As America grapples with shifting values and increasing chaos, we face an unsettling question: Could Black Americans find themselves pushed back to a time reminiscent of the 1870s post-Reconstruction era, where legally they had no rights whites had to respect?
The threat is real, particularly under the grip of powerful figures like Elon Musk and Donald Trump — individuals whose troubling histories and ideologies seem poised to further marginalize people of color. It is difficult to think that Musk and Trump see Black Americans as their equals worthy of sharing basic human space.
Both have been criticized for their harsh racial views and have a history of negative statements and treatment of Black people. This duo stands at the forefront of a dangerous potential that could propel Black Americans into a societal landscape devoid of the hard-won rights and dignity they gained during the civil rights era of the 1960s. If they succeed in spearheading initiatives aligned with their shared disdain for diversity and equity, the impact could be devastating, reminiscent of a time when Black lives were rife with white violence and systemic oppression.
Donald Trump has faced allegations of racism throughout his career. For instance, his company was sued in the 1970s for housing discrimination against Black renters. He also promoted the debunked “birther” conspiracy which charged Barack Obama was not born in the United States.
In 1989, he placed ads in four New York newspapers calling for the death penalty for five Black men convicted of raping a white female jogger in New York’s Central Park. When the young men were exonerated, Trump never apologized. His direct comments charging that Black people come from “s—hole” countries and Black Haitian immigrants should be deported while white Afrikaners should be welcomed to the U.S. as refugees continue to fuel his anti-Black sentiments.
Meanwhile, Musk’s lawsuits at his companies charging racial discrimination speak volumes. For example, Tesla has been accused of fostering a racially hostile work environment at its Fremont, California, factory. Allegations include the use of racial slurs by co-workers and supervisors, as well as claims that complaints to human resources were ignored. A California judge recently allowed nearly 6,000 Black workers to proceed with a class-action lawsuit against Tesla, citing a pattern of discrimination of Black workers at its Fremont electric car factory.
Of the more than 200 Black workers who provided statements for the lawsuit, about two-thirds said they saw anti-Black graffiti including nooses, racial slurs and swastikas in the Fremont factory, and a quarter said higher-ups called them the N-word.
Meanwhile, several other agencies are hitting Tesla with widespread claims of worker discrimination. California’s Civil Rights Department claims in a lawsuit filed in 2022 in Alameda County Superior Court that Black workers at the Fremont factory were paid less than white workers, denied advancements and faced daily racist abuse. Last year, according to a CNBC report, a federal jury awarded $3.2 million to a Black former Tesla worker who sued the company in 2017 over vitriolic racial harassment and daily racist epithets at the Tesla plant. In a 2022 blog, a Tesla spokesperson said it “strongly opposes all forms of discrimination and harassment.”
Also last year, NBC reported that Musk and influencers were spreading false stories that Haitians were engaged in cannibalism while Trump & company claimed that Haitians were eating pets. The unfounded claims fueled support for deporting Haitian immigrants.
Apart from the pair’s racial handicaps, both appear to have a perspective that does not value human rights. For example, when Musk is dancing, swinging a chainsaw cutting down federal departments, is he really seeing the desperation and despair of people, many of whom are children, veterans and seniors, losing health care, homes and education aid? Or does Musk, a tech genius, merely see data, numbers and AI systems that don’t need vacations or coffee breaks as viable alternatives to his goal of downsizing workplaces.
Trump, on the other hand, also might be blinded from the human suffering by the power, voting help and billions that Musk brought him in a second run for the White House.
Looking at the post-Reconstruction of the mid-1800s, we see a disturbing pattern of reactionary forces that drastically pushed Black Americans into an era of terror, segregation and severe discrimination — a pattern that seems to be resurfacing today. In the aftermath of the Civil War and Emancipation, Black males gained the right to vote, and around 1870, there were 16 Black men serving in Congress alongside hundreds more in state legislatures.
Many became property owners, signaling a hopeful period of progress.
However, that optimism was short-lived; within two decades, a fierce backlash emerged that systematically ousted Black legislators from office and established a culture of white supremacy. The ensuing Jim Crow era was marked by brutal lynchings, rampant disenfranchisement and a systematic denial of legal rights.
From the mid-1800s to the 1960s, groups like the Ku Klux Klan thrived, resulting in the lynching of about 4,000 Black individuals, according to the Lynching Museum in Montgomery. Supreme Court decisions, such as the infamous Dred Scott ruling of 1857, affirmed the notion that Black people had no rights that white individuals were obliged to respect.
Today, the Trump-Musk duo treats Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) not as vital components of a thriving democracy but as a “disease” to be eradicated. They are dismantling Black history programs, rolling back billions in federal initiatives that support health care, education, housing for people of color and stopping the essential lifesaving aid needed in developing nations governed by Black leadership.
If this relentless assault on Black Americans goes unchecked, what safeguards do we have to prevent history from repeating itself? To save our nation and even the soul of America, we must unite to challenge the forces that seek to undermine progress, ensuring that the lessons of the past are not lost in this dangerous resurgence. The clock of history should not be ticking backwards.
