Newswire : Philadelphia sues after slavery exhibits were taken down from President’s House site

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 Staff dismantling slavery exhibit in Philadelphia

The lawsuit says the National Park Service removed the displays referring to slavery “presumably pursuant to the mandate” of an executive order from President Donald Trump.

By Joe Kottke and Phil Helsel NBC News

The city of Philadelphia sued the Department of the Interior and the acting director of the National Park Service on Thursday over reports that slavery exhibits were being dismantled in the city’s historic district.
The suit, filed in federal court, seeks a preliminary injunction to restore the exhibits at the President’s House Site, part of Independence National Historical Park.
The lawsuit says that “the National Park Service has removed artwork and informational displays at the President’s House site referencing slavery, presumably pursuant to the mandate” of Executive Order No. 14253, which President Donald Trump signed in March. 2025.
The city said in the suit that it learned Thursday that the educational panels that referred to slavery had been removed.
“Removing the exhibits is an effort to whitewash American history,” Philadelphia City Council President Kenyatta Johnson said in a statement Thursday. “History cannot be erased simply because it is uncomfortable. Removing items from the President’s House merely changes the landscape, not the historical record.”
NBC Philadelphia aired video Thursday that shows people with crowbars taking down panels, one of which reads “The Dirty Business of Slavery.”
The suit says the city was given no notice about the change to the President’s House.
It calls the removal of the displays “arbitrary and capricious.”
“Defendants have provided no explanation at all for their removal of the historical, educational displays at the President’s House site, let alone a reasoned one,” the lawsuit says.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle said Trump “continues to fulfill his promise to restore truth and common sense to the United States and its institutions.” 
“President Trump is ensuring that we are honoring the fullness of the American story instead of distorting it in the name of left-wing ideology,” Ingle said in a statement. 
A spokesperson for the Department of the Interior, which oversees the National Park Service, said “all federal agencies are to review interpretive materials to ensure accuracy, honesty, and alignment with shared national values” while it implements Trump’s executive order.
“Following completion of the required review, the National Park Service is now taking appropriate action in accordance with the Order,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
The National Park Service did not immediately respond to NBC News’ requests for comment late Thursday.
Trump’s executive order directs the Department of the Interior in its materials not to include “descriptions, depictions, or other content that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living (including persons living in colonial times).”
It instructs the department to “instead focus on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people or, with respect to natural features, the beauty, abundance, and grandeur of the American landscape.”
The order, titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” has been criticized.
The American Historical Association said it “egregiously misrepresents the work of the Smithsonian Institution,” which the executive order criticized by name.
“Historians explore the past to understand how our nation has evolved. We draw on a wide range of sources, which helps us to understand history from different angles of vision,” the group said March 31.
“Our goal is neither criticism nor celebration,” it said. “It is to understand — to increase our knowledge of — the past in ways that can help Americans to shape the future.”
The President’s House is a site where President George Washington resided in Philadelphia, and he brought slaves who were in the home, according to the lawsuit and the National Park Service’s webpage about the site. President John Adams also lived there.
A spokesperson for the National Parks Conservation Association said the dismantling of the exhibit is “an insult to the memory of the enslaved people who lived there and to their descendants.” and “sets a dangerous precedent of prioritizing nostalgia over the truth.”
The House of Representatives urged the National Park Service in 2003 to recognize the slaves there. The agency and the city entered into a cooperative agreement in 2006 to establish an exhibit about the site, the suit says.
A memorial and panels about slavery at the President’s House have been up since it opened in 2010, according to the suit.
The Black Journey, a group that conducts walking tours in Philadelphia about Black history, said removing the panels can’t erase the past.
“The Black Journey is outraged and deeply disappointed by the removal of this important and irreplaceable piece of American history,” Raina Yancey, president and CEO of The Black Journey, said in a statement. 
Yancey said the group will continue to lead weekly tours and pursue its mission “to tell the full and truthful history of our ancestors,” saying “no political action will silence this history.”
She added that since the removal occurred, she has heard from fellow tour guides and individuals who have taken tours. 
“Their messages make it clear: the public will not accept the erasure of history, and neither will we,” she said.
U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., whose district includes part of Philadelphia and the President’s House, also condemned the removal.
“Philadelphia and the entire country deserve an honest accounting of our history, and this effort to hide it is wrong,” he said in a statement.
CAIR-Philadelphia Executive Director Ahmet Tekelioglu said the civil rights organization “stands in solidarity with the City of Philadelphia, advocacy groups, civil rights leaders, and historians.”
Tekelioglu said the exhibit’s removal “has drawn widespread condemnation from community leaders, historians, and elected officials who argue that understanding the full scope of American history — including the brutal reality of slavery — is critical to our collective progress.”
During the Trump administration, the National Park Service has made other changes that have backtracked on previous information.
In February, before the executive order, the National Park Service website for Stonewall National Monument’s web page was changed to erase references to transgender and queer people.
The Stonewall Inn is the site of a milestone in the fight for gay rights, recognition and the fight to end persecution by authorities.

