Muslims Respond to 45’s Law Enforcement EOs

Donna Auston

These new executive orders and their expected impact should be analyzed within the context of an administration which has essentially declared war on Black and Brown communities. Given the alarming rates at which marginalized communities are already subject to state violence, invasive surveillance, mass incarceration, and increased militarization of their communities by law enforcement agencies at the municipal, state, and federal level–these new edicts are cause for significant alarm. We know that the Fraternal Order of Police and other powerful law enforcement unions endorsed Trump during his campaign, and not for naught. We know that Trump has spoken about heavy-handed militaristic intervention in Chicago (and presumably other places) where Black people are already doubly impacted by brutality and violence at the hands of the state and intra-community violence which are in many ways, two sides of the same coin. We also know that the new head of the DOJ has a track record that is problematic, to say the least–vis-a-vis protection of civil rights for vulnerable communities, that the new Attorney General has invoked the old rhetoric of “Law and Order”–rhetoric that has historically resulted in policies which have meant increased policing and state violence against Black and Brown people–and in spite of crime rates across the nation that have been declining for nearly two decades. All of our vulnerable communities, which are never

We know that the Fraternal Order of Police and other powerful law enforcement unions endorsed Trump during his campaign, and not for naught. We know that Trump has spoken about heavy-handed militaristic intervention in Chicago (and presumably other places) where Black people are already doubly impacted by brutality and violence at the hands of the state and intra-community violence which are in many ways, two sides of the same coin. We also know that the new head of the DOJ has a track record that is problematic, to say the least–vis-a-vis protection of civil rights for vulnerable communities, that the new Attorney General has invoked the old rhetoric of “Law and Order”–rhetoric that has historically resulted in policies which have meant increased policing and state violence against Black and Brown people–and in spite of crime rates across the nation that have been declining for nearly two decades. All of our vulnerable communities, which are never

All of our vulnerable communities, which are never clearly separate in the best of times, (Muslims, for example, are at times, also Native or Black, they may also be immigrants and/or activists) will likely be subject to increased violence and violation as a result. Therefore, our analysis and strategies for resistance to such must be interconnected and holistic. This fight is being waged on multiple fronts, thus we must be prepared to engage at every level: on the street, in the courtroom, at the voting booth, with organized and strategic actions with regard to where we spend our dollars.

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