Op-Ed: The Numbers Are the Receipts on How America Treats Black Women
In this op-ed, sociologist Dr. David J. Johns, CEO of the National Black Justice Collective, argues that public attacks on Black women, from Laura Loomer’s comments about Florida Senate candidate Angie Nixon to criticism of journalists and elected officials, reflect deeper failures. He points to rising unemployment among Black women, steep federal job losses, a 65-cent pay gap, high student loan debt, maternal mortality and harsh school discipline for Black girls. Johns, editor-in-chief of the forthcoming “The Black Papers,” calls for passing the Momnibus Act and PRO Act, extending postpartum Medicaid, ending zero-tolerance discipline and funding organizations led by Black women.
The world has zero love, affection or appreciation for Black women. This is true broadly, and it’s certainly true in the United States.
Recently, Laura Loomer went on a racist tirade against Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon, a U.S. Senate candidate. Loomer was rattled because Nixon had the audacity to be Black and run for office. This attack isn’t an aberration.
It follows the routine criticism of Black women by the occupant of the Oval Office, who has berated journalists including Yamiche Alcindor and Rachel Scott and denigrated Black women elected officials including Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
The attacks are not limited to politics. Journalists Cari Champion and Jemele Hill recently sat down with Stephen A. Smith on their podcast and asked why he is harder on Black women commentators than on his white former colleagues. They pressed him on trashing Kamala Harris after the 2024 election and on running to Sean Hannity after the National Association of Black Journalists called him out. Champion and Hill received so many hateful comments in response that they shut down their comment sections.
But this is bigger than one man’s commentary and bigger than hurt feelings. These attacks are emblematic of a nation that not only despises Black bodies but is out of sync with the challenges Black women face. Those challenges show up in our paychecks, our jobs, our hospitals and our children’s classrooms. The numbers are the receipts.
That’s why works like the forthcoming “The Black Papers” matter. The project documents the attacks on Black women and puts the receipts and proposed responses in one place.
Consider jobs. Unemployment among Black women jumped from 5.9% to 7.3% in September 2026 alone, while the rate fell for white women and for Hispanic and Asian workers. Black women lost more than 30% of their federal jobs in 2025, compared with 11.6% of non-Black women. Public service was a ladder into the middle class for Black families, and that ladder is being demolished. Even outside government, Black women lost professional and service jobs at three times the rate of all women in 2025.
These losses are not about qualifications or effort. Black women did what the country told them to do. They got the degree. They pay more for it and are paid less for it. Black women carry the highest average student loan balances of any group, yet earn less than white women, white men and Black men with the same education. For every dollar a white man earns, a Black woman earns 65 cents, adding up to more than $1 million over a career. That hurts all the more because Black women are more likely to head their households.
The pain runs deeper than money. Black women are about three times as likely as white women to die from pregnancy-related causes. Black girls are suspended at five times the rate of white girls, starting in preschool.
As we write in the book, “Talking about gender inside our own house is precision, not division.” Naming what is happening to Black women does not divide us. It is how we win.
Fortunately, “The Black Papers” outlines solutions. Congress should pass the Momnibus Act to address the maternal mortality crisis and the PRO Act to strengthen unions. Lawmakers must extend postpartum Medicaid coverage to 12 months, and insurers should cover birth doulas. Schools must end zero-tolerance discipline, and philanthropies must fund organizations led by Black women.
The remedies exist, and our policy proposals work. What is missing is the will to fund them. We’ve combined the fixes into one accessible volume. The question is whether policymakers will engage with them.
Dr. David J. Johns is a sociologist, CEO and executive director of the National Black Justice Collective, and editor-in-chief of “The Black Papers: A Policy Agenda for Black Liberation in the 21st Century” (Routledge, 2026).