In June of 2024, presidential candidate Donald Trump made the infamous assertion that immigrants to the U.S. were “taking Black jobs.” The statement followed a formula that’s been used many times throughout history: pit two marginalized groups against each other, sidestep the broader social forces at play. On top of that, the historian Whitney Nell Stewart argued, Trump was conjuring up an age-old idea — “that only certain jobs are appropriate for Black Americans, specifically menial, more physical, and less glamorous ones.” And though the implications in Trump’s comment were fairly serious, many took the opportunity to make light of the situation. The jokeswere quickand plentiful.
But now, about seven months into the current Trump administration, it seems that a lot of Black jobs actually are disappearing, or at risk of disappearing. And spoiler alert — it’s not the fault of immigrants.
And that’s in part because for many years, federal jobs were, arguably, “Black jobs” — meaning that they were some of the few stable, well-paying jobs that were available to Black people in the wake of the Civil Rights Movement. In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson issued Executive Order 11246 to “prohibit discrimination in employment because of race, creed, color, or national origin.” That prohibition against racial discrimination was then signed into law — the Equal Employment Opportunity Act — by President Nixon in 1972, in an amendment to the Civil Rights Act.
Of course, racist hiring practices didn’t disappear overnight. But as of last year, 18.5% of federal civilian workers were Black, while Black people as a whole make up about 15% of the U.S. population.
But less than a day after being sworn in, President Trump rescinded Executive Order 11246. (He could not actually rescind the Equal Employment Opportunity Act itself — repealing legislation would involve going through Congress.) But in his executive action, Trump argued that EO 11246, along with most diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility policies, were part of a larger “unlawful, corrosive, and pernicious identity-based spoils system.” And though his executive action never explicitly stated which identity groups had been reaping those spoils, the implication seemed clear that certain people (who shall not be named) had been taking other people’s rightful jobs: “Hardworking Americans who deserve a shot at the American Dream should not be stigmatized, demeaned, or shut out of opportunities because of their race or sex,” the action reads.
There’s a twisted irony somewhere in there. But I’m still waiting for the jokes.
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ON THE POD
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Extreme heat disproportionately kills poor people, old people, and people of color. So on this episode, we're focusing on the lives of those affected, from roofers in Florida to prisoners who live and die in cells that feel more like ovens in Texas. We’re asking why so many people are dying from the heat, and whose lives we value enough to try to protect.
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Your turn: What's on your mind, fam? How are you feeling about the jobs numbers? The hot weather? The general state of the world? Inquiring minds want to know. As always, you can drop me a line at codeswitch@npr.org.
I'll be back next week, assuming I still have my Black job.
-Leah Donnella, senior editor
Written by Leah Donnella and editedby Courtney Stein
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