We Denounce the Supreme Court's Decision in Trump v. Hawaii

Speech given by Tracy Molm, a member of the MN Anti-War Committee, on June 26th, 2018 at the emergency response rally the AWC organized with CAIR at the Minneapolis Federal Building

It is so important that we are standing together today against the Supreme Court’s recent decision upholding Trump’s racist Muslim ban.  Thank you for coming out!

Unfortunately today’s decision is a part of a racist tradition of Supreme Court rulings that allow the federal government to use the excuse of ‘national security’ to justify giving the president extreme powers to discriminate.  Like in the Korematsu decision, which legalized the imprisonment of Japanese Americans during WWII, the Supreme Court has made a decision that will be seen by future generations as the Court working hand in glove with the president to codify racism into law.  We need to take a stand together to voice our opposition to the Muslim ban and all of Trump’s racist policies.

It is immoral for the Court to not see this ban for what it is – justification for a racist federal policy that attacks people from countries that the US is bombing or threatening to bomb.  We need to demand not only an end to the Muslim ban but to demand an end to US drone strikes and special forces operations in Somalia, to an end to intervention in Syria, to war threats on North Korea and Iran and to threats to topple the government of Venezuela.  Trump’s racist Muslim ban is directly related to his policy of expanding US warfare and threats in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Since 9-11 we have seen the Bush, Obama and now Trump administration dehumanize Muslim people across the world in an attempt to justify using bombs, drones and occupation to attack them.  Similarly we have seen a rise in anti-Muslim bigotry at home. It is crucial that we are vocal in our opposition of this ban and these wars so that our Muslim neighbors know we are with them and so that racists here at home are not empowered and validated by the Supreme Court’s decision and the president’s daily acts of xenophobia and racism.

The U.S. Supreme Court has told us today that it will not rescue us from Donald Trump.  We cannot wait for them to realize they are wrong. We cannot wait for an election in November.  We need to build a movement of opposition to Trump’s agenda NOW and make it impossible for the U.S. government to conduct business as usual.  We need to say enough is enough!

Muslims are under attack, what do we do?  Stand up fight back!