Vernellia R. Randall, “Weekly Racial Justice Briefing — April 13–19, 2026,” Racism.org, April 22, 2026.
This week reminded us, again, that racism in America rarely disappears. It adapts. It changes its language, updates its paperwork, and finds new legal theories to preserve old hierarchies. The targets remain familiar: Black communities, Latino communities, Indigenous nations, immigrants, and anyone whose presence challenges the myth that power belongs only to some. What happened this week was not random. It was connected. Voting rights, citiz\enship, public health, and civil-rights enforcement were all battlegrounds in the same struggle over who belongs, who counts, and who gets protected.
1. Voting Restrictions Continue Under the Banner of “Integrity”
On April 16, Hispanic Federation warned that the SAVE America Act could disenfranchise more than 22 million eligible voters by imposing documentary proof-of-citizenship requirements. Those burdens would fall heavily on married women, low-income people, seniors, rural residents, and communities of color. Then, on April 17, a federal judge rejected the Justice Department’s effort to obtain Rhode Island voter data because the government failed to justify the demand.
This is how suppression works in modern America. It no longer arrives carrying a literacy test. It arrives demanding documents, databases, and bureaucratic hurdles. The purpose is the same: make voting harder for people whose participation threatens entrenched power.
Long Citation: Julietta Lopez, “Hispanic Federation: The SAVE America Act Will Damage Our Democracy and Silence Millions of Eligible Voters,” Hispanic Federation, April 16, 2026, https://www.hispanicfederation.org/news/hispanic-federation-the-save-america-act-will-damage-our-democracy-and-silence-millions-of-eligible-voters/ (Date Last Visited: April 22, 2026).
Nate Raymond, “Judge Rejects US Justice Department Effort to Obtain Rhode Island’s Voter Data,” Reuters, April 17, 2026, https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/judge-rejects-us-justice-department-effort-obtain-rhode-islands-voter-data-2026-04-17/ (Date Last Visited: April 22, 2026).
2. Anti-Black Racism in Public Health Language
On April 17, Word In Black reported that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. denied earlier remarks calling for Black children taking ADHD medication to be “re-parented,” despite public reporting of the statement.
America has a long history of treating Black parents as suspect and Black children as problems to be managed rather than children to be supported. From forced family separation to welfare stereotyping to unequal school discipline, the message has been repeated for generations. When public officials frame Black families as defective while cutting programs families rely on, that is not reform. It is anti-Black paternalism with government power behind it.
Long Citation: Jennifer Porter Gore, “Under Fire, RFK Jr. Denies Calling for ‘Re-Parenting’ of Black Kids,” Word In Black, April 17, 2026, https://wordinblack.com/2026/04/under-fire-rfk-jr-denies-calling-for-re-parenting-of-black-kids/ (Date Last Visited: April 22, 2026).
3. Birthright Citizenship Under Attack
On April 16, AsAmNews warned that ending birthright citizenship could create millions of stateless or legally precarious people over time and cost the nation trillions economically. On April 13, Native News Online connected the issue to the long history of denying Native people full citizenship and belonging.
Birthright citizenship is not a technical legal question. It is a moral and constitutional rejection of hereditary caste. Efforts to end it are aimed largely at Latino immigrants today, but the underlying logic threatens everyone whose Americanness has ever been questioned—including Asian Americans, Indigenous people, and Black Americans whose citizenship was once denied in law.
Long Citation: Aneela Mirchandani, “What America Loses if Birthright Citizenship Ends,” AsAmNews, April 16, 2026, https://asamnews.com/2026/04/16/ending-birthright-citizenship-would-cost-us-trillions-experts-warn/ (Date Last Visited: April 22, 2026).
Levi Rickert, “The ‘Indian Problem’ is Back—This Time in a Supreme Court Argument Over Birthright Citizenship,” Native News Online, April 13, 2026, https://nativenewsonline.net/opinion/the-indian-problem-is-back-this-time-in-a-supreme-court-argument-over-birthright-citizenship/ (Date Last Visited: April 22, 2026).
4. Indigenous Health Still Treated as Optional
On April 13, Native News Online reported a proposed $1.1 billion increase for the Indian Health Service. Additional funding matters. But Native communities should not have to celebrate every partial restoration of obligations the federal government has long owed through treaty, trust, and law.
The United States routinely treats Indigenous survival as discretionary spending. That is both historically false and morally indefensible. Native health is not charity. It is a legal and ethical responsibility.
Long Citation: Elyse Wild, “IHS Budget; Boston Marathon; and Tribal Doulas | Health Equity Round Up, April 13,” Native News Online, April 13, 2026, https://nativenewsonline.net/health/ihs-budget-boston-marathon-and-tribal-doulas-health-equity-round-up-april-13/ (Date Last Visited: April 22, 2026).
5. The War on DEI Is a War on Remedies
Reuters reported that IBM agreed to pay $17 million to settle a government probe tied to diversity practices, while political attacks on DEI continued.
Let us be clear. Diversity, equity, and inclusion programs did not create racial inequality. They arose because racial inequality already existed. The current campaign seeks to turn remedies into villains while pretending the original harms no longer matter. That is a familiar American trick: preserve unequal outcomes while condemning any attempt to change them.
Long Citation: Daniel Wiessner, “IBM to Pay $17 Million to Settle US Government Probe Over DEI,” Reuters, April 13, 2026, https://www.reuters.com/world/ibm-pay-17-million-settle-discrimination-allegations-doj-says-2026-04-10/ (Date Last Visited: April 22, 2026).
What This Week Shows
This week exposed a coordinated struggle over democracy itself. Anti-Black racism appeared in attacks on Black families and in efforts to weaken remedies for exclusion. Anti-Hispanic racism appeared in assaults on birthright citizenship and voting access. Indigenous communities were again reminded that even basic justice is too often treated as negotiable. Asian American voices made clear that citizenship politics endanger the entire promise of a multiracial nation.
The pattern is old. Narrow belonging. Restrict power. Protect hierarchy. Rename it fairness.
But history teaches another lesson too: every gain in justice has been won because people organized, resisted, litigated, voted, taught, and refused to disappear. That remains the work before us now.
Vernellia R. Randall, Professor Emerita of Law, University of Dayton School of Law. This article was drafted with the assistance of ChatGPT, an AI language model.
