Racism is expensive as hell
After all that yakkity-dock about saving the country from “them illegals,” ICE efforts are being exposed as the very thing the Black Press said they were—institutionalized and militarized anti-Blackness and anti-Brownness. And they’re costing us, taxpayers, a pretty ugly penny. The Minnesota ICE operation alone paints the picture. That operation resulted in 4,000 detainees. At the cost of roughly $70,000 per detainee, taxpayers spent $280,000,000 on this madness. By the way, of those 4,000 detainees, only 14% (560) had criminal records. And most of those were for minor infractions like running a stop sign or speeding. Of the 560 with criminal records, some reports say that maybe 30 of them were accused of violent crimes or dealing drugs. So, a $280,000,000 bill paid by me and you to terrorize an entire city to detain “maybe” 30 individuals accused of committing a crime. (i.e., less than 1% of the 4,000 detained). The Trump Administration’s “Non-Diversity, Inequity, and Exclusion” (N-DIE), already a morally bankrupt initiative, will bankrupt this nation financially if not stopped.
Support the Black Press
For 199 years, the Black Press has told our story, chronicled our history, and interpreted world happenings from our perspective. A perspective that remains absent to this day from the so-called “mainstream” media. That’s why it is beyond heartbreaking to see Black-owned media outlets shuttering their doors. But on Feb. 12, one of those publications, The Richmond Free Press, announced it will cease publication after more than 30 years in business. The free weekly newspaper, which focused primarily on Richmond’s African American community, was founded in 1992 by veteran journalist, editor, and professor Raymond Boone and his wife, Jean Patterson Boone. “Thank you for being part of our journey as we persevered through harsh economic times,” wrote Jean Boone to Richmond Press readers. “All goodbyes are not forever. And this may be. Or not. We know for sure that we do not have the advertising support to continue.” And it’s that last line that’s the killer. As much as businesses in U.S. cities depend upon the financial support of Blackfolk, you’d think Black media outlets would have their pick of advertisers. Not so. We at the Defender know this reality firsthand. The Defender is experiencing the same challenges. We’re tired of seeing our fellow Black media outlets close when the work they (we) do is even more vital today than ever before. So, if you (readers, community members, corporate Houston) appreciate the educating, entertaining, and empowering work produced by the Defender, show your support by making a financial contribution or by committing to advertise to one of the nation’s largest African American populations. Here’s the QR code. You know what to do.
State-run media?
One of the tried-and-true moves in the dictator’s playbook is to control information. This is done by attacking and/or silencing university scholars, banning books, and destroying the free press (arresting journalists, etc.), then replacing it with state-run media. Dictators are empowered by an uninformed citizenry. I thought about this again when I recently discovered that Gallup, which has been responsible for the official Presidential Approval Rating for 88 years, announced it would no longer produce that information. This announcement comes on the heels of the December 2025 report, which showed Donald Trump’s approval rating at 36%, the lowest recorded in polling history. That move was pure Trump. On Aug. 1, 2025, he fired the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner, hours after the agency issued a jobs (non) growth report that wasn’t to Trump’s liking. He also shut down reporting on civil rights violations and racial discrimination, and the national police misconduct database. He even sued multiple major TV and print news outlets into relative submission for reporting things he didn’t like. Combined, these moves create a situation where nearly all information (news and scholarly research) comes from an administration with an aggressively anti-Black, anti-women, anti-science, anti-democracy slant. Lord, Lord, we need Black-owned media now more than ever.
On the web
- GloRilla’s sister wants a cut, but is family financial entitlement fair?
- Ashia Johnson empowers ‘Sistahz Full Circle.’
- African countries offering citizenship to diasporans.
