(ThyBlackMan.com) As we see it unfold before our eyes, it is unlikely future history books will ever tell the true story of how the civil rights protection we fought hard to obtain is now being surgically removed.
In his second term, President Trump has successfully placed key people in positions throughout the Justice Department. As a result, hundreds of devoted and passionate civil servants who believe in the true mission of justice for all have been removed. Appointees in President Trump’s administration have ordered the dismissal of all voting rights cases and removed managers of the division responsible for overseeing them. Sources told The Guardian that all active cases in the voting rights section were expected to be dropped.
The move comes less than a month after Harmeet Dhillon, a Trump ally, was appointed to lead the Civil Rights Division. “In an unusual move, Dhillon sent out new mission statements to the department’s sections that made it clear the civil rights division was shifting its focus from protecting the civil rights of marginalized people to supporting Trump’s priorities,” the paper said. This one move means we will no longer have the enforcement of laws against voter discrimination by the federal government. As states continue to pass restrictive voting measures, Trump’s Department of Injustice is giving them the green light.
As the assault by the Trump administration continues, the world is watching. The United States has been added to the Civicus Monitor Watchlist, which identifies countries that the global civil rights watchdog believes are currently experiencing a rapid decline in civic freedoms. Civicus, an international non-profit organization dedicated to strengthening citizen action and civil societies around the world, announced the addition of the United States on the non-profit’s first watchlist of 2025 as it sees a “significant deterioration” in civic freedoms occurring.
The group cited several of the administration’s actions such as the mass termination of federal employees, the appointment of Trump loyalist in key government positions, the withdrawal from international efforts such as the World Health Organization and the UN Human Rights Council, the freezing of federal and foreign aid, the administration’s unprecedented decision to control media access to presidential briefings and the attempted dismantling of USAID. These are just a handful of examples of how the leader of the free world has fallen to a new low.
While the authoritarian threat is real with long-term consequences, will there be an organized resistance in the form of a mass countermovement? We cannot depend on the constitutional checks and balances that was meant to prevent this type of takeover due to those who currently hold the power in the three branches of government. Republicans within GOP-controlled House and Senate are not sounding the alarm nor are they showing the moral courage to oppose Trumpism. We cannot dependent on a John Roberts-led Supreme Court.
We cannot depend on the “soft spots” throughout the MAGA movement to wake up after experiencing the pain from Trump’s policies. We are seeing that while they may be hurting, as long as those who they hate are hurting more, Trump gets a pass. We are also seeing some conservatives are seeing the light. It is interesting that as a neoconservative, David Brooks wrote about a coordinated mass movement in his New York Times opinion column. He writes, “It’s time for a comprehensive national civic uprising. It’s time for Americans in universities, law, business, nonprofits and the scientific community, and civil servants and beyond to form one coordinated mass movement. Trump is about power. The only way he’s going to be stopped is if he’s confronted by some movement that possesses rival power.”
In referencing nonviolent uprising confronting authoritarian assaults, Brooks continued, “These movements began small and built up. They developed clear messages that appealed to a variety of groups. They shifted the narrative so the authoritarians were no longer on permanent offense. Sometimes they used nonviolent means to provoke the regime into taking violent action which shocks the nation, undercuts the regime’s authority and further strengthens the movement. (Think of the civil rights movement at Selma). Right now, Trumpism is dividing civil society; if done right, the civic uprising can begin to divide the forces of Trumpism.”
At some point, something major has to be done if Trump and Trumpism is going to be stopped. Whatever it is, it has to be strategic and diverse. The question is what and then when? The last major movement in our nation was the Black Lives Matter movement.
The long-term impact still remains to be seen. Older generations are still intimately familiar with the civil rights movement, but this is different. The federal government was not the main culprit then as it is now. It is different because America, at that time, was not faced with an authoritarian in the White House who believes he is above the law. It is different because the Black church is not the center of the Black community as it was in the past. Many people may disagree with the Black church’s role during the civil rights the movement, but it’s effective organization through a national network of churches cannot be disputed. Any successful movement, as described by David Brooks, will need the moral courage of the Black church along with its local and national network.
Written by David W. Marshall
Official website; https://davidwmarshallauthor.com/
One may purchase his book, which is titled;
