They’ve tried to kill us for centuries and failed every time. The whip, the noose, the firebombs, the drug war, mass incarceration, and police brutality were all meant to break us. Yet here we are. And not only are we here—we are joyful.
Black joy is more than happiness. It is the pride, confidence, and resilience that radiates from Black Americans despite centuries of oppression. It is knowing that our ancestors endured unspeakable evils and that their courage runs in our veins. It is the freedom to move in our Blackness with love, creativity, and strength even when the world insists that we should not exist.
That joy terrifies white supremacists. They cannot understand how we continue to thrive after every system built to destroy us has failed. Fearful of what they cannot comprehend, they punish Black Americans for the “crime” of being Black.
We’ve seen this throughout history. When Black Wall Street in Tulsa thrived, it was burned to the ground in 1921. Rosewood, Florida, suffered the same fate in 1923. Even today, whenever Black-led communities gain visibility or power, they are painted as dangerous or criminal.
This is the context for Trump and the Republican Party’s obsession with Black communities. Facing unpopularity and failure across every major issue, Trump turned to an old American tactic: criminalizing Blackness. His administration stationed federal troops in Washington, D.C., under the pretext of fighting crime even though crime rates were falling. He threatened the same in Baltimore, Chicago, Oakland, and New York. The common thread? These are Black-led cities.
Modern policing itself grew out of slave patrols, designed to suppress Black freedom and joy. That same legacy continues today when over-policing replaces investment, and when Black mayors and city councils are undermined by federal intervention. Just as white mobs once torched thriving Black towns, Trump and today’s Republicans seek to destabilize Black-led cities. The goal is not safety—it is control.
And yet, here we are. Still creating, still loving, still living in joy. Black musicians express that joy in music. Black children carry it into classrooms that were never built for them. Black artists, athletes, pastors, and parents embody it daily, refusing to let the weight of white hate crush their spirit.
White supremacy only fuels Black joy, ingenuity, and survival. If slave ships, chains, lynch mobs, Jim Crow, redlining, and chain gangs could not defeat us, neither will modern attempts to demonize and suppress us.
Our joy was forged in slave cabins, strengthened through prayer, served at Sunday dinners, sung throughout our communities, and embodied in every person who rises each day to fight for freedom and equality. This country did not give us our joy—and it cannot take it away.
Black joy is more than happiness. It is the pride, confidence, and resilience that radiates from Black Americans despite centuries of oppression. It is knowing that our ancestors endured unspeakable evils and that their courage runs in our veins. It is the freedom to move in our Blackness with love, creativity, and strength even when the world insists that we should not exist.
That joy terrifies white supremacists. They cannot understand how we continue to thrive after every system built to destroy us has failed. Fearful of what they cannot comprehend, they punish Black Americans for the “crime” of being Black.
We’ve seen this throughout history. When Black Wall Street in Tulsa thrived, it was burned to the ground in 1921. Rosewood, Florida, suffered the same fate in 1923. Even today, whenever Black-led communities gain visibility or power, they are painted as dangerous or criminal.
This is the context for Trump and the Republican Party’s obsession with Black communities. Facing unpopularity and failure across every major issue, Trump turned to an old American tactic: criminalizing Blackness. His administration stationed federal troops in Washington, D.C., under the pretext of fighting crime even though crime rates were falling. He threatened the same in Baltimore, Chicago, Oakland, and New York. The common thread? These are Black-led cities.
Modern policing itself grew out of slave patrols, designed to suppress Black freedom and joy. That same legacy continues today when over-policing replaces investment, and when Black mayors and city councils are undermined by federal intervention. Just as white mobs once torched thriving Black towns, Trump and today’s Republicans seek to destabilize Black-led cities. The goal is not safety—it is control.
And yet, here we are. Still creating, still loving, still living in joy. Black musicians express that joy in music. Black children carry it into classrooms that were never built for them. Black artists, athletes, pastors, and parents embody it daily, refusing to let the weight of white hate crush their spirit.
White supremacy only fuels Black joy, ingenuity, and survival. If slave ships, chains, lynch mobs, Jim Crow, redlining, and chain gangs could not defeat us, neither will modern attempts to demonize and suppress us.
Our joy was forged in slave cabins, strengthened through prayer, served at Sunday dinners, sung throughout our communities, and embodied in every person who rises each day to fight for freedom and equality. This country did not give us our joy—and it cannot take it away.
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