Truth and Action Roundup 8.15.25

View this email in your browser Welcome to the Truth and Action Roundup, your reliable weekly source of information, inspiration, and opportunities for action during the second Trump administration.  Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up here to continue receiving it. The struggle for self-control and independence has been a key theme throughout the history of the District of Columbia. This week, a new chapter has emerged in the fight to maintain the right to representation. Trump’s move to commandeer the Metropolitan Police Department and the deployment of federal forces into the streets of the District of Columbia underscore the importance of statehood as a bulwark against overreach that is long overdue in the district. Unfortunately, Trump’s use of “crime” as a pretext and the subsequent conversation centered on safety also follows a long pattern that has made the District of Columbia vulnerable to totalitarian overreach. Although community violence intervention policies have demonstrated success in cities like Baltimore and Memphis, many political leaders remain quick to promote policing and crime as simple routes to gaining power. As people of faith, it is our duty to bear witness and speak prophetically when we see our neighbors under attack. Now more than ever, we must “open our mouths, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy,” as we’re commanded to in Proverbs 31:9. As the poor and needy are being boldly attacked, we cannot be timid in our witness to them. — Rev. Moya Harris and Chad Stanton, Sojourners  In the News Here’s a look at what happened this week: 1) Donald Trump has federalized the District of Columbia’s police force and ordered National Guard troops and other federal agents to the streets of the nation’s capital, initiating what amounts to a military occupation of the District. Trump’s pretext for these actions, a claim that the city has been ‘overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals,’ is demonstrably false, given that violent crime in the District hit a 30-year low in 2024. The surge of militarized policing on DC’s streets has focused in the early days on ramping up a crackdown on unhoused residents across the city. The Trump administration is “evaluating plans that would establish a ‘Domestic Civil Disturbance Quick Reaction Force’ composed of hundreds of National Guard troops tasked with rapidly deploying into American cities facing protests or other unrest,” according to the Washington Post, which obtained internal Pentagon documents to that effect. 2) A number of other domestic news developments spoke to the administration’s abuses of power and the way it has emboldened the political right-wing. Trump announced a replacement to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics after firing the previous commissioner this month over a weaker-than-expected jobs report. The White House announced a comprehensive review of Smithsonian exhibitions “to assess tone, historical framing, and alignment with American ideals.” For the first time since its ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court has formally been asked to overturn the right to same-sex marriage. Kim Davis, who refused to issue marriage licenses to a gay couple in 2015, filed the petition. It is unclear whether the Supreme Court will agree to take up the case. The historic Voting Rights Act of 1965, which turned 60 this month, continues to face threats as court cases undermine and, in some cases, dismantle critically important sections of the landmark law. 3) The Trump administration’s cruel deportation regime continues, as does pushback to it. The first aerial images of a new ICE facility under construction at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, show a detention camp that will be capable of holding 5,000 people when complete. Four days after Trump’s takeover of DC’s police, a new executive order issued by DC’s Metropolitan Police Chief now allows officers to notify federal immigration agencies of people who are not in custody, including those stopped for traffic violations. Almost 400 organizations voiced their opposition to the government’s decision to tighten restrictions on services like Head Start and Meals on Wheels in ways that will negatively impact many people who are legally in the United States. 4) Conflicts around the world showed the interconnectedness of struggles for justice and dignity. Israel’s assault and siege on Gaza continued with hundreds killed in airstrikes on Gaza City. The targeted killing of Anas al-Sharif, a prominent Al Jazeera journalist, along with several of his colleagues, by an Israeli airstrike caused global outrage, drawing condemnation from organizations ranging from the Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, and the UN’s human rights office. As severe food shortages caused by ongoing conflict—and exacerbated by U.S. cuts to foreign assistance funding—grip large portions of South Sudan and Sudan, new reporting alleges that Israel has held talks with South Sudan, Sudan, and Somalia, among others, to explore the possibility of resettling Palestinians from Gaza to those nations. This proposal is in line with Donald Trump’s and Benjamin Netanyahu’s stated desire to relocate much of Gaza’s population through what Netanyahu dubiously calls “voluntary migration.” With Trump set to meet with Vladimir Putin in Alaska today in an attempt to negotiate an end to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and European Union leaders warned against any agreement or proposal that would require Ukraine to cede territory to Russia. Take Action We’re calling on Congress to end Trump’s occupation of the District of Columbia. You can sign here to reject his authoritarianism. We’re also continuing to demand that Donald Trump and Steve Witkoff act to end the violence in Gaza. What We’re Reading 5 Imperatives for Seminaries Under Authoritarianism | If seminaries teach that students are to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, who embraced the poor and the weak, they need to embody that same witness. (By Yanan Rahim Navarez Melo) The Christians Advocating Against Women’s Right to Vote | The discussion of 19th Amendment rights was part of a news segment focused on Doug Wilson — a self-proclaimed Christian nationalist pastor based in Idaho — that was reposted to X by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. (By Mariel Padilla, Grace Panetta and Mel Leonor Barclay) Deep Breaths  When people show you who they are, believe them the first time. – Maya Angelou The occupation was already underway. Trust them when they demonstrate they don't care about the people, but will lie to gain power. For centuries, there has been an obsessive need to control bodies—not people, but bodies. Brown and Black bodies. Asian bodies. Underpaid and unhoused bodies. Bodies in wheelchairs, in hospital beds. Bodies wearing rainbows. Bodies in uteruses and with uteruses. Bodies wearing keffiyeh, wearing hijabs. Bodies on farms. Bodies on the border. Bodies in the District of Columbia. Bodies in prisons and detention centers. To create and pass laws with such cruelty, one way to ease the conscience is to strip people of their humanity and reduce them to bodies. Objects. Things. Then occupy, harm, or disappear. This is not new. It is theological. Be wary of theologies that disembody. This has always been the plan. What we see now is only the next phase of occupation. They hope that the monotony of lies will wear us down, and that we will tune out. They take over places of beauty and hope—Kennedy Center, Smithsonian museums—while painting government as the enemy, until all seems lost. But none of this is new. Not for Black people. We’ve had to learn how to sing songs in a strange land, how to make gumbo from scraps, how to sing the Blues on Saturday night and the Gospel on Sunday morning, how to love and care for our bodies even when the world tried to break them. So don’t lose sight of what brings you joy. In the words of one of my favorite emcees, Q-Tip: Breathe and Stop. Inhale goodness. Exhale the stench of occupation. Remember—you are a living, breathing, feeling body. Now is not the time to go numb. — Rev. Moya Harris, Senior Program Director, Sojourners The Truth and Action Roundup is compiled by Sojourners staff: President: Rev. Adam Russell Taylor Senior Research Associate: J.K. Granberg-Michaelson Digital Content and Community Specialist: Kassandra Tapia Chief Program and Impact Officer: Bryan Epps Political Director: Chad V. Stanton Senior Program Director: Rev. Moya Harris Digital Education and Outreach Specialist: Cortnie Brooks Mobilizing and Policy Assistant: Miriam Tellez Senior Director of Marketing: Sandra Sims Copyright © 2025 Sojourners. All rights reserved. Email: sojourners@sojo.net | Tel.: 202.328.8842