Trump's Spending Cuts Would Create the Black America He's Been Talking About

On the campaign trail last summer, Donald Trump tried to appeal to African Americans by asking what we had to lose by voting him into office. Exit polls showed that we had a hunch what a Trump presidency would cost us, but now that the administration has released its first budget we know for sure.

According to Trump's "skinny budget," African-American families and communities stand to lose billions in programs and services that touch every aspect of our lives. This budget makes it harder for black people to raise healthy children, get an education, live in a safe neighborhood, secure adequate housing, and maintain a good quality job.

From the cradle to the grave, these billions of dollars in cuts will leave black Americans worse off--especially since African Americans are over-represented as beneficiaries for many of the programs. Cuts of approximately $150 million to the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program--where blacks represent 20 percent of enrollment--guarantees fewer black families receive nutrition education and supplements necessary for small children. The elimination of $1.2 billion in grants to after-school and summer programs, which serve 1 in 4 black students, will leave millions of kids without opportunities that give them a chance to get ahead. At the college level, nearly two thirds of black undergrads at public four-year institutions depend on tuition assistance received through Pell Grants. Reducing the funding for this program by $3.9 billion ensures fewer black students go to college, even as the labor market demands more credentials for good quality jobs. And for blacks in the labor market, the cuts to the Labor Department--which provides training for people who decide against a four-year degree, and combats the discrimination that still plagues black workers--makes it harder to get and keep a decent job.

Trump's campaign trail claim that black communities are "in the worst shape they've ever been in before" was more a prediction of his budget's impact than a description of daily life for black people. Historic racial disparities in terms of unemployment rate, housing segregation, and wealth have remained essentially unchanged over the past several decades. But his budget calls to eliminate programs that are designed to lessen those disparities, as well as the ones that support communities that are already marginalized.

In many cases, the programs slated for elimination would literally take the roof from over people's heads. Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), which fund affordable housing, economic development, disaster relief, and infrastructure for communities of color across the country are first on the chopping block. In 2013 alone, 9.8 million people lived in areas that benefited from CDBG grants, and more than 1 in 4 of them were black. More than a quarter of cases closed by Legal Services Corporation grantees, which accounts for much of the legal aid in the U.S., were tied to housing and foreclosure--and nearly 30 percent of their clients are black. And more than one third of black households qualify for help heating their houses with the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), but Trump's budget would force them to choose between heating their houses and paying for other basic needs. For families left completely in the cold, the US Interagency Council on Homelessness is a last resort. Again, Trump's budget would completely eliminate this program, in which nearly half of all families with children served are black.

Trump believes to be black in America is to live in a constant nightmare of poverty, joblessness, and inadequate opportunities. This budget turns that belief into reality for African American families and communities.