Substack Live Recap: Equal Pay, Supreme Court Power Plays & Black Unemployment
I am off celebrating a friend’s wedding weekend festivities. So today’s newsletter is a summary of my Substack Live, where I was joined by Attorney Nadine Jones, an accomplished former general counsel and current consultant, to unpack three deeply connected topics.
Check out the live, Nadine Jones, GCSupport drops jewels of wisdom. For example, if it takes Black women until July 10th to finally catch up to what white men and women make, what impact does that have on things like their 401ks and the matches their companies offer?
🧑🏾⚖️ 1. Supreme Court's Trump v. CASA Ruling
We dove into the Trump v. CASA decision, in which the Supreme Court limited the ability of lower courts to issue nationwide injunctions — even in cases involving potential constitutional violations.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson delivered a fierce dissent, warning the decision paves the way for “executive lawlessness.”
Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s rebuke of Jackson was unusually sharp and personal — a rarity among justices and a reminder of deeper ideological divisions.
As Nadine put it: “The idea that constitutional protections only apply if you sue or fall into a certified class? That’s frightening.”
We also explored the historical echoes of Plessy v. Ferguson and how rulings that seem “neutral” on their face can lead to resegregation by policy.
💸 2. Equal Pay Day for Black Women
July 10th marks the day Black women finally catch up to what white men earned in the previous calendar year.
It takes seven extra months for Black women to earn the same amount.
White women’s Equal Pay Day is in March. That’s a five-month pay gap after them.
This isn’t about separating women it’s about naming the different lived experiences. Pay inequality compounds over time through:
Smaller employer retirement contributions.
Slower career advancement.
Unequal negotiation dynamics, where Black women are penalized for advocating for themselves.
As I shared: “It’s not that Black women don’t negotiate, it’s that when we do, the response is different.”
📉 3. Black Unemployment: A Warning Sign
While the U.S. continues to add jobs, Black people aren’t getting them.
Black women’s unemployment rose from 4.7% to 6.1% this year.
Black unemployment overall is now 6.8% — the highest since January 2022.
White unemployment is steady at around 4.1%.
This is a national alarm bell. As I wrote in Qualified, Black women are the canaries in the workplace coal mine. When we’re being pushed out, something larger is wrong.
Add to that:
Executive orders undermining diversity programs.
Job cuts in the federal sector, where many Black professionals work.
Hostile workplace climates (often driven by white women, ironically).
DEI rollbacks.
And new attempts to force Medicaid recipients into manual labor.
The setup is becoming increasingly clear.
🧠 Why This Matters
Nadine and I also discussed how “neutral” laws or policies often have disparate racial impacts, like the GI Bill, which didn’t say it was racist but ended up excluding nearly all Black veterans from wealth-building.
We covered:
The push to erase “disparate impact” analysis.
How vague job descriptions set up legal landmines for companies.
How negotiation dynamics penalize women and people of color.
Why do we need pay transparency enforcement with real teeth?
🗳️ What Now? Fight Back With Power, Dollars & Votes
We ended our Live with a call to action:
💡 Black people are top consumers, and our economic impact can be a weapon when organized.
💬 We need a national strike, much like Israel did in 2023 when its people shut the country down to defend democracy.
🗳️ Midterms matter. Gerrymandering or not, we must vote like our lives and our dignity depend on it. Because they do.
🙌 Support the Work
If you value what we’re doing here, help us reach our next goal: 200 paid subscribers.
That will help me unlock more e-learning modules, including “Why We Talk About Race,” which is now available for free for a limited time.
📚 Check out my book, Qualified, if you haven’t yet.
💻 And follow Nadine Jones on her Substack and at her website
Nadine Jones – GC Support