Racial Justice

Juneteenth Calls for Economic Justice, Not Trump’s Racially Coded Gimmicks

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As Juneteenth approaches, we are called to remember not just the day when the last enslaved Black Americans learned of their freedom, but the ongoing struggle for true justice and equality in this country.

In this context, Donald Trump’s economic and immigration policies—packaged as efforts to “Make America Great Again”—take on a more troubling meaning. They are not just policy proposals; they are part of a deliberate strategy to reinforce racial divides, undermining the very ideals that Juneteenth represents.

How a Liberal DA in Louisiana Is Fighting for Reproductive Rights in a Post-Roe South

In a post-Roe America, where reproductive freedom depends not just on where you live but who your prosecutor is, New Orleans District Attorney represents a growing number of local officials refusing to criminalize care. His goal: to protect bodily autonomy and keep women out of prison.

As one of the few progressive prosecutors in the Deep South, Williams operates under intense pressure—from conservative lawmakers, a hostile state government and a legal landscape increasingly tilted against reproductive rights. But he’s doing so with clear priorities: decriminalize pregnancy outcomes, defend healthcare providers and prioritize the health and dignity of Black and low-income women in his parish.

From Biden’s Cabinet to the Crisis Council: Isabel Guzman on AI, DEI, Elon Musk—and What Real Leadership Looks Like

Isabel Guzman previously served as the 27th administrator of the Small Business Administration under President Biden and was the fifth Latina woman to serve in the Cabinet. She cites serving in Biden’s Cabinet, which was majority-women and the most diverse Cabinet in U.S. history, as ‘humbling’ and an “honor.”

Since leaving the Biden administration, Guzman is now on the frontlines of corporate leadership, helping CEOs confront the reputational dangers of AI, DEI and disinformation. Guzman recently sat down with RepresentWomen’s digital media manager Ria Deshmukh to speak about her transformative journey through the public and private sectors. This is her first in-depth interview since finishing her tenure as the SBA administrator, providing a multifaceted perspective of life as a woman leader in public service and business development.

“The most critical moments in my career have been when I’ve taken myself out of my comfort zone.”

“Women need to continue to be bold about their worth and their value for inclusion.”

‘Remember the Ladies’: Attacks on Gender Equity Remain a Core Feature of Surging Authoritarianism

In the whirling, swirling hellscape of illegality and cruelty that is the current American political scene, it’s hard to keep track of all the individuals and groups demonized, deported and derided by an administration seemingly motivated by a Machiavellian desire for power that might make Machiavelli himself blush with shame. In the midst of an apocalyptic news cycle, one targeted segment of the population seems to be fading from view: women.

But let us not, as Abigail Adams wrote so many years ago, forget the ladies. “Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could.”

Documenting Harriet Tubman’s Leadership: Pulitzer Prize-Winning Edda L. Fields-Black on the Combahee River Raid

The Combahee River Raid was a military operation during the American Civil War led by Harriet Tubman on June 1-2, 1863. Historian Edda L. Fields-Black—this year’s winner of the Pulitzer Prize in History—reflects on Tubman’s revolutionary Civil War raid and the power of preserving Black history in the face of political pushback.

“What I speculate is that the Union told the enslaved people who she was. And her presence facilitated the enslaved people in trusting the Union. We know, from some of the sources I’ve brought together in [my latest book] Combee that Harriet Tubman was on the ground in the raid, that she participated in the burning of buildings, and that she went to the slave cabins and coaxed the people there to come onto the boats and come to freedom. So how she convinced them to do that, we don’t know, but they did trust her, even if they didn’t know her entire backstory.”

Profiles in Courage: Gwynne Wilcox Was the First Black Woman on the NLRB—And the First to Be Fired by a President

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Throughout the month of May, the Profiles in Courage spotlighted women in the Department of Justice, federal agencies and the military whose careers have been defined by integrity, resilience and reform. Their quiet heroism—often at personal cost—reaffirms the enduring role of public servants who choose justice over self-interest. Through their stories, Ms. pays tribute to a tradition of service that safeguards democracy and inspires the next generation to lead with courage.

In 2023, labor lawyer Gwynne Wilcox—whose union-side advocacy career has spanned decades—shattered two barriers: becoming the first Black woman seated on the National Labor Relations Board and, soon after, its chair. The board’s institutional independence was hastily put to the test on Jan. 27, 2025, just one week after President Donald Trump’s return to office. Wilcox received a midnight email from the White House saying she was dismissed, effective immediately.

Refusing to accept her unlawful dismissal, Wilcox filed suit against the Trump administration. On May 22, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a brief order allowing Trump to dismiss Wilcox from the NLRB. Writing for the three dissenters, Justice Elena Kagan quoted Alexander Hamilton as saying: “To avoid an arbitrary discretion in the courts, it is indispensable that they should be bound down by strict rules and precedents.” The order, she said, “favors the president over our precedent.”

Could Hollywood’s Vision of a Black Woman President Help Make It Possible?

Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning featured Tom Cruise’s action hero Ethan Hunt deep-sea diving through a submarine 500 feet under the sea, swimming naked in sub-zero temperatures, and sky diving in the middle of a plane duel. And yet, perhaps the most implausible fiction was… a Black woman president of the United States?!

Black male presidents in film and TV set the stage for Barrack Obama’s election. Could more depictions of Black female leaders pave the way for a Black woman president?

(This is Part 1 of a two-part series on women leaders and feminist leadership. Part 2—out Monday, June 2—continues with a public syllabus.)

Orwell’s ‘1984’ Is Now—Thanks to Trump’s Playbook of Reversal, Gaslighting and Control

Many have fallen for Trump’s lies—or don’t care about the truth. His cronies hope to acclimatize us, like a frog in warming water, to the atrocities of Trump’s authoritarian regime. If we continue down our current trajectory, I fear we are destined to become the controlled and manipulated society of Orwell’s 1984.

To think clearly, we must challenge their lies and relentlessly, loudly and clearly speak the truth. And we must invest in science, higher education, open debate and critical thinking without fear of penalty.

Profiles in Courage: Jocelyn Samuels and the Fight to Save the EEOC

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Ms.‘ Profiles in Courage spotlights women in the Department of Justice, federal agencies and the military whose careers have been defined by integrity, resilience and reform. Their quiet heroism—often at personal cost—reaffirms the enduring role of public servants who choose justice over self-interest. Through their stories, Ms. pays tribute to a tradition of service that safeguards democracy and inspires the next generation to lead with courage.

As a commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Jocelyn Samuels spent a lifetime defending democracy and workers’ rights. Now she’s fighting to protect the agency she helped lead.

White Plight: Trump’s Embrace of White South African ‘Refugees’ Is a Racist Bullhorn

This week, Afrikaner “refugees” began arriving in the U.S.—some of the only refugees welcomed by the Trump administration. These white South Africans claim they are being persecuted at home: That white farmers are being attacked; that South Africa is not a safe place for them to live.

Much of the criticism of Trump’s decision to end refugee resettlement from just about everywhere else on the planet while welcoming a group that really isn’t facing particularly severe persecution has been derided as “political.” And it certainly is a stunt intended to provoke liberal outrage. But we should just call it what it is. It’s not “political.” It’s not a dogwhistle.

It’s racist.

This obvious troll from Trump (by way, I suspect, of Elon Musk and Stephen Miller) shows that, if they have their way, all the power will be white power.