Marc H. Morial
President and CEO
National Urban League
“Policy rollbacks that have removed protections and investments designed to support Black communities … is the regression, combined with economic indicators, particularly unemployment, that would qualify as recessionary if they were applied to the national economy.” — Monica Mitchell, Chief of Staff, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies
The revelation that the U.S. economy shed 92,000 jobs in February and now faces its highest unemployment rate in years has rattled economists, many of whom warn that the country may be on the brink of a recession.
For Black America, the recession has already arrived.
Even worse, the Black recession isn’t driven 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.
At the same time, the administration has abandoned federal support for disadvantaged businesses. Critical institutions—among them the Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Fund and the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA)—have been targeted for defunding or dismantling altogether. These programs have been lifelines, offering capital and technical assistance to Black entrepreneurs who face entrenched discrimination from traditional lenders. Removing them does not create a level playing field; it cements an unequal one.
The consequences are measurable and immediate. After reaching an all-time low during the Biden administration, the Black unemployment rate surged to 8.3% by November 2025 — the highest level since the pandemic — and remains more than twice the rate for white Americans. The Black homeownership rate fell to 43.9% in the first half of 2025, wiping out years of fragile progress and deepening a racial wealth gap that already stood among the most persistent in the country.
Even before the latest dismal jobs report, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies had already declared 2025 “a regression and recession” for Black Americans. In its State of the Dream 2026 report, the authors wrote, “Instead of aggressive leadership in dismantling structures of racial inequality, we are witnessing regressive leadership that is slashing government employment and agencies designed to address predatory economic practices that disproportionately harm Black communities.” The report further notes that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act entrenched permanent tax cuts for high‑income households and corporations while reducing investment in poverty‑alleviating programs and leaving support for working families stagnant or shrinking.
Policy experts often refer to Black Americans as the “canary in the coal mine” — the first to feel the impact of economic stress. If that analogy holds, the warning is clear: a broader national recession is not far behind. But acknowledging that Black America is already in recession is not merely a prediction about the future; it is a call to confront what is unfolding in the present. The question now is whether policymakers will heed that warning — or continue to ignore the communities already bearing the brunt of the nation’s economic retreat.
