In this episode of Me, Myself & AI, Casey asks a critical question:
Why are Black women across the United States being fired in such large numbers in 2025?
With her AI co-host J, she looks past the headlines and into the data, politics, and patterns shaping this moment.
🔍 What This Episode Breaks Down
- ​ The Numbers: What the Data Actually Shows
- ​ Over 300,000 Black women pushed out of the workforce in early 2025
- ​ Black women’s unemployment rising to 7.5%, while white women remain around 3.5%
- ​ Largest Black–white unemployment gap since 2020
- ​ Federal job cuts hitting Black women disproportionately (Education, HUD, USAID, etc.)
- ​ DEI rollbacks in public + private sectors contributing to targeted losses
- ​ The High-Profile Firings (Names, Roles, and What Happened)
- ​ Joy Reid — fired from MSNBC amid political pressure, diversity concerns
- ​ Karen Attiah — fired from The Washington Post over a tweet; union condemned firing
- ​ Dr. Carla Hayden — removed as Librarian of Congress under government shake-up
- ​ Lisa Cook — first Black woman Federal Reserve Governor; Trump moved to fire her over old mortgage claims; she is now suing
- ​ Letitia James — not fired, but under DOJ investigation seen as political retaliation
- ​ Fani Willis — federally scrutinized after prosecuting Trump; targeted but still in office
- ​ Why Experts Say This Is Happening
- ​ Systemic Racism + “double discrimination” against Black women
- ​ Political retaliation against Black women in positions of oversight and power
- ​ DEI Backlash: intentional dismantling of diversity programs
- ​ Public-sector downsizing: going after departments with high Black female representation
- ​ Corporate retreat from DEI after 2020 commitments
- ​ Return-to-office policies disproportionately impacting Black women
- ​ Historical Context
- ​ Backlash cycles after Black advancement (desegregation → tuition hikes; affirmative action → bans; DEI → rollbacks)
- ​ Black women’s long-standing pattern of being “first fired, last hired”
- ​ How removing Black women from leadership diminishes representation, advocacy, and institutional equity
- ​ Why This Matters (and Why Canadians Should Care)
- ​ Public-sector playbooks cross borders
- ​ DEI under scrutiny in multiple countries
- ​ Black women’s job stability tied to community economic stability
- ​ What happens in the U.S. often signals where global equity trends are heading
đź“š Key Sources Referenced in This Episode
Major News + Investigations
- ​ The Guardian — Interview with Joy Reid
- ​ The Washington Post Guild Statement — on Karen Attiah’s firing
- ​ ProPublica — Trump’s purge disproportionately affecting Black women
- ​ Reuters — Lisa Cook’s lawsuit and attempted firing
- ​ Capital B News — Political retaliation against Letitia James & Fani Willis
- ​ Inc. Magazine — Corporate DEI pullbacks + impact on Black women
Research + Data
- ​ National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) — unemployment statistics
- ​ NAACP — analysis of DEI rollback impact on Black women
- ​ BlackDemographics.com — jobless gap analysis
- ​ WABE/NPR — labor force exit data
- ​ TIME Magazine — structural reasons for Black women’s economic vulnerability
- ​ National Urban League — public-sector inequality reports
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Statements from Advocates & Officials
- ​ Karen Boykin-Towns, NAACP
- ​ Janai Nelson, NAACP Legal Defense Fund
- ​ Keisha Bross, NAACP economic policy
- ​ Gender economists & labor researchers quoted in TIME, NWLC, and Inc.
