Let me tell you something about this community.

We have survived every single attempt to erase us. Every policy, every system, every era that said our access did not matter — we found another door. We built our own table. We kept moving. And 2026 is not going to be any different.

The Trump administration has targeted notable Black officials in government and the military while pressuring companies and universities to cancel diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. At his State of the Union address, the president declared, “We ended DEI in America.”

And I need us to sit with the audacity of that statement for a moment.

Because what was actually being dismantled was not a political program. It was access. It was the pipeline that allowed Black families to enter the middle class, to buy homes, to send their children to college, to retire with something to show for their lives. The cuts have sent shockwaves through the workforce — stable career paths that allowed Black families to purchase homes, send their children to college, and prepare to retire with dignity were eroded by haphazard cuts to the federal workforce.

That is not abstract. That is people’s actual lives.

But here is what they did not account for.

Black buying power does not disappear because a policy changes. Black buying power doubled in just five years and is estimated to hit $2.1 trillion in 2026. Two trillion dollars. And the community has made it abundantly clear — 45% of Black and Hispanic consumers are reducing or stopping purchases from brands that scale back DEI.

We are not just protesting. We are organizing our dollars.

Black shoppers launched an Economic Blackout aimed at retailers like Target after executives scaled back DEI programs under political pressure, with the National Urban League backing the effort and urging intelligent spending. This is not a moment. This is a movement. And it is rooted in something our community has always understood — that economic power is political power. That where you spend is where you stand.

Prominent Black business leaders warn that the broader narrative around opportunity and progress is being challenged — and that inclusion and representation are tied directly to economic growth and innovation.

They were not wrong when they built these programs. And the people dismantling them are not naive about what they are doing. They know exactly what access means. That is why they came for it.

But beloved — here is what Zora needs you to hear.

This is not the time for despair. This is the time for deliberate action. Support Black-owned businesses — not just in February, not just when it goes viral, but consistently. Know where your dollars go. Protect the institutions that protected us. Stay engaged with local politics where the real decisions get made every single day. Mentor somebody coming up behind you. Teach your children what generational wealth actually means and how it gets built.

They said DEI was over.

We said — watch us build something they cannot dismantle.

That has always been the assignment. And we have always been equal to it.