By Stacy M. Brown, Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent
The Trump administration is dismantling the very programs created to correct generations of systemic racism and economic exclusion—programs that helped level the playing field for Black, Latino, Indigenous, and women entrepreneurs. In a series of targeted assaults, Trump has moved to destroy the federal government’s most effective tools for uplifting historically disadvantaged communities, threatening billions of dollars and tens of thousands of jobs. In the most devastating move yet, Trump’s Justice Department filed to end the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program, a nearly $37 billion affirmative action initiative that for decades guaranteed at least 10 percent of federal transportation contracts would go to minority- and women-owned firms. The administration now claims the DBE program violates the Constitution’s equal protection clause, siding with two White-owned companies that sued because they didn’t want to compete with firms led by people of color.
If approved, the settlement would kill the DBE’s founding mission—to address the entrenched discrimination that has locked out marginalized groups from federal contracting. The Biden administration previously defended the program, recognizing that race-neutral alternatives alone cannot erase centuries of inequality. But Trump’s team reversed course, citing the Supreme Court’s ban on race-conscious college admissions to justify gutting one of the country’s last-standing economic justice efforts. “This is a direct attack on Black and brown businesses,” said Brooke Menschel of Democracy Forward. “Without these programs, thousands of entrepreneurs will be pushed out of the economy and back to the margins.”
At the same time, Trump signed an executive order aimed at neutralizing the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA)—the only federal agency solely dedicated to supporting minority-owned businesses. Under President Biden, the MBDA helped secure over $3.2 billion in contracts and $1.6 billion in capital for entrepreneurs of color, creating or preserving more than 23,000 jobs. Trump’s action, combined with a recent court ruling that barred the MBDA from considering race in program eligibility, threatens to erase those gains. “These actions are designed to kill progress,” said Rep. Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee. “This isn’t just neglect—it’s sabotage.”
Even as Trump claims to champion small business, his policies have delivered devastating blows to those most in need. A Kentucky judge previously issued an injunction weakening the DBE program, and now Trump’s administration is making that decision permanent. Meanwhile, courts and right-wing organizations aligned with Trump are challenging the very legality of race-conscious aid, using the courts to do what Congress would never allow—turn back the clock on civil rights. In response, a coalition of minority- and women-owned business groups successfully petitioned the court to intervene. Their warning is blunt: without DBE and MBDA protections, many minority-owned firms will collapse.
“Stripping away these programs isn’t race-neutral—it’s racist,” said attorney Douglas McSwain. “It punishes the very people who’ve been denied opportunity for generations.” The impact is already being felt. Businesses that relied on the DBE program to enter a closed federal market are now bracing for a shutdown. Entrepreneurs who once had a path to growth and generational wealth are being told they no longer belong. “This administration isn’t just ignoring inequality—it’s weaponizing policy to deepen it,” said Sarah von der Lippe of the Minority Business Enterprise Legal Defense and Education Fund. “And it’s communities of color who will pay the price.”
