On Monday, President Trump signed an Executive Order declaring a crime emergency in Washington, D.C. Never mind that the city has the crime rate at a 30-year low, he did so saying that ‘bloodthirsty’ gangs were running the streets, and he vowed to remove homeless encampments saying he was going to get “rid of the slums.” How are we to respond to this?
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Let me be clear. The President has not declared war on the American people. I deeply disagree with online commentators who are trying to make that case. But sending in federal agents and the national guard to combat crime in a city that experiencing the opposite of a crime wave sure feels like he has.
The first thought that comes to mind is that we, Black folks, should be out in the streets leading protests and raising holy hell to combat what President Trump is doing. Black folks are always on the front lines when it comes to pushing back against this type of behavior. But this time, I’m not so sure.
We should certainly be concerned about what’s happening in the District of Colombia. We should monitor what the President is up to and make plans for when (not if) he will start to openly target Black folks. But should we be out in the streets leading mass demonstrations in response to what is essentially the government taking over a major American city?
Nah. I don’t think so.
Every time something like this happens, people expect us to lead the charge…and it is understandable why. Montgomery Bus Boycott? That was us. March on Washington? We did that. It was destructive, but who led the the L.A. riots? And who do you think was behind the Black Lives Matter movement?
We specialize in pushing back on this kind of blatantly unethical behavior. We are always on the front lines of resistance. And that’s why this time we should let someone else lead the charge.
Every month there is a new crisis with this administration. A new call to protest a President who enjoys pushing the boundaries of executive power.
We will drain ourselves if we are constantly outraged by everything this President does. We know he is going to do something racially problematic before the end of the year. He will blatantly lie about something before the end of the month. (There is an entire Wikipedia page dedicated to tracking when he does. )
If we are in a constant state of outrage, we will be burned out when something that deserves our anger happens. I think Trump likes the attention he gets when he does things like this. It is why he randomly directed his administration to start talking about President Obama and the 2016 election and why he had a taxpayer-funded military parade.
He likes to stoke the fire of our anger. Don’t give him what he wants.
Straight From 
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