The National Guard and 13 federal agencies have arrived in Memphis, as part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to deploy military forces to Democrat-led cities.
The move is modeled after similar operations in Washington, D.C., where troops have been since August, and has raised concerns from legal and military leaders who see it as threatening democracy. Locally, a new, community-based movement, Free the 901, a coalition of local and national organizations, sharing information and resisting the idea that bringing federal forces into the city is necessary. Similar to the Free D.C. movement, its supporters would rather see more solutions and resources for communities – not more surveillance and punishment.
To help get a sense of what could unfold in Memphis, MLK50: Justice Through Journalism spoke with Fae X, an abolitionist community organizer in D.C. since 2018, about what having a military presence in their city feels like.
‘A chaos strategy’
Washington, D.C. isn’t a state, but it is a city with its own mayor and council. The Metropolitan Police Department was deputized for federal use. D.C. feels like the first testing ground because there are fewer protections for folks here than there are for folks elsewhere.
Five years later, after the George Floyd uprisings, it feels like war is being declared on so many fronts, and there’s a chaos strategy that makes it feel less urgent and less trackable. It’s an eerie feeling seeing state-sanctioned violence against the people.
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Now, the federal government is deploying the National Guard somewhat indefinitely. We’re seeing the guard being implemented as a preemptive measure – as a show and use of force that will hopefully quell any uprising. It creates a different kind of emergency and impacts the people’s psyche, and it creates a version of stuckness – which is the point.
It feels like a quiet, surprise occupation. There aren’t National Guard members on every block, but when they show up, it impacts you. Many people in D.C. can say they’ve never seen or encountered the National Guard, and that’s because the force is centralized in Black and brown communities and in Downtown D.C. They pop up quickly and then leave. They are mobile and good at minimizing negative impact.
‘Heightened detainments’
There are more privileged people and non-organized people who are probably less likely to interact with the National Guard and federal police forces. But we’re feeling more tension than ever. It’s been extremely shocking not to close out any single day without detentions and arrests.
It’s to the point where people would rather stay at home and not work rather than risk being detained. These heightened detainments – not just of Latine people, but many Black, Asian and countless other folks are being impacted.
Marijuana is decriminalized in D.C., but federal police and National Guard are arresting people who are smoking in public parks. The police will set up random checkpoints in a matter of minutes at places where traffic has nowhere else to flow. We’re just at a point where it’s really clear to me that when we talk about criminalization, we can’t talk about it in a vacuum.
One of the first attacks of this administration has been toward unhoused people who have been put in prison. We need to be watching this closely because it is a mirror of society. The criminal injustice system works to repress and prevent our people from living full lives. This system impacts us across races.
Emboldened police
Southeast D.C. is a very Black region. Gentrification has pushed Black Washingtonians to these wards, which have always been over-policed by MPD. Now, it’s about where the police’s orders are coming from. Northwest D.C. is heavily gentrified and has also been most active for arrests and checkpoints due to the large migrant population.
The National Guard’s presence has emboldened Metro police and the Metro Transit Police Department. Last month, there was a situation where transit police attacked someone. As tensions escalate federally, it also escalates locally. MPD shot a Black man last week, which is not new for D.C. at all. It models criminalization and shows that we’re disposable.
It feels like the police are mad because they are the ones who don’t have a grip on the city. The framework for how the National Guard is moving through the city is building on the groundwork already laid by local police. What’s the rollback plan? We do know collaboration has not stopped.
Weaponized borders
There have been many detainments and checkpoints at the border between Washington, D.C. and Maryland. It feels like a weaponization of borders. Borders are a mechanism of control and sovereignty that, frankly, doesn’t rely on the people.
There have been checkpoints and enforcement operations: police going into schools, supermarkets, store parking lots, public transportation stops and asking everyone for their papers. This has been placed more regularly at some parts of the D.C./Maryland border. They are diversifying the ways in which they make contact with our communities, which also diversifies the ways in which people are touched and impacted.
Start building relationships with organizers across those borders now, and begin building a regional strategy and consolidating people power.
Organizing for the future
It’s hard in moments of crisis not to become siloed, but it’s becoming more and more clear to me that the only way we win is together. I see so much strength in working together and pushing the narrative strategy away from policing and criminalization toward the ways that benefit all of us – a world where we respond to people’s needs with care, rather than the consequences of their lived conditions.
Many mechanisms of know-your-rights information are limited to systems that respect rights and obey laws, and we’re in a very different place right now. There are other ways we need to be readying our communities to be prepared for this moment: building skills, expanding narratives and engaging people who are not political but identify strongly with the social, moral and value framework of keeping people safe. Then, we can use that as the basis for building trust, competency and safety through rapid response structures and the good faith efforts of our neighbors.
Whatever happens here in D.C., expect it to be the working plan for what happens elsewhere. The things that we’re seeing are only the beginning. We should be looking at the ways that this government is ramping up its capacity. We have an opportunity right now to see the National Guard as the first step toward the consolidation of fascism and taking steps toward becoming a militaristic, domestically occupied nation to keep people in place, quiet and compliant – which is ultimately the goal of this administration right now.
Brittany Brown is the public safety reporter for MLK50: Justice Through Journalism. Email her at brittany.brown@mlk50.com
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