The July 4 weekend will be remembered as a horrible time involving over 1,000 people victimized by shootings or killed during the celebration of America’s independence. Many of those deaths occurred in Black neighborhoods where distraught residents have called for an end to the violence and loss of life.
In Chicago, there were 100 shootings and 19 deaths, beginning Wednesday, July 3, just a day before fireworks, barbecues and family gatherings. The deaths included the fatal shootings of two mothers and a child.
When Mayor Brandon Johnson visited the neighborhood where the tragedies occurred, he was confronted by residents who said he wasn’t doing enough to stop the killings. Police said a group of assailants fired on the home where the women and child were staying at 6:30 a.m.
The mayor, at a press conference, said he had called for more federal assistance to track and deal with illegal gun sales and more federal services, like trauma counseling. He did not call for the National Guard, but it’s an idea that is never far from the minds of many.
Hesitancy about deploying the Guard for domestic purposes has been there, but presumptive Republican Party presidential nominee Donald Trump has threatened to use Guardsmen at America’s southern border and against crime and violence in cities. A president can federalize the National Guard under the Insurrection Act.
The act permits a “president to deploy the militia without a request from a state whenever ‘the laws of the United States shall be opposed, or the execution thereof obstructed … by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the [federal] marshals.’
Although the terms of the Insurrection Act suggested that the militias would be federalized when civilian authorities were overwhelmed, in 1827 the Supreme Court indicated, in a case called Martin v. Mott, that the President had broad discretion in determining when to use these statutes in calling forth the militia, and that his determination was not subject to judicial review,” wrote William Banks in a backgrounder, “Federalizing the National Guard and Domestic Use of the Military,” published earlier this year on JustSecurity.org.
“The modern Insurrection Act confers even more sweeping authority to the President. If he finds it ‘impracticable to enforce the laws of the United States in any State by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings’ he may federalize the Guard ‘or by any other means … take such measures as he considers necessary’ to enforce the laws or quell domestic violence in any state,” he observed.
“After the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers on May 25, 2020, mostly peaceful protests broke out around the country. Scattered local violence was quickly contained by law enforcement authorities, sometimes aided by National Guard troops deployed by the states.
Nevertheless, then-President Trump ‘strongly recommended’ that every governor deploy the National Guard to establish an overwhelming law enforcement presence until the violence has been quelled. If any refused, Trump promised to ‘deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them.’ ”
We are living in a dangerous time in the country and a dangerous time for Black people. Our slaughter of one another opens the door for our open enemy to try to pursue his desire to slaughter us wholesale.
Given the recent Supreme Court decision granting the president immunity under certain circumstances, the country’s commander-in-chief may not have to worry about potential prosecution.
We have continually been warned by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan about the consequences of our evil to one another and what the violence, fear and hatred for us will trigger in White America.
This country has delighted in taking Black lives and that deep-rooted sentiment has not changed—look at police shootings of Black men, women and children that rarely bring any consequences to the killer cop.
While Chicago’s mayor has not called for the National Guard, which has been deployed in New York’s subways to search bags and provide a greater sense of security, the president of the union that represents Chicago Transit Authority bus drivers called for deploying the Illinois National Guard to bolster security and check bags on trains and buses.
Governors control the National Guard in their respective states outside of a presidential takeover of the units.
There was a call for Guardsmen to come into Michigan prisons by the Michigan Corrections Organization citing a “staffing crisis.” According to July 8 reporting, the group’s president said five state prisons are over 30 percent short-staffed. He wants Michigan Guardsmen to fill the gap.
In Brockton, Mass., there were calls for the Massachusetts National Guard to come into a high school deemed out of control, fostered by staff shortages brought on by budget cuts.
Four school committee members wrote Gov. Maura Healey saying students roam the halls, leave the building, threaten and fight one another and school staff and administrators are afraid. There was pushback against the idea and troops were never deployed by the governor of Massachusetts.
“There’s so much death in Chicago that they call it now not ‘Chicago,’ but Chiraq: Our children live under gunfire; they are traumatized. Our young people do not feel that they’ll live to 20,” said Minister Farrakhan in his 2014 message “The Troubled World: What Should We Be Doing?”
delivered at Mosque Maryam in Chicago. The Minister spoke directly to leaders in Chicago’s cultural community and street organizations in the audience. He explained how they were being used to aid in the conspiracy to exterminate the Black Male, and why a change must be made.
He also spoke of FBI plans for our community, the militarization of U.S. police, and the targeting of Black youth under the guise of a war on drugs, crime and violence.
“And if you, my brothers, don’t change, don’t stop the killing of each other, then the Wrath of God will descend, and blood will be seen in the gutters of Chicago—but it will be your blood, our blood. But then, God will answer swiftly. You are the ‘People of God,’ but you are acting like Agents of The Devil, and that has to stop,” said Min. Farrakhan.
“So brothers, with the ‘beefs’ that are going on: I would like, and we would like, to aid you in resolving this. Because if you’re going to be under attack, the only way you can survive is by unity. So all ‘beefs’ must end,” he added.
The Muslims will help work out differences so that the guns can be sheathed, Min. Farrakhan continued.
“Before they kill any of our people, let us who love our people, and have committed our life to our people: Let us be the first to lay down our lives for the justice and freedom and equity of our people,” the Minister added.
What love, what compassion, what guidance in an extremely dark time. The guidance, however, will only help, or save us if we heed the call. It’s time to act now to resolve conflict, mediate disputes, find ways to unite, organize and share the Supreme Wisdom that will turn lives around. We can’t wait and we can’t delay.
—Naba’a Muhammad, editor,
The Final Call