Newswire : New Trump Tax Law locks in gains for the rich, leaves Black households behind

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 Trump and Black tax payers

By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

President Donald Trump’s new tax law is now in force, and as the 2026 filing season begins, economists say the damage is not theoretical. It is already written into the tax code. The legislation locks in and expands Trump’s 2017 overhaul while layering on new provisions that funnel wealth upward, raise taxes on millions of low-income Americans, and deepen racial inequities that have defined the U.S. economy for generations.
“This massive tax-and-spending package does more to transfer wealth upward than any other single piece of legislation in decades while penalizing lower-income Americans and cutting public benefits,” the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy said in its analysis of the law.

According to ITEP, the poorest 40 percent of Americans will pay more in taxes under the new law, while the middle fifth receives only marginal relief. The richest 1 percent, however, will take home more benefits than the bottom 80 percent combined in 2026. The racial divide is stark. High-income households are disproportionately white, while Black and Latino families are far more likely to be concentrated in income groups that lose ground.
At the center of the imbalance is the expanded pass-through business deduction, increased from 20 percent to 23 percent. Treasury Department data show that nearly all of the $1 trillion in tax cuts generated by this provision over the next decade will flow to the top 1 percent. Hispanic taxpayers, who account for 15 percent of the population, receive about 5 percent of the benefit. Black taxpayers, 11 percent of the population, receive roughly 2 percent.
The law also sharply weakens the estate tax by permanently raising the exemption to $15 million for individuals and $30 million for married couples, indexed to inflation. Economists say the change all but eliminates the tax for ultra-wealthy families while locking in racial disparities tied to inherited wealth. White families are about three times as likely as Black families to receive an inheritance, and the median inheritance for White families is roughly 25 percent higher.
Supporters of the law point to larger tax refunds expected this year as proof that working Americans are benefiting. The Tax Foundation estimates individual income taxes were reduced by $129 billion for 2025, with as much as $100 billion likely to be paid out through higher refunds during the 2026 filing season. Average refunds could rise by several hundred dollars, and in some cases close to $1,000.
But analysts say those refunds are largely the result of delayed withholding adjustments, not sustained gains in wages or financial security. Many low-income filers, particularly those with little or no tax liability, receive little to nothing. ITEP said provisions marketed as help for working families continue to bypass the poorest households, many of them Black.
The child tax credit was raised to $2,200 per child, yet it remains only partially refundable and far below its 2021 level. Millions of very low-income families are still excluded. Census data show that nearly one in five Black and American Indian people lived below the poverty line in 2024, placing them among those least likely to see any benefit.
The law offsets tax cuts at the top by reducing funding for health care, food assistance, and other programs relied upon by working families. Economists warn that the long-term costs will fall heaviest on younger Americans. Millennials and Gen Z, the most racially diverse generations in U.S. history, will inherit higher deficits and fewer public resources.
The Internal Revenue Service began accepting 2025 returns on Jan. 26 and expects to process roughly 164 million filings this year. New deductions for overtime, tips, auto loan interest, and seniors are now available, though many phase out well before reaching higher income levels. Analysts note that administrative readiness does not change who ultimately wins and loses under the law.
ITEP said Congress had options that would have protected working families without deepening inequality, including limiting tax extensions to households earning under $400,000 and restoring the expanded child tax credit. That approach would have delivered larger tax cuts to the bottom 60 percent of Americans at a fraction of the cost.
“This law harms the economic well-being of poor and working families of all races, especially people of color,” ITEP said. “The new tax and spending law doesn’t meet the basic test of fairness, and it falls tremendously short.”

