Will Mass Layoffs Set African Americans Back Again?

By: D. D. Reese 

Mass layoffs are sweeping across major U.S. companies: Walmart, Tyson Foods, Disney, Microsoft, Intel, Qualcomm, Google, the list keeps growing. The stated reasons? Cost-cutting. Restructuring. Market shifts. But let's be real: this is also happening in a political climate charged with anti-immigrant sentiment and deregulation. The Trump administration’s aggressive stance on immigration, paired with a Supreme Court ruling greenlighting the end of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for hundreds of thousands, raises a deeper question: who really benefits from all this workforce upheaval?

As H-1B visa programs come under scrutiny and immigrants are forced to reapply for a place in a country they help build, some are asking: Will African Americans benefit from the vacuum left behind? Or is this just another chapter in a long history of being left out, again?

Here’s what we need to ask ourselves:

     1. Will these layoffs lead to more opportunities for African Americans, when the dust settles?

     2. Did H-1B hiring ever really block us from those jobs in the first place?

     3. Are these the so-called “Black jobs” Trump claimed he’d bring back during his campaign?

     4. And most importantly: how many Black workers are already being hit hardest by these cuts?

Let’s not forget: African Americans were brought to this country as property, not immigrants seeking refuge. We weren’t granted programs like TPS. We fought tooth and nail for civil rights just to get a foot in the door. And yet, even today, we’re still overrepresented in low-wage, high-risk jobs, and underrepresented in leadership, tech, and growth sectors. We’re the first to be let go and the last to be hired back.

Do we understand the pain and uncertainty immigrants feel? Absolutely. But empathy doesn’t erase the fact that we have never fully received the promises others are now watching slip away. We’ve been dealing with market “restructuring” for 400 years. We know what it feels like to always be on the margin of progress.

So again, I ask: How will these layoffs affect us?

If the answer is “they won’t”, then that’s the real problem.

Because it means once again, we’ve been erased from the conversation. Again, we’re the afterthought. Again, we’re the shadow labor force that keeps this country running without reaping its rewards.

This moment of national economic recalibration is a test. If African Americans don’t come out stronger, more visible, more employed, more empowered, then nothing’s changed. And nothing will.