Black people may not be on the front lines at anti-Trump protests, but don’t count us out

The last five months since President Donald Trump returned to office have been some of the most troubling in recent memory — with America’s attack against Iran, ongoing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, and the gutting of federal government agencies.

To say that Melissa Robbins is disgusted is an understatement.

But the political strategist and activist wasn’t at the “No Kings” march along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway earlier this month. Nor does she have any intention of participating in the demonstrations scheduled for July, either. “Now is not the time for Black women to be in the streets protesting,” said Robbins, who ran unsuccessfully for an at-large Council seat in 2023. “We cannot afford to be in the streets yelling and screaming at the wind.”

For now, she’s doing like many other African Americans and staying as far as she can from the front lines of demonstrations pushing back against the Trump administration’s authoritarianism and ICE raids.

“Why would we be in the streets protesting? We, Black women, who carried the Democratic vote,” said Robbins about the 92% of African American women who voted for Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential election.

I get it. I was happy to read about the massive turnout at the “No Kings” demonstrations, both here and elsewhere around the country, but I had zero interest in participating.

I just couldn’t gin up the enthusiasm for another march. Not again. No disrespect to organizers, but the protests feel like too little, too late. We needed this activism, this effort, before Election Day. We knew ahead of time the kind of havoc that Trump’s return to office would bring, but people preferred a convicted felon instead of a woman of color.

Perhaps you’re familiar with the meme on social media by Nikki Free of Black women sitting atop a skyscraper, sipping beverages as a city burns around them. One woman is wearing a T-shirt with “92%” on it, which represents the number of African American women who voted for Harris. It represents the mood many of us have been in since the disappointing outcome of the 2024 presidential election.

We did our part in November. We tried to prevent what’s happening now. But too many other people didn’t. So now here we are. Again.

Many of us haven’t gotten over Election Day and are in a season of self-preservation. I was enjoying a little of that myself Saturday afternoon when, on a whim, I tuned into a recent episode of Native Land Pod featuring political commentators Angela Rye, Tiffany Cross, and Andrew Gillum. I was puttering around my kitchen when my ears perked up at the findings by the Brilliant Corners Research and Strategies polling firm about Black female voters.

Researchers interviewed 701 African American women during the first week in May and discovered something I already suspected: 67% have cut way back on their consumption of news to try and protect their mental health. Also, 50% had been impacted by federal job cuts.

During the podcast, Cross, formerly of MSNBC, pointed out, “This data feels like home to us because these are the conversations that we’re having at brunches and in our group chats when we connect and convene.”

It wasn’t all negative. According to the polling — which was conducted on behalf of the Highland Project — 55% of the women surveyed “believe it is not the time to retreat, but to protect our rights and build a collective future.”

Even if many Black women are conserving their energy by avoiding big protests, they aren’t doing nothing.

“Fighting doesn’t always mean loud,” Robbins said. “Fighting means discussing new strategies. Fighting means taking account of what’s going on in your community.”

It means taking stock as well as preparing to take action, which is what I think many of us are doing right now. We may not all be out there on the front lines at anti-Trump protests, but don’t count us out.