Newswire : Trump Administration scrambles to blame Alex Pretti for his own death; Undermining 2nd Amendment in the process

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Makeshift memorial to Alex Pretti, at the site of his death in Minneapolis, Minnesota

By Zack Linly, NewsOneInsert

It’s quite possible that the Trump administration has finally flown too close to the sun, regarding its latest narrative of observably false propaganda against the latest victim of a killing by immigration cops in Minnesota.
When 37-year-old Alex Pretti was gunned down by ICE agents while trying to protect a woman an agent had pushed to the ground and started pepper-spraying for no discernible reason, the Trump administration began its usual routine of trying its best to get ahead of the media by smearing the victim and claiming the agents were in imminent danger and in fear of their lives.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, who has falsely claimed that immigration agents have“immunity” from prosecution, called Pretti a “domestic terrorist” and an “assassin” who “tried to murder federal agents” in a tweet that was re-tweeted by Vice President JD Vance, according to CNN.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told reporters Saturday that Pretti “impeded the law enforcement officers and attacked them,” and that he “had a weapon on him, and multiple dozens of rounds of ammunition; wishing to inflict harm on these officers, coming, brandishing like that.”
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara refuted Noem’s claim about Pretti “brandishing” his gun — which he carried legally, and which video clearly shows that he never even touched, let alone brandished — saying, “I don’t have any evidence that I’ve seen that suggests that the weapon was brandished.” Noem also said in a Fox News interview Sunday that Pretti was “laying hands on law enforcement,” which video footage also shows is simply untrue.
Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino — who has been at the center of clashes between immigration cops and protesters almost everywhere agents have been deployed, and has been ripped to shreds multiple times by federal judges for violating their orders restricting certain uses of force and for lying about protest violence to justify it — claimed it “looks like” Pretti “wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.” He also claimed Pretti “assaulted federal officers” during an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, but when asked where in the viral video footage that happened, Bovino had no answers.
Make no mistake, they lied on Renee Nicole Good the same way, expecting us to ignore video footage that showed her attempting to drive away from ICE agents before she was shot and killed by one, in favor of nonsense about her attempting to weaponize her vehicle against ICE, which is the same lie DHS told after agents shot Marimar Martinez as she sat in her vehicle, and after agents shot Richard LA, the TikTok influencer who documents ICE activities, in Los Angeles. In both cases, criminal charges against the victims were dropped because evidence proved the government was lying.
This time, the Trump administration has gotten so desperate to smear Pretti the same way that it’s even going against conservative America’s sacred pro-Second Amendment doctrine by essentially claiming Pretti had no right to be armed.
Perhaps this is why even Republican senators are calling for a fuller investigation into Pretti’s death.
Meanwhile, Democratic senators are now vowing to oppose funding for homeland security over federal violence in Minnesota, threatening to cause yet another government shutdown on President Donald Trump’s watch.
Has any administration ever been the cause of all of its own issues the way this one has? It just keeps shooting itself in the foot and blaming everyone else.

Newswire : Midnight Friday deadline nears as Congress risks another shutdown

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By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

