To these Black retirees, the federal civil service now under attack was a path to the middle class

The federal civil service that President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are dismantling has been a way for people of color, in particular Black Americans, to get a toehold into the middle class for decades, as other occupations were closed off because of racial discrimination or patronage. Now that pathway to economic security is being jeopardized by the Republican administration's efforts to gut the workforce. Black retirees speaking from California, Florida and Georgia recall their own work in the federal civil service, getting hired or starting in the military at a time when few other career pathways existed for them.