Oakland Post: Week of August 21 – 27, 2024
By Joe W. Bowers Jr., California Black Media
As the 2024 Presidential election approaches, Black Californians face a critical moment that could drastically alter their future. Project 2025, a plan crafted by the conservative Heritage Foundation, is intended to guide a potential Trump administration if he returns to office.
The Heritage Foundation touts Project 2025 as a policy agenda aimed at reducing government intervention and returning to “traditional values.” It advocates eliminating federal oversight across various sectors, promising greater efficiency and personal freedom.
However, these policy changes could have devastating consequences for Black Californians.
One of the most alarming aspects of Project 2025 is its call to eliminate the Department of Education. Such a move would likely result in severe cuts to funding for California’s public schools, disproportionately affecting Black and minority communities. These budget cuts would widen educational disparities, further limiting opportunities for Black students.
For nearly three decades, Proposition 209 has restricted public institutions from considering race, sex, or ethnicity in employment and education. Then, last year, the Supreme Court’s ban of Affirmative Action further constrained those programs. By cutting federal support, Project 2025 would undermine diversity initiatives, decreasing access to employment and contracting opportunities and making it even harder for universities to support minority students even though Black student enrollment and graduation rates remain lowest in California’s higher education institutions.
The rollback of student debt relief efforts, another key element of Project 2025, would reverse gains made under the Biden administration. These relief efforts have wiped out $138 billion in student loans. Reversing them would have a particularly harsh impact on Black Californians.
Project 2025’s push for deregulation threatens to weaken employment protections. Without strong federal oversight, the enforcement of California laws like the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) which provides critical protections against workplace discrimination based on race, gender, and disability, could falter, reducing job opportunities for Black Californians making it harder for Black individuals to advance in their careers and achieve economic stability.
Project 2025 also revives “tough on crime” policies reminiscent of the War on Drugs, which disproportionately targeted Black communities. Increased policing and harsher sentencing guidelines could lead to higher incarceration rates among Black Californians, perpetuating cycles of poverty and disenfranchisement.
Additionally, Project 2025’s stance on election integrity, including stricter voter ID laws and reduced access to early voting, could suppress Black voter turnout and undermine some of the nation-leading gains California has made to enfranchise all state residents.
Presidential candidate Kamala Harris has criticized Project 2025, warning, “This plan is a step backward for our country. It threatens to undo the progress we’ve made in ensuring that every American, regardless of their race or background, has a fair shot at success. Black communities, in particular, stand to lose the most.”
For Black Californians relying on Medi-Cal, Trump’s plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act could severely limit access to healthcare and defund some of the critical expansions in Medi-Cal coverage that California has made over the last year.
For Black Californians, the stakes have never been higher. Project 2025, coupled with an authoritarian Trump presidency, threatens to reverse decades of progress in civil rights, economic inclusion, healthcare, education, and environmental justice.
About the Author
Joe W. Bowers Jr. is a contributing editor to California Black Media. He is a graduate of Stanford University.
