By April Ryan
“I refuse to pretend that any of this is normal,” said Governor JB Pritzker (D-II) over the weekend, referring to President Trump’s threat to send National Guard Troops to Chicago under what Pritzker called the “fake guise of fighting crime.” Large-scale protests with scores of demonstrators took to the streets in cities like Washington, D.C., and Chicago over the weekend in efforts to push back on Trump’s plans for National Guard troops in those cities.
President Trump is playing in an almost game-like fashion as he seems to determine which city deserves National Guard troops. While Baltimore and Chicago were on his lips earlier last week, New Orleans is his latest pick. New Orleans Black Mayor LaToya Cantrell was recently indicted by a Federal grand jury on charges including lying, conspiracy, and wire fraud. The Big Easy is located in the republican state of Louisiana. There have been growing concerns that the president has been racially bullying cities with Black mayors with diverse populations in democratic states.
Los Angeles, California, was the first city to receive a convergence of National Guard troops when the president declared an immigration crisis. A Federal judge ruled that the administration’s actions were illegal. Needless to say, Los Angeles is a diverse city with a Black mayor in a blue state. That same judge ruled that the Trump administration violated the Posse Comitatus Act by using military personnel for domestic law enforcement functions, such as security patrols and crowd control.
Since the demobilization of most National Guard troops in L.A., a small contingent has remained deployed, and California’s governor continues to protest. Currently, Washington, DC, has troops, and more states are sending reinforcements as the city cooperates with federal efforts. Just thirty miles north, in a city President Trump calls a “Hellhole,” Baltimore’s former mayor Kurt L. Schmoke told this reporter, “There is not a crime emergency in Baltimore.” Schmoke, the President of the University of Baltimore, situated in the heart of Baltimore City, says that in the 1980s, when crime was worse, he had considered calling in the National Guard. However, the city’s 47th mayor decided against it, considering Baltimore would always carry that negative stigma if he did.
