OPINION: Saying goodbye to a year of peril and re-surging racism

It is easy to say goodbye to a year having been eventful and colorful, but also perilous and oppressive to so many people. Thus, we say goodbye with this 2025 news summary. As we do so, let’s see what we can learn. 

We use the descriptor “perilous” because many people realized from the start that Donald Trump had plans and designs for the country that could transform it from the model of a democratic republic, with three separate but equal branches of government, into an authoritarian government with him as the dictator. The ideas were vocalized on the campaign trail and detailed in the widely distributed “Project 2025” document.

True to form, once he was inaugurated, Trump issued an unprecedented number of executive orders that, among other things, pardoned hundreds of people having been convicted for their part in trying to overturn the previous election, that is, to overthrow the government. Many observers also saw that move as a means for creating a cadre of personal warriors or a goon squad, if and when one was needed. Observers also saw it as an encouragement to other supporters to be prepared to take up arms to support Trump.

The peril continued as Trump chose cabinet members, directors, and other agency members whose only qualification was loyalty to him. This was observed as they were quizzed for confirmation and as their backgrounds were checked and the results circulated.

Then came the efforts of Elon Musk and his team to not just down-size government but to destroy many agencies. Those agencies that were to remain would be headed by people who were strict Trump loyalists.

Attention was then turned to persons who were on Trump’s enemy list. The Justice Department, the FBI, and congressional committees were ordered to investigate and prosecute them. This, too, had been promised on the campaign trail.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration began sending National Guard personnel into Democratically-run cities and states to judge reactions for possible later occupations.

In addition to those actions, Trump championed two efforts imperiling the economic well-being of many working class citizens. The administration pushed through Congress a bill providing gigantic tax cuts for the wealthy and doing away with food and health insurance subsidies assisting working people. He also issued executive orders imposing tariffs on consumer goods shipped from abroad.

Mixed in with, and indeed underlying most of those issues, was bias against or hatred for non-white people, especially those recently migrating to the USA.

Many of the actions Trump took continue to place the country in peril because they have not been struck down by the Supreme Court and/or because political opponents have not developed effective ways to end them. In these instances, the perils and racial set-backs continue at the national level.

At the state and local levels, the emphasis has been more on the racial set-backs and accompanying chaos than peril. Furthermore, because the governor has far less power vis-à-vis the legislature than the president has vis-à-vis the Congress, Tate Reeves could not mirror Trump and the negative actions were more diffused.

Nevertheless, in imitation of and loyalty to Trump, during 2025, Governor Reeves has approved sending Mississippi National Guard members to Washington, DC and has helped promote the chaos surrounding the raids on workplaces, schools, and neighborhoods where there were concentrations of Hispanic immigrants.

The state legislature has helped maintain and widen socio-economic discrepancies by opposing the expansion of Medicaid, by seeking more ways to fund private education with public money, and by using Biden-era infrastructure funds disproportionately  in predominately white areas. This is in addition to the traditional discriminatory funding of the Black colleges and universities.

In another arena, the predominately Black city of Jackson experienced the increased loss of power and revenue through seizures by or surrenders to JXN Water, the Capitol Police, and the property associated with the city’s airport. To make such matters even worse, recently the more conservative white voters have quietly but aggressively organized to eliminate several progressive Black candidates who were most outspoken on “Black” issues and to garner support for officials and plans that are less progressive.

The state has also seen re-surgencies in personal examples of racism by law enforcement officials, employers, and everyday citizens. Additionally, there have been no convictions in the case of the misspent SNAP funds several years ago. In short, Mississippi continued to live up to its reputation in 2025. 

While these issues and these truths can be gleaned by reviewing the headline news stories during the past 12 months, we have attempted to present them here in a broad and patterned context. Hopefully, this can help the reader understand the peril we face and become more cognizant of the danger in the re-surging racism that may be more apparent in the old south, but which is prevalent nationwide.