Can the Movement for Reparations Survive Under Trump?

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During the summer of 2020, a long-standing movement for reparations for Black Americans gained steam. Thanks to historic racial justice protests, several local and statewide initiatives received a needed political boost that helped garner momentum for the movement.

In California, a historic reparations task force concluded painstaking research and surveys with a clear mandate to move forward with compensation for Black people. And, a year ago, YES! published a series of deeply reported stories called Realizing Reparations. 

But a whitelash to the movement for racial justice has helped reelect Donald Trump, who set to work immediately dismantling federal government programs for racial equity. 

Given this new context, we have to ask: Where does the movement for reparations stand now? “Reparations is our North Star for equity, providing a counterweight against a backslide into white supremacy,” writes economist Kyle Moore in a new report. “Fixing our eyes on rectifying our greatest historical wrongs and committing to preventing those atrocities and injustices from ever happening again grounds us in hopeful possibility.” 

Moore is an economist with the Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy at the Economic Policy Institute. He spoke with YES! Senior Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on YES! Presents: Rising Up With Sonali about where the reparations movement stands in 2025.