The federal government is once again facing a shutdown deadline, with funding set to expire at midnight Friday, January 30, just two months after the nation emerged from a prolonged lapse that disrupted lives far beyond Washington.
That October to November shutdown left deep scars across the country. Families who rely on federal nutrition programs saw benefits delayed, reduced, or halted altogether. Some households receiving SNAP and WIC assistance stopped getting benefits entirely, while others received only partial payments. Many of those families are still struggling to recover, juggling rent, utilities, and food costs after weeks of instability caused by the funding lapse.
Despite those recent consequences, Senate Republicans are moving ahead with plans to advance a sweeping funding package as a single vote, even as Democrats warn that no workable agreement has been reached.
A Senate Republican leadership aide told NBC News that GOP leaders intend to press forward.
“Government funding expires at the end of the week, and Republicans are determined to not have another government shutdown,” the aide said. “We will move forward as planned and hope Democrats can find a path forward to join us.”
Democrats say discussions with Republicans and the White House have not produced a viable solution. A Senate Democratic leadership aide said outreach has occurred but “have not yet raised any realistic solutions.”
The timeline remains tight. The House is on recess for the week, making it unlikely that any revised package requiring another vote could be approved before the deadline. Severe winter weather has also disrupted congressional schedules, further narrowing the window for negotiations as the clock runs down.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats will block the current Department of Homeland Security funding bill, tying the standoff to broader concerns about immigration enforcement and public safety nationwide.
“Senate Democrats will not allow the current DHS funding bill to move forward.,” Schumer stated. “The appalling murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti on the streets of Minneapolis must lead Republicans to join Democrats in overhauling ICE and CBP to protect the public. Senate Republicans must work with Democrats to advance the other five funding bills while we work to rewrite the DHS bill.”

Larry Smith announces candidacy for County Commissioner, District #1

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I am Larry Donald Smith and I am proud to announce my candidacy for County Commissioner District 1.

My decision to run for County Commissioner was inspired by the encouragement of concerned citizens and much spiritual reflection. I see that our county has been in a holding pattern, with little development or growth for some time. I believe that collaboration and teamwork are essential to progress. Just like in sports, every player has a vital role, but true success only comes when we work together as a team. Greene County has tremendous potential, and I am ready to provide the leadership needed to help move us forward. Together, we can achieve more and build a brighter future for our community.

As a native of Greene County, I was born and raised in the Springfield community and I graduated from Eutaw High School, Class of 1976.

Upon graduating, I entered the U.S. Army and served in leadership roles across the United States, Southwest Asia, Europe, South Korea, and Bosnia. My service included participation in the Grenada, Bosnia, and Iraq conflicts. In 2001, I retired as Chief Warrant Officer Four, concluding 25 years of distinguished service.

Following my military career, I taught high school in Greene County School System and Tuscaloosa City School System, where I served as Director of the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC), and Military Science Instructor. During my tenure at Tuscaloosa City Schools, I served as team leader for the Principal Leadership Team, Graduation Ceremonies Coordinator, and school system validation certification coordinator. After 21 years as a high school educator, I retired in 2022.

My wife and I are owners of L.L. Smith Inc. and proudly support locally owned businesses.

I hold a Master’s Degree in Business Administration, a Bachelor of Science in Business Science, and an Associate Degree in Liberal Arts. Additionally, I possess numerous certifications in leadership, cyber security, ethics training, procurement, accreditation standards, and contracting.

As a member of the New Generation Community Outreach Center, I actively support the church’s mission through service on the Board, the Men’s Ministry, and the Development Committee. My community support also includes being a member of the Alabama Retired Teachers Association and President of the West Alabama Corvette Club.

My spouse, Lila Chambers-Smith, is also a proud native of Greene County. We have a large and loving family—eight children, twenty-one grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. After spending 45 years away, we chose to return to Greene County, the place we have always considered our true home. Our decision was driven by a deep sense of belonging and a desire to give back to the community that shaped us.

I humbly ask for your support throughout my campaign and for your vote on May 19, 2026, to elect me as your candidate for County Commissioner, District # 1.

Applications starting January 20 to February 6, 2026 Black Belt Community Foundation announces Arts and Community Grants Cycle

