Tuesday, August 19, 2025
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A View From the Ground
News and information about politics, government, civic participation and engagement from URL Media's network of Black and Brown publishers.
Good evening. Learn what the story of 1967 Newark can tell us about military-occupied Washington, D.C., and how 5,000 women with Latina leadership spit in the eye of fascism. Plus, as always, we’re bringing you the latest updates at url-media.com as events unfold.
Credit: Pexels / Pixabay
What 1967 Newark tells us about what's happening in D.C. now
When President Trump deployed 800 National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., this week to combat crime, it marked a dramatic departure from how this military force has historically been used in American cities. Omar Wasow, a political scientist at UC Berkeley who studies race and politics, sees troubling differences between past deployments and what's happening now.
Traditionally, the National Guard gets called in during massive civil unrest when regular police are completely overwhelmed by crowds. Think the 1992 LA uprising after the Rodney King verdict, or the Watts riots in 1965. These were situations where thousands of people filled the streets and conventional policing couldn't handle the scale.
But Trump's deployment breaks this pattern. Instead of responding to collective unrest, he's sending in heavily armed troops for what amounts to regular crime fighting after a single carjacking incident caught his attention. This shift from crowd control to everyday policing represents something new and concerning.
The historical record shows why this matters. When the National Guard was deployed in Newark in 1967, soldiers fired thousands of rounds in an urban setting, killing 26 people. Most of the gunfire turned out to be "friendly fire" rather than actual threats. While crowd control training has improved since the 1960s, the fundamental problem remains when military forces designed for warfare are deployed for civilian law enforcement in Black communities.
Quote of the Week
"We don’t need a favor. We need what rightfully belongs to us.” – The Rev. Antoine Lee, senior pastor of Central Christian Church in Kansas City, Mo., telling Kansas City Defender why he and other faith leaders marched to protest the environmental injustice that they say has led to some neighborhoods suffering from a lack of basic infrastructure.
Ways to get involved
Resilience, Resistance, Renewal: Charting a Just Future leadership and policy conference impact weekend - Sept. 19-20 - Washington, D.C. - Council of American-Islamic Relations
Source: palabra. / Search Unit for Missing PersonsThe far-reaching effects of USAID cuts, proposed H-1B visa changes and more
Trump cuts kill searches for the missing: Ángela Cordón has spent 22 years searching for her father, one of over 120,000 people who disappeared during Colombia's five-decade conflict. She now works for Colombia's Search Unit, which has found nearly 3,000 bodies in six years with crucial support from USAID. But Trump's foreign aid freeze just killed a $660,000 grant that would have hired new forensic anthropologists, leaving the unit scrambling. For decades, USAID helped create genetic databases, funded forensic labs, and legitimized search efforts across Latin America after the U.S. had backed the very military dictatorships that made people disappear. Without American diplomatic pressure and expertise, Colombia's ambitious effort to find its disappeared faces an uncertain future just as political changes loom. - palabra.
Trump targets H-1B visa system: Trump wants to overhaul the H-1B visa system by prioritizing companies that pay higher wages instead of using the current lottery system. This could drastically impact the 400,000 annual visa holders, 73% of whom are from India and 12% from China. Critics warn the changes could hurt teachers, entry-level workers, and small businesses that rely on foreign talent in shortage occupations. Currently, 85,000 new H-1B visas are granted yearly through a random lottery, but Trump's proposal would favor employers offering premium salaries. - AsAm News
Tulsa school board targets mascots: Tulsa Public Schools will debate major policy changes Monday, including banning "discriminatory" mascots that perpetuate racial or cultural stereotