America is changing rapidly under the Trump Administration 2.0. Through DOGE, jobs have been slashed, causing Black and brown staffers to lose their livelihood. Trump’s mission to eradicate DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion), while under the guise of prioritizing “meritocracy,” threatens to dismantle centuries of civil rights achievements.
“This historical moment is alarming on almost every level. Our civil rights are being attacked. The human rights of immigrants are being eviscerated in a fit of vengeance, all as the world confronts an extinction and climate crisis that threatens our future,” declared Ben Jealous. The author and activist is the former president of the NAACP and current executive director of the Sierra Club.
Black and white Americans fought diligently for civil rights advancement in the 20th century, and that movement “speaks to us today,” said Jealous. Looking to past centuries, he notes that there is a connective thread that forms about 20 years into any century, and what has to be done to elevate from those times.
“Our job right now is to build a bridge to the 2070s. Look at any American century and you will quickly see that the seventies of that century are always better than the twenties,” he explained. “The 20s are tough for civil rights, human rights and progress. And yet, in each of those centuries, the decade that defined the American Revolution in the 1700s was the same decade defined by Reconstruction in the 1800s, which was the same decade defined by integration and the end of the Vietnam War in the 1900s. This century is starting out the same.”
With that in mind, Jealous advised that now is the time to “build a movement capable of ensuring that this century ends the same as those. There was a time that we believed we were living in a postmodern era. If we’re honest, the last decade has shown us that the struggle continues, and it is as critical as ever that we are aggressive in building a better future for our and all children.”
While we still must fight vehemently for our rights, we’re at an advantage over our ancestors. “We have more influence than we had at the start of any other century. We have more power than we had at the start of any other century. We have more wealth than we had at the start of any other century. We have more cultural influence than we had at the start of any other century. And we are better connected to people of African descent around the globe than we were at the start of any other century,” he shared.
“All of this conspires on the side of our dreams and should assure us that we have a better shot of advancing in this century than we’ve had at any other. In other words, now is a time to take note of our fears and yet act in spite of them to build stronger communities, a stronger country, and a more dynamic presence in the world with our eyes set on increasing freedom and prosperity for Black people in America and all our neighbors too.”
Jealous noted that the governing words of the nation’s forefathers are the key to restoring our civility.
“Our ability to respond to all that depends on our nation protecting, respecting, defending and ultimately implementing its constitution. The civil rights struggle for Black people has been continuous since before the Civil War. As perilous as this moment we find ourselves in is, we must recognize that our constitutional rights are still better protected in most courts than they have been throughout most of American history,” he shared.
“Our movement must return to being keenly focused on defending our constitutional rights, emphatic about making sure our young people understand their value and disciplined in the strategies we execute to ensure that we and future generations continue to benefit from those rights being protected.”
That includes the 14th Amendment on birth rights. “It’s deep in the bedrock of modern American democracy. It was the amendment that assured my grandmother’s grandparents and all their peers who had been owned like them as chattel that they and their children would always be citizens. It was also the amendment that assured all those that took up arms to defend enslavement that their children would enjoy the same rights. And it is also the amendment that assured every child who only ever knew America as their home that it would always be their home.”
Jealous noted that it “is impossible for America to be America not just as we know it, but as all of us value it, without the protections of the 14th Amendment. For this reason, the courts have repeatedly defended every aspect of it. And for this reason, racists and xenophobes have always resented and attacked it,” he shared. “We must rise up and insist that the courts respect precedent and act courageously to defend the ultimate promise of America itself.”
