‘It continues’: Leaders prepare for battle with Trump administration hostile to civil rights

During his first and successful presidential campaign in 2016. Donald Trump asked Black Americans, “What do you have to lose?” Lawyers and civil rights leaders say they’ve quite a bit to lose in a second Trump presidential administration.

In anticipation of what Trump has already promised, groups are preparing to fight to prevent further erosion of civil rights under the president-elect’s latest administration.

“It’s alive and well, but not in a good way,” said Damon Hewitt, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

Hewitt anticipates court battles over the Trump administration’s efforts to strip away laws affecting Black and brown communities. Some could find yourself in federal courts with conservative judges, including the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority thanks to Trump’s three nominations during his first term. Not to mention that Trump can have the chief power to install more conservative judges on the federal bench.

Hewitt also noted the challenges facing trial and appellate courts. He believes that eliminating DEI from federal programs won’t only lead to litigation but additionally “fuel” attacks on the private sector.

“Civil rights organizations will ask the court to stop his mass deportations, stop-and-frisk policies, police immunity proposals, cuts to Head Start and school lunch programs, and his plan to pay ‘reparations’ to white people he considers victims of DEI,” Boykin explained .

Human rights leaders hope they aren’t alone on this fight and are calling on corporate America to join the fight as well.

He emphasized that the presidencies of previous Republicans – Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush and Trump – were a harmful combination of “pain and politics.”

“It is clear that, judging by the presidential campaign and the makeup of the new Cabinet, the gains in this country on civil and human rights over the last seventy years will be challenging,” said Russell, who also noted what civil rights leaders imagine for the harmful proposals contained within the pro-Trump conservative “Project 2025” plan.

The NAACP has an motion plan that Russell says the nation’s oldest civil rights organization will “fulfill.”

“First, we will develop the strongest possible legislative support,” he said. The next step, Russell said, is to work with Congress “in partnership with our partner organizations to ensure we have a strong legislative agenda.”

He added: “States have a role to play in working with our state conferences and local entities to strengthen their advocacy efforts through state and local legislative processes to protect and strengthen civil and human rights protections.”