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SELMA, AL (January 8, 2026) – The Black Belt Community Foundation (BBCF) announces the opening of its 2026 Arts and Community Grants Cycle, with applications opening January 20, 2026, and closing February 6, 2026, at 5:00 PM (CST).
Through this annual grant cycle, BBCF will award Arts Grants ranging from $500 to $3,500 and Community Grants ranging from $500 to $5,000 to support community-led projects across the foundation’s 12-county service area: Bullock, Choctaw, Dallas, Greene, Hale, Lowndes, Macon, Marengo, Perry, Pickens, Sumter, and Wilcox counties in Alabama’s Black Belt region.
These grants support projects that strengthen, uplift, and empower communities across Alabama’s Black Belt. Eligible nonprofit and community-based organizations are encouraged to apply.
New organizations that have not previously applied for BBCF arts or community grants are required to attend a Grantseekers Workshop prior to submitting an application. Returning grantees may apply directly through the online grants portal. These Zoom sessions are scheduled for January 20 and 22, 2026, with both days offering the convenience of an early afternoon session at 12pm and an evening session at 7pm
“These grants are a key part of how we support community-led work across the Black Belt,” said Chris Spencer, President and CEO of the Black Belt Community Foundation. “Opening the cycle early gives organizations the time and flexibility they need to plan thoughtfully and put resources to work in ways that reflect local priorities.”
Applications will be submitted online through BBCF’s website here: https://blackbeltfound.org/grants/ , by clicking the “Apply Now” tab, once applications open on January 20, 2026.
Following the application deadline, proposals will undergo a review process, with final funding decisions approved by the BBCF Board in early spring. All applicants will be notified once decisions are finalized.
The 2026 grant cycle will conclude with an Arts and Community Grants Awards Ceremony on April 25, 2026, in Selma.

 

Democratic Executive Committee submits list of local Greene County candidates for the upcoming May primary

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Lorenzo French, Chairman of the Greene County Democratic Executive Committee gave this list of candidates who qualified for local office in Greene County for the upcoming May 19, 2026, primary election.
Some of these candidates are unopposed, which means that they will not be on the ballot in the May primary and that they will go directly to the November General Election ballot as the candidate of the Democratic Party. If they do not have opposition from the Republican Party or an independent candidate, then they will be automatically elected or reelected to their position.
This list of Democratic candidates for local office in Greene County, are shown below. A separate list of statewide candidates including Governor, Legislators, Judges, U. S. Senator and Congress will be available from the Alabama Secretary of State.

Sheriff:
Johnathan Benison
Delanglo M. Hall
Beverly Spencer

Commission: District 1
Garria Spencer
Michael E. Gaines
Larry D. Smith

Commission: District 2
Tennyson Smith
Kelvins Scott

Commission: District 3
Latasha Johnson
Jacqueline Stewart
Trey Diveley
Williams Mack III

Commission: District 4
Allen Turner, Jr.
unopposed

Commission: District 5
Roshanda Summerville
Welsey Hodges

Revenue
Commissioner

Arnelia Shay Johnson
unopposed

Board of Education
District 3

Veronica Bookie
Richardson
Cheryl Morrow

Board of Education District 4
Leo Branch
Willie Ester Davis

Board of Education District 5

Joe Webb
Carrie Dancy

Coroner
Ronald K Smith
unopposed

District Judge
Robert  Lee
Tonjula Carey

Greene County Board of Education celebrates ‘School Board Recognition Month’

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Board members receive recognition from schools and Central Office

The Greene County Board of Education held its regular meeting on January 20, 2026, in the Central Office auditorium. All five school board members were present.
It was National School Board Recognition Month, so each of the Board member was honored with gifts from the schools and Central Office staff. This included a healthy edible bouquet of flowers, composed of fruits, from Acting Superintendent Darryl Aikerson, a globe and other gifts.
In addition to the gifts, the Board also heard reports from the acting Superintendent, CFO on finances and other staff on curriculum and programmatic matters. The Board also approved minutes of its recent meetings on December 15, 18, 30 and January 5, which involved selecting a new Superintendent.
Ms. Martin, Curriculum Coordinator reported on the Alabama Numeracy Act which requires that all students from K to 5th grade learn basic math skills and are able to do and solve basic math problems. The act, which is similar to the Alabama Literacy Act, requires students to have basic math skills and understanding by 5th. Grade. The act provides math coaches and summer math camps for students who need additional assistance and support in math. There are math coaches assigned to Eutaw Primary School and Robert Brown Middle School, with financing from the State of Alabama, under the Numeracy Act to assist students in Greene County meet these requirements.
The Board held an Executive Session to discuss personnel and legal matters. The Board made the following Personnel changes:
• EMPLOYMENTS (CLASSIFIED)
 Williams, Shirleria RBMS CNP 

• RESIGNATION(S)
 Eubanks, Brandi RBMS Teacher Elementary 

• VOLUNTARY TRANSFER
 Davis, Linda RBMS to GCHS CNP Cook 

• RESPONSE TO INTERVENTION STIPENDS (RTI)
 McGee, Pamela EPS Teacher PK-3 
 Durrett, Carla EPS ARI Reading Coach.

