Presidents Change. The Struggle Doesn’t

People have noticed that I’ve defended certain aspects of Trump’s Executive Order. Some assume that means I’m a supporter of everything he’s done. Let’s set the record straight: I’m not loyal to any president. I’m loyal to survival. I judge policies for their impact — not the personality or party behind them.

Here’s my reality: I have never lived through a presidency that truly put Black people or people of color at the top of the priority list. Not Reagan. Not Clinton. Not Bush. Not Obama. Not Trump. Not Biden.

Every administration comes in with an agenda — their agenda. Not mine. Not yours. Not ours. The people with the most money, power, or influence get their needs addressed first. That’s the game. We’ve always been told to “pick the lesser of two evils,” because we’ve never been given a real choice that centers our communities.

History proves it:

• Reagan – The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 created the 100:1 crack-to-powder cocaine sentencing disparity, ensuring Black defendants faced far harsher penalties for the same drug class, fueling mass incarceration at unprecedented rates.

• Clinton – The 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act expanded policing and prisons, deepening mass incarceration’s racial impact. In 1996, Welfare Reform (PRWORA) imposed strict limits and work requirements that increased hardship during recessions.

• George W. Bush – The federal response to Hurricane Katrina was condemned in a bipartisan congressional report titled “A Failure of Initiative,” exposing systemic failures that disproportionately devastated Black communities in New Orleans.

• Obama – The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 reduced but didn’t eliminate the crack/powder gap (from 100:1 to 18:1). And despite campaign promises, deportations hit a record high — over 2 million during his tenure — separating countless families of color.

• Trump (2017–2021; current) – Publicly referred to Haiti, El Salvador, and African nations as “shithole countries,” emboldening openly racist rhetoric. His “zero tolerance” immigration policy tore children from parents at the border, with government reports confirming failures to track and reunite them.

• Biden – As a senator in the 1970s, opposed certain court-ordered busing for school integration. In 1993, pushed “tough on crime” language warning about “predators on our streets,” rhetoric used to justify punitive criminal justice policies.

Different names. Different slogans. Same results.

That’s why I don’t get caught up in the personality wars. A president is like the principal of a school — they’ll never make every student or staff member happy, and they’ll always be answering to the people who hold the most leverage.

For us, liberation has never come as a gift from the Oval Office. It’s been built, inch by inch, by our own hands — through organizing, fighting, and using whatever policies we can bend to our benefit, no matter who signed them.

So yes, I can support part of an EO if it creates a tool I can use for my people — even if I reject most of what that president stands for. I can also call out a president I like when they fail us. Because this isn’t about loyalty to them. It’s about loyalty to us.

If you take anything from this, take this: stop expecting the presidency to save you. Stop thinking the right candidate will fix it all. Our survival has always depended on what we build for ourselves, together, in spite of politics — not because of it.