By Barrington Salmon
(TriceEdneyWire.com) – Donald Trump has been in office for slightly more than a year. But he has spent an inordinate amount of time before and during his second term freely tossing around clearly racist statements, demonizing African Americans, shredding civil rights protections, and diminishing the historical contributions of Black people in the establishment and growth of America. He has done these things, all while advocating for and trying to eliminate birthright citizenship.
On January 20, 2025, the day he took office, Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) seeking to end to automatic birthright citizenship for children born in the U.S. to undocumented immigrants or parents who have temporary legal status. Trump’s attempts are despite the U. S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment which states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
Constitutional scholars and legal experts say this Amendment applies to all children born on U.S. soil, regardless of their parents’ nationality or legal status. But, in a case expected to be heard by the U. S. Supreme Court April 1, the Trump Administration argues that the 14th Amendment, which was ratified on July 9, 1868, was intended to apply only to the “freedom of the slave race,” meaning the citizenship of children of the formerly enslaved.
Regardless of the Trump argument, which – on the surface – appears to be a safety net for Black people, some believe his racist rhetoric and actions could lead to a slippery slope if the Supreme Court agrees with his first argument. The next move could be an attempt to question the citizenship of African-Americans whom he has not only repeatedly slandered, but – without apology – depicted as apes by posting former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle on social media. The administration says it was a staffer who created the post but has said that person was not punished for the post. Nor did Trump apologize.
“Trump is so mentally compromised I don’t know what he did. But there are people around him with devious intent towards Black people and who have embraced anti-Blackness. They seek to weaken African Americans’ political power through voter suppression and seek to make us second-class citizens – again,” says Barbara Arnwine, president and founder of the Transformative Justice Coalition, who served for decades as head of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “I don’t doubt that there are evil-minded people and others who do not believe in the equality of race and gender. They hold a white, male, patriarchal view of the United States and seek to impose that on the rest of us.”
The 14th Amendment was ratified in direct response the 1857 Dred Scott Decision, known for the infamous statement that the Black man, still enslaved at the time, had “no rights which the white man was bound to respect”.
Arnwine said she will watch the upcoming case closely April 1. “The Birthright citizenship issue is so dangerous. We can’t ignore the Supreme Court. We absolutely cannot.”
Some might call it a stretch to even ask whether a plaintiff could try to take citizenship from African Americans. But Olivia Sedwick, a counselor with the Lawyers’ Committee, said the attempt is possible.
“That’s a good question, and it’s not so far-fetched,” she said. “The Executive Order is not retroactive, it only works forward from Feb 19, 2025. Babies born after that, the legal status of the parent would be questioned in order to determine the citizenship of the child.”
Sedwick warns that Americans should watch closely how the government is currently talking about citizenship in ways that could lead to other questions.
“They have gone after American-born people who were born on military bases because they weren’t born on American soil. Everyone knows that that is still technically on American soil but we’re seeing that happening,” Sedwick said.
Human Rights lawyer Nicole Lee said there are significant legal and constitutional hurdles that would impede or totally block Trump from following through with any case against African-American citizenship. However, it may not stop him from trying either legally or illegally.
“The 14th amendment is a constitutional hurdle. By law that would be very difficult [to do]. However, he has command of the Armed Forces so he could de-facto do that,” said Lee, former executive director of TransAfrica. “Can he do it legally? It’s not legal to deport citizens. It’s codified, ratified, yet they have.”
Trump’s intemperate racial animus is well documented. He has opined about White people being second-class citizens, expressed fears about White erasure and complained about the rampant “reverse discrimination” that he claims is dogging White Americans. He even invited White South African farmers to become citizens in the U. S. as if the racist apartheid system never existed and in America, he ordered the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to investigate discrimination against Whites even though Black unemployment has consistently remained at twice the rate as Whites’.
Even communications experts have struggled to make sense of it all.
Dwight Kirk, a spokesman for the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, said Trump’s mission appears to be to whiten America.
“Just on the face of all of his attempts since he returned, him wanting to snatch birthright citizenship from Black folks would not be a crazy idea,” said Kirk. “Foreign-born people are his first target. If he gets away with that, he could try to use more voodoo and go after Black Americans and others. It’s important to say though, that as an authoritarian, citizenship to him means subservience … No authoritarian believes in citizenship. It’s anathema to their program. If citizenship is recognized, you can’t impose your power and will on other people.”
Veteran labor leader Bill Fletcher, Jr. took it several steps further.
“I think it actually goes deeper. In order to understand Trump and presidential advisor (Stephen) Miller, you have to accept that they are fascist and have a neo-apartheid view of the US. That’s really critical,” said Fletcher. “What we’re seeing is the neo-fascist playbook of Western Europe, the US, Canada, Australia, Israel and parts of Eastern Europe which is summarized by the White Replacement Theory – their belief that there is a plan afoot to eliminate white people by bringing in immigrants of color into these respective countries.”
Fletcher said fear of being replaced by Black and other non-white people has resulted in frenzied calls by far-right extremist individuals and organizations to deport, remove and kill if necessary – via ethnic cleansing – Black Africans, Latinos, and Indigenous peoples.
He also said the vision Trump and Miller have encompasses more than just the neo-apartheid pillar of completely separating Blacks and Whites.
“We’re confronting a rightwing movement that is now fascist,” Fletcher said. “There was the belief that it was shadow play but the consequences going forward could be death squads, assassinations, jailing. I’m not being hyperbolic. What is about to play out is real. We are in transition. It could be a transition to an abolitionist democracy which was used to describe Reconstruction, an expansion of democracy or a Blade Runner-type existence.”
A major part of the strategy comes from Project 2025, a right-wing power-oriented plan to consolidate the Federal Government, under the advice and supervision of the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation, Fletcher said.
He concluded, “Until we come out of the other side, we will have to contend with a mediocre, inexperienced crop of white men and women chosen by Trump to his cabinet and other key administration positions, as well as implementation of Project 2025.”