President-elect Trump nominates first Black Cabinet member

By Lauren Victoria Burke
Contributing Writer

(NNPA Newswire) — On Nov. 23, President-Elect Donald Trump announced the nomination of Scott Turner as his choice for the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

Turner is the first African American selected by Trump for his cabinet or any other high-level Administration position. The former NFL player has also previously worked in government. Turner was the executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council. He also is a former Texas state representative.

Though it is becoming increasingly clear that Trump’s administration is guided by the goals as published in Project 2025, Turner could lead an agency that is responsible for policy that impacts the lives of many African Americans. How much actual control members of Trump’s cabinet will actually have remains to be seen. During Trump’s first administration, there was a great deal of turnover for cabinet-level and senior staff-level positions.

The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shapes policies that connect to the enforcement of fair housing laws, government money that subsidizes lower-income rents and mortgages and other policies, including:

• Fair housing: Enforcing fair housing laws and ensuring equal housing opportunities

• Homeownership: Supporting homeownership through mortgage insurance programs

Turner currently serves as chair of the Center for Education Opportunity at the America First Policy Institute, a group with ties to Trump’s transition team.

“I am pleased to nominate Scott Turner, from the Great State of Texas, as the Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Scott is an NFL Veteran, who, during my First Term, served as the First Executive Director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council (WHORC), helping to lead an Unprecedented Effort that Transformed our Country’s most distressed communities,” the Trump transition team said in a statement.

“Those efforts, working together with former HUD Secretary, Ben Carson, were maximized by Scott’s guidance in overseeing 16 Federal Agencies which implemented more than 200 policy actions furthering Economic Development. Under Scott’s leadership, Opportunity Zones received over $50 Billion Dollars in Private Investment,” the statement concluded.

During Ben Carson’s tenure as Trump’s HUD Secretary, there were millions allocated for new housing developments in Norfolk and Newport News, Virginia using TIGR grants. The Newport News development is almost complete. Turner served alongside Sec. Carson at the time.

Turner was drafted in 1995 by the Washington Redskins and played cornerback for the Redskins from 1995 to 1997 and then became a coach for the team.

This article originally published in the December 23, 2024 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.