The Board also approved these Administrative Service items, as recommended by the Acting Superintendent:
Quote from RJ Young (Sophos Antivirus License Renewal) $45,356.68

Quote from Renaissance for Nearpod, Flocabulary and services (Learning License, 1 year) $19,530.00

Renewal of Service and Support Agreement with Albireo Energy to continue maintenance and support of the Building Management System (BMS) and access control systems, including cameras and HVAC, at Greene County High School (GCHS) and Greene County Career Center (GCCC)

Proposal from Bailey Group to provide Instructional coaching (ELA English Language Arts) at Robert Brown Middle for 5th & 6th grade in the amount of $15,000

Proposal from Bailey Group to provide Instructional coaching (Math) at Robert Brown Middle for 5th & 6th grade in the amount of $15,000

Payment of all bills, claims, and payroll

Bank reconciliations as submitted by Mrs. Marquita Lennon, CSFO

The Board received a financial report from CFO, Marquita Lennon, on the months of November and December 2025. For December 2025, she summarized the results saying:
*General Fund Bank Balance $5,841,722.47
reconciles to the Summary Cash Report
* Accounts Payable Check Register $231,756.27
*  Payroll Register $929,427.21*Total gross pay, to include employer match items
* Combined Ending Fund Balance: $7,414,733.33

Leo Branch, Board Chair announced that the Board Committee had met with Dr. Timothy Thurmond and worked out the details of his contract to be the new Superintendent beginning February 1, 2026.

 

 

Newswire : Claudette Colvin, who refused to move before the nation was ready, dies at 86

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Claudette Colvin

By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

History often remembers movements by their most recognizable moments. It less often remembers the teenagers who moved first.
Claudette Colvin, whose refusal to surrender her seat on a segregated Montgomery bus came months before the moment that would enter textbooks, died Tuesday at 86. Her death was confirmed by the Claudette Colvin Legacy Foundation, which said she died of natural causes in Texas.
On March 2, 1955, Colvin was 15 years old and riding home from school when the bus driver ordered Black passengers to give up their seats to white riders. Three students stood. Colvin did not. Police arrested her, charged her under segregation laws, and placed her on probation. She later said she was thinking about the Constitution and the rights she believed belonged to her.
Colvin’s arrest came at a time when Montgomery’s Black community was already pressing against the daily restraints of Jim Crow. Her stand did not ignite a boycott that day, but it did register. It landed in conversations, church meetings, and legal strategy sessions that would soon follow.
“This nation lost a civil rights giant today,” Tafeni English-Relf, Alabama state director of the Southern Poverty Law Center, said. “Claudette Colvin’s courage lit the fire for a movement that would free all Alabamians and Americans from the woes of southern segregation.”
Unlike others whose names became shorthand for the era, Colvin paid a quieter price. She was young and outspoken and was later judged by standards that did not apply to older leaders. She was never elevated as the public face of the movement. Her life unfolded mostly outside the spotlight she helped create.
Yet Colvin’s role proved decisive.
She became one of four plaintiffs in Browder v. Gayle, the federal lawsuit that reached the Supreme Court and ended bus segregation in Montgomery and across Alabama. The case dismantled the legal framework that made her arrest possible.
“At age 15, Ms. Colvin was arrested on March 2, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, for violating bus segregation ordinances, nine months before Rosa Parks,” Phillip Ensler wrote. “In 2021, it was the privilege of a lifetime to serve on the legal team that helped Ms. Colvin clear her record from the conviction.”
“As we worked on the court motion, I had the honor of spending time with Ms. Colvin to hear her story and get to know her,” Ensler wrote.
“Today we lost an unsung yet significant hero of the civil rights movement,” Sen. Rev. Raphael Warnock said. “Her courage paved the way for Rosa Parks’ decision and the launching of a movement that would end segregation.”
“History did not always give Claudette Colvin the credit she deserved, but her impact is undeniable,” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said.
“Her life reminds us that progress is shaped not only by moments, but by sustained courage and truth,” Bernice King said.

