For nearly 40 years, I have fought for reparative justice in courtrooms, Congress and community halls because I believe Black people in America deserve redress and repair.
So, when I watched the passage of the so-called big, beautiful bill, I saw more than a policy failure. I saw a painful continuation of what Black Americans have faced since the start of the Trump administration. This bill deliberately drains resources from our communities to buttress the wealthy and limit our power. It’s part of a broader strategy from the White House to constrain our future. This is not new, but it is urgent. We must fight back and create a path toward equity. That fight may not be winnable in the unfavorable terrain of Washington, D.C., right now, but it can and must happen in the states. And Maryland is one of the states that must lead.
The Trump administration’s bill is more than just bad policy; it is a generational attack on poor and working-class people. This bill decimates SNAP — the food stamp program — and rolls back Medicaid and Obamacare. For Maryland, officials report SNAP costs are set to increase $450 million per year, and Medicaid changes will cost the state $100 million per year. These programs form the backbone of America’s fragile safety net. While they serve people of all backgrounds, Black families are among those most directly impacted by these cuts. Education will also suffer as restrictions on student loans tighten and voucher programs expand, which have historically undermined the public schools serving Black communities.
These policies are not simply fiscal choices. They are moral ones. And they reflect a long history of using public policy to disinvest in Black life.
Sadly, rising poverty will lead to greater desperation. Having worked on justice issues for decades, I know we will likely see increases in homelessness, petty theft and drug use. And as the Trump administration plunges people into desperation, budgets swell for police and prisons, continuing a cycle that disproportionately targets Black people. All of this against a backdrop of attacks on DEI and erasure of Black history — a coordinated assault on Black and brown lives.
But states still hold power. The federal retreat demands that we fight back locally. Now is not the time to give up or cede ground to the regressive forces shaping national policy. It is time to double down on a real Black agenda that reflects our values and our vision for the future. In Maryland, the Legislative Black Caucus has responded with an ambitious agenda addressing maternal health, sentencing reform, housing inequality and reparations.
The reparations bill has sparked considerable debate, in part because it was vetoed by Wes Moore, the country’s only Black governor. Moore has said he believes the issue has been studied enough and that now is the time for action. Yet while other racial injustices have been studied in Maryland, such as lynching, this bill marks the state’s first time taking concrete legislative action by creating a commission dedicated specifically to reparations and tasked with making detailed recommendations to the state legislature.
That makes it a historic opportunity. Such a commission would ground the state’s response in rigorous, community-informed research by documenting how Black Marylanders have been harmed through housing segregation, wealth theft and education disparities, and then propose targeted solutions. And with solutions codified into law, the commission’s work can transcend political shifts and administrations. This is how real, lasting change happens.
As someone who studies reparations, I know Maryland would not be an outlier in implementing a commission. New York, California and Illinois have all established reparations commissions — despite facing similar economic challenges, many shaped by federal policy. Like Maryland, these states also created earlier commissions to examine other racial justice issues. If they can take this step for their Black communities, why can’t Maryland be next?
The “big, beautiful bill” and the Trump administration’s policies are deeply harmful, but now is not the time to back down and accept defeat. Maryland must lean in during this moment of history. Maryland’s Reparations Commission is an essential part of charting a different path for Black families. The time demands we finally tackle this country’s ugly history and build a future that sustains and supports communities amid attacks from the federal government. We are living through a very difficult moment in history, but our ancestors faced far worse. We must honor them by fighting back and pursuing a true agenda for people.
Nkechi Taifa is an attorney, author and executive director of the Reparation Education Project. She is the author of “Reparations on Fire: How and Why It’s Spreading Across America.”