November 3, 2025
Titled, ‘Blackout: The Real-World Cost of Erasing, Distorting, and Suppressing Black Progress,’ the study defines three key types of institutional harm.
A new report issued by the nonprofit Onyx Impact offers a detailed examination of how the U.S. federal government may have contributed to the erosion of opportunities for Black Americans and to the history of Black Americans.
Titled, “Blackout: The Real-World Cost of Erasing, Distorting, and Suppressing Black Progress,” the study defines three key types of institutional harm: erasure, distortion, and suppression. Among its findings, there are more than 15,000 “impact points” in which Black progress was undermined. The report lists roughly 1,300 instances of erasure, including removed books, decremented records, and museum revisions.
Onyx Impact’s lead analyst, Esosa Osa, spoke to BlackPressUSA about the methodical way the current administration is executing its plan, both covertly and overtly.
“Bad actors target our stories and our data… What we’re seeing isn’t noise; it’s a coordinated effort to erase, distort, and suppress so the public can’t see the truth or measure the harm,” Osa said.”This report puts the receipts in one place so no one can pretend it isn’t happening. This is not a ‘culture war’—it’s a power grab that threatens the integrity of the record, the fairness of opportunity, and the health of our democracy.”
For many Black Americans, the report serves as validation, while the current administration contends their actions are merely patriotic; the report’s long list of incidents suggests a coordinated pattern. A pattern many Americans have been concerned about.
“When a ledger like this is opened, what it reveals matters for how we act moving forward,” said researcher Tamara Reese of the University of Maryland in the report.
The report is less about assigning blame than documenting patterns. Among the documented cases are federal websites that removed references to emancipation and museums that altered exhibits without public notice. Additionally, the ledger outlines contract programs that quietly decreased in historically Black communities. The result of the erasure, distortion, and suppression is a diluted visibility of Black achievement. Furthermore, these acts aid in diminishing institutional and historical memory of Black contributions.
While the report does not call for immediate legal action, it encourages educational institutions, nonprofits, and lawmakers to consider the impacts of erasure and distortion as part of long-term planning. Awareness leads to accountability.
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