After Being Forced Out by Trump, Black Federal Officials Are Taking Him to Court
In 1995, Alvin Brown’s grandparents became two of the 40,000 people who die in car crashes each year. They were going to a funeral service when their van crashed along Interstate 95 South near Manning, South Carolina. After their vehicle hydroplaned, a design flaw caused its doors to open, and they were ejected from the vehicle.
“I made a promise back then,” said Brown, who was the first Black mayor of Jacksonville, Florida, “that if I can ever do anything about safety, I will do it.”
In 2022, that promise eventually carried Brown to the National Transportation Safety Board, the independent federal agency tasked with investigating civil transportation accidents and offering safety recommendations. But Brown’s efforts have been thwarted. In May 2025, the Trump administration removed him from his post as the vice chairman of the board.
Brown’s firing didn’t occur in a vacuum. Robert Primus, who was the first Black chairman of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board, an independent federal agency with oversight of railroads, also challenged his August 2025 dismissal. Brown and Primus were the only Black board members at their agencies when they were removed.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/being-forced-trump-black-federal-120000924.html