 

Newswire : The exit signs are flashing at the place that wrote the authoritarian playbook

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By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

The Heritage Foundation is beginning to come apart in public, and what is unraveling is not simply a think tank but a long-maintained illusion. More than 60 senior staff members, fellows, and trustees have now resigned from the institution that spent decades presenting itself as the sober custodian of conservative thought.
Board members tied to major donors have stepped down. Veteran policy writers have walked away. What remains is an organization forced, perhaps for the first time, to reckon with the distance between how it spoke about America and what it planned to do to it.
Philosophers have long maintained that power, when it believes itself righteous, often mistakes silence for consent. The Heritage Foundation thrived on that mistake. For years it wrote in careful abstractions, never naming the people its policies would dispossess, never acknowledging the communities that would be bruised by its ideas.
Project 2025 changed that. Nearly 900 pages long, the document spoke plainly. It described how to bend the federal government toward a single will. It explained how to weaken civil rights enforcement, how to hollow out agencies, how to turn immigration into mass detention, and how to place ideology above law. It did not whisper. It declared.
Donald Trump told the country he had nothing to do with it. He said he did not know the authors. He dismissed the warnings as political theater. Those words collapsed the moment he returned to the White House and appointed Russell Vought, one of Project 2025’s principal architects, to run the Office of Management and Budget. The blueprint Trump denied became the machinery through which his presidency now moves.
“A lot of the policies from Day 1 to the last day and in between that the administration has adopted are right out of Project 2025,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said, as his office and others prepared lawsuits not in reaction, but in expectation.
What followed has been neither theoretical nor restrained. In Minneapolis, a federal agent shot and killed a man during an operation, igniting protests in a city that already carries the memory of unchecked force. Immigration hardened into something colder still when the administration suspended visa processing for applicants from 75 countries, closing pathways without warning and without apology. Across the nation, demonstrations rose as Americans confronted a government that now acts as though consent is an obstacle rather than a foundation.
Project 2025 anticipated this atmosphere. Its immigration chapter calls for ending asylum at the border, canceling legal status for millions, compelling local police to serve federal deportation goals, and expanding detention camps through executive authority alone. It treats people as numbers to be managed and rights as technicalities to be brushed aside.
For Black America, this moment is not unfamiliar. Civil rights organizations have warned that Project 2025 threatens voting access, education protections, housing enforcement, and reproductive autonomy. The document rarely names Black communities directly, yet it targets the very systems that protect Black citizenship and political power. The danger lies not in what it says aloud, but in what it dismantles quietly.
Abroad, the same logic has spilled beyond U.S. borders. On January 3, American forces struck Venezuela and captured President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, transporting them to New York to face federal charges. Governments across Europe and Latin America condemned the action as a breach of international law. The United States escalated further by seizing Venezuelan oil tankers, tightening control over the country’s resources and deepening regional instability.
In the Arctic, Trump renewed his demand for U.S. control of Greenland, declaring anything less unacceptable. Denmark deployed troops. Protests filled streets in Greenland and Copenhagen. A Greenlandic official broke down on live television after a White House meeting failed to soften Washington’s posture. At Davos, Trump’s confrontations with European leaders turned diplomacy into spectacle and strained alliances that had taken generations to build.
This is not chaos without authorship. Analysts tracking implementation estimate that roughly half of Project 2025 has already been executed through executive orders, agency restructuring, and enforcement changes. This was not improvisation. It was preparation made visible.
Now the institution that helped write the script is fracturing. Donors have pulled back. Trustees have resigned. Senior figures have said privately that Heritage no longer distinguishes between conservative governance and extremism. The organization insists the departures are part of a realignment, yet those who left describe something else entirely. They describe an unwillingness to confront hatred. They describe a tolerance for rhetoric that stains everything it touches. They describe an institution that chose influence over responsibility.
“When an institution hesitates to confront harmful ideas and allows lapses in judgment to stand, it forfeits the moral authority on which its influence depends,” former trustee Abby Spencer Moffat said.