during his tenure as the Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000. 

As a Black community it is clear we are being hunted. We understand the hunt. We’ve had targets on our backs for nearly 500 years. We also understand progress. I am referring to the slow, deliberate, painful slog from slavery to liberation; from illiteracy to education; from cotton fields to corporate boardrooms; from slave quarters to the White House. Just as we worked in community to achieve these breakthroughs we have the ability and wherewithal to accomplish even more today. 

There are nonprofits working across the inland region addressing almost any need identified in the region. These groups are being led and by committed individuals with a passion to make a difference in this community and yet many of their efforts are at risk because of the relentless cuts to government programs that supported some of their work or do to a loss of donors who fear retaliation from the Trump and his minions if they continue to support the work of any organization working to uplift Blacks and other minorities. 

According to Zeffy, a free online platform used by about 50,000 charities across the country has reported a significant downturn in charitable giving.  According to the report dollar donations were basically flat for 2025 until Trump announced his first round of tariffs in April. After that, according to Zeffy, donations plummeted. The first week they dropped by about 25 % and continued to fall the following week by 37%.

We must not allow the racists to write the next chapter of our story. We will work together in community and write it ourselves. There is an African Proverb that states, “Until the lion learns to write, every story will glorify the hunter.” Collectively, we have the power to change the narrative.  

Of course, this is just my opinion. I’m keeping it real.