WE MADE IT: The Black State of the Union

WE MADE IT: The Black State of the Union

2025 tested Black America on every front.

A government shutdown wiped out October job data while Black unemployment climbed to 8.3%. Black homeownership fell to its lowest point since 2021 as housing prices pushed first-time buyers closer to age 40. At the same time, political power shifted. An outgoing administration made last-minute decisions while an incoming one prepared to govern with Project 2025—a 900-page plan to expand executive power and roll back civil rights protections. Police and immigration enforcement followed through on those promises.

But the year wasn’t only loss.

More than forty cities and counties launched reparations initiatives. Activists walked 108 miles demanding healthcare for aging political prisoners. Leonard Peltier’s sentence was finally commuted after nearly half a century. Across the African continent, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger exited ECOWAS, aligned cultural policy, and challenged global legal institutions—forcing a serious conversation about sovereignty, power, and Pan-African realism.

This season finale isn’t a victory lap. It’s a ledger.

Outlaw Radeo tallies what we gained, what we lost, and what shifted across six Black political traditions—Assimilationist, Integrationist, Cultural Nationalist, Separatist, Revolutionary Nationalist, and Pan-Africanist—without trauma-baiting, fake urgency, or social media beef.

This episode functions as a political education briefing, grounded in history and lived experience. It sets the foundation for what comes next.

Because making it through the year is one thing.
Understanding the terrain is another.