Leaders in five occupied cities call for end to dangerous, unnecessary, and illegal deployments
As Donald Trump ramps up his military occupation of multiple U.S. cities, with National Guard troops currently in Los Angeles, Washington, DC, Portland, OR, and Chicago, and expected in Memphis, TN, community leaders from these cities came together with Free DC earlier today to demand an end to these dangerous, wasteful militarized occupations.
Just this morning, Trump doubled down on his violent rhetoric, saying, “We should use some of these dangerous cities as a training grounds for our military” and calling residents of these cities – primarily American citizens – “enemies from within.”
Today, community leaders from Los Angeles, DC, Chicago, Memphis, and Portland discussed these deployments and Trump’s latest remarks, and called for these dangerous, unnecessary, and illegal deployments to end.
Here are some of the key moments from the news conference:
“DC is not a training ground for the US military. None of our communities are. Our rights are not a bargaining chip in federal budgeting negotiations,” said Free DC Executive Director Keya Chatterjee. “These are threats that [Trump] is making against his own people, and this regime of bullies and billionaires are right now trying to turn our own government into a weapon against the American people.”
“The federal government has a role and that role is severely misplaced in this moment,” said Stacy Davis Gates, President of the Chicago Teachers Union. “The impact is heavy. We have students asking their teachers how they identify themselves as American. … We need leaders in this moment – all of our elected officials – to think about what their duty is. … We get to show a different example than that of which we are being shown now in the tyranny of occupying our own American streets with our own citizens and our own funds.”
“President Trump’s deployment of the military is about political theater, not community safety or community care,” said ACLU of Oregon Executive Director Sandy Chung. “He wants to divert people’s attention away from a federal budget bill that gives tax cuts to billionaires while devastating communities across our country with deep cuts to essential services like healthcare and education. … Portland has a proud history of standing up to injustice. In Portland, we believe that dissent is patriotic.”
“Donald Trump, you are abusing your presidential power to criminalize Black and brown people in our city. Memphis, Tennessee, is a powerful city with a powerful history of civil rights and social justice,” said Memphis Community Organizer Maria Oceja. “We will not allow federal agents and national troops who swore an oath to protect the United States Constitution to come into our streets and terrorize our city.”
“We stand here shoulder to shoulder with communities across this nation who are facing the same threat … from city to city, the message is clear: we will not take this, enough is enough,” said Rachael Spriggs, Director of Powerbuilding for Equity Alliance in Tennessee. “What we are witnessing is not about keeping people safe. It is about consolidating power. It is not about protecting neighborhoods. It is about punishing them. This pattern of escalation must end.”
“Now, we see it’s five cities. And rest assured that tomorrow, it could become six, then seven, then eight, with no end. Trump keeps escalating his attacks on each of our freedoms, and now is the time to do everything we can to peacefully push back and look out for one another,” said Lydia Avila from We Are California. “Donald Trump is using fear and lies to try to take over our cities and it’s blatantly wrong. No one should be turning our own government against its own people.”