It’s been just over 100 days since Donald Trump returned to the White House, and already, Black business owners are feeling the fallout. But this time, the rollback isn’t creeping in slowly; it’s happening fast and without apology.

I know, because I’m living it.

For the past eight years, I’ve built platforms that support thousands of Black-owned businesses, especially Black Women-owned businesses. I’ve partnered with corporations, led national tours, secured grants, and helped our businesses get seen, funded, and supported. But in just a few months under this administration, the foundation we worked so hard to build is being bulldozed.

We’ve been here before: economic promises that don’t reach us, policies made without us, and jobs created that never last. But now, with Trump back in office, we’re not just being left behind; we’re being intentionally targeted.

DEI is being gutted, and so are our businesses.

Trump’s first executive order dismantled federal DEIA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility) programs. What does that mean in plain language terms

• Federal contracts that made space for marginalized business owners? Gone.

• Workplace protections for people of color? Rolled back.

• Systems of accountability for race and equity? Scrubbed out.

  
  

They’re calling it “streamlining.” Let’s be honest, it’s erasure.

We were already fighting for crumbs. Before these rollbacks, Black businesses received less than 1% of venture capital and were denied loans at three times the rate of our white counterparts. DEI initiatives didn’t solve everything, but they gave us a fighting chance.

Now, even that chance is gone.

As I told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in a recent interview:

And I meant it. In the same breath that Trump defunded DEI, major corporations began walking away, too. Just weeks ago, I made the decision to walk away from our multi-year partnership with H&M, one that helped bring national visibility to Black Women-owned businesses. Through Buy From a Black Woman, we added integrity and impact to their supplier diversity and DEI commitments. But when it became clear that those commitments were fading, I chose to step away.

Tariffs are making it harder for us to stay in business.

While Trump talks tough on trade, we’re the ones paying the price. His new 125% tariffs on goods from China are already increasing costs on packaging, ingredients, manufacturing, and shipping, things most Black-owned businesses rely on to get products to market.

Billion-dollar brands have options. We don’t.

Economist William Michael Cunningham projects that Black-owned businesses could lose up to $3.6 billion annually under these new policies. That’s not a prediction. That’s a warning shot.

They even defunded the one agency built for us.

Trump’s budget guts the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA), the only federal agency specifically designed to help minority-owned businesses grow and compete.

For over 50 years, the MBDA has helped Black business owners access capital, contracts, and mentorship. Removing it tells us exactly where we stand: invisible and undeserving of support in their eyes.

So what’s left? Bootstrap narratives. Closed doors. The lie that “we all have the same opportunities.”

This is not just about politics. This is about survival.

This isn’t about being a Democrat or a Republican. This is about being a Black business owner in America and watching, again, as our progress is stripped away, right as we start to gain ground.

We can’t wait for anyone to come save us. We have to save ourselves. Again.

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• Circulate the Black dollar intentionally and unapologetically.

• Shop with each other. Invest in each other.

• Build and protect Black business ecosystems, because the old infrastructure isn’t coming back.

I said it before, and I’ll say it again:

When they erase us, we write ourselves back in.

And we won’t ask permission to do it.