The USDA has suspended its 1890 Scholars Program which awarded scholarships to students at 1890 Land-Grant Institutions, which are historically Black colleges and universities that focus on agricultural education. They were created by segregated states after the second Morrill Act made funding for land-grants available only to states that allowed students of all races to access admissions.

“The 1890 Program was one for agriculture and related sciences, and I was in the related sciences – computer science,” explained Larissa Bryant, an 1890 Scholar who graduated from Tennessee State University in 2006. 

According to the USDA website, the program has been “suspended pending further review.” 

When Bryant heard about the decision to suspend the scholarship program, she was “saddened” for her friends who still work for USDA. Bryant left the department in 2014 but credits the opportunity with giving her career a significant boost.

“Being a scholar, you were basically able to start working right out of high school,” Bryant recalled. “Within a month after high school graduation, I was put on a plane and flown to Washington, D.C., where I was able to gain corporate experience right off the bat.”

President Trump’s executive order calling for an end to “DEI policies” including Black History Month celebrations at federal institutions has generated a fierce backlash. Late Friday, a federal judge blocked sweeping executive orders from Trump that seek to end government support for programs promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. 

Bryant said, “Considering the 1890 program was built to have young and fresh talent brought into the government, and that’s what the government struggled with, I think it’s doing the government an injustice as well as all of the people who’ve had a part in it. It feels like we’re being targeted, and even though we’re the target, it’s going to hurt the whole picture.”

Sports at HBCUs

The Commissioners of four Historically Black Colleges and Universities have contacted the Congressional Black Caucus to register their growing alarm over the Trump administration’s rapid dismantling of legislation created to address longstanding disparities in education, employment and other opportunities. 

According to the letter, the specific concern is focused on the idea that college athletes will become employees of the institutions where they are enrolled, increasing the payroll of HBCUs at a time when federal budget cuts are all but assured. A few weeks ago, Trump signed an executive order freezing federal funds that Congress had already approved. Two federal judges halted Trump’s freeze, but at HBCUs and other academic institutions, there is deep uncertainty, and administrators are looking for ways to prepare for impending cuts.

“To ensure that college sports broadly –and HBCU sports especially – can continue to thrive, it’s essential that Congress allow for consistent and nimble national governance and affirm that student-athletes are not designated as employees of their universities,” the letter said.

A Jan. 6 defendant who was arrested near former President Barack Obama’s home last year is facing new felony charges. Taylor Taranto found the Obamas home after Donald Trump posted a screenshot with the family’s Washington address.

A federal grand jury has returned a superseding indictment against Taranto. Online sleuths identified Taranto among the insurrectionists who carried out the assault on the U.S. Capitol in 2021, but he was not arrested until he was found near Obama’s home.

Guns and ammunition were found in Taranto’s van when he was arrested, and three of the charges stem from that discovery. He faces a felony charge of obstruction of an official proceeding for his conduct on Jan 6, 2021. He also faces a charge of false information and hoaxes, accused of falsely saying he was going to detonate an explosive at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

After Taranto was identified by “sedition hunters” for his role on Jan. 6, he was sued by the widow of Jeffrey Smith, a Capitol police officer who died by suicide, after Taranto and David Walls-Kaufman allegedly contributed to his death.

Taranto will be held until his trial which is set for July. He was seen near the jail in Washington where some Jan. 6 defendants were held before their pardons.

After Trump posted the screenshot with Obama’s address. Taranto reposted it on his Truth Social account, saying he had been to the residence that day.

He posted, “We got these losers surrounded!” Taranto wrote, according to prosecutors. “See you in hell, Podesta’s and Obama’s.” Taranto was taken into custody after he remained in the woods near the home.

The third week of Donald Trump’s administration delivered more unprecedented racism in modern politics and more pushback.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who Trump has nominated to lead the Department of Health and Human Services,  moved one step closer to confirmation last, but without support from Senator Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD). 

During RFK’s confirmation hearing, Alsobrooks – one of two Black female U.S. Senators – questioned him about comments he’s made about African Americans’ immune systems. 

Kennedy has said, “We should not be giving Black people the same vaccine schedule that’s given to whites because their immune system is better than ours.”

Alsobrooks asked him to explain his suggestion, adding, “So what different vaccine schedule would you say I should have received? With all due respect, that is so dangerous.”

According to a Mayo study, African Americans do present a higher antibody response after MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) vaccination compared to white people. But the author of the study says that does not mean there needs to be a different vaccination schedule because race, sex and other factors often generate different responses.  

The tense exchange made headlines and directed a laser focus on Kennedy’s well-known controversial position as an anti-vaccine leader. 

Federal health workers targeted

There  is more trouble for Black federal health workers after NBC News reported that a website known as “DEI Watch List” published the photos, names and public information of some workers in health agencies, describing them as “targets.”

Workers listed on the website had supported DEI initiatives, donated to Democrats and the majority of them were African American.

Dr. Benjamin Georges, the executive director of the American Public Health Association said, “This is a scare tactic to try to intimidate people who are trying to do their work and do it admirably. It’s clear racism.”

Georges has also described Kennedy as “unqualified” to be the nation’s chief health officer.

If confirmed, Kennedy would oversee a $1.7 trillion annual budget and 13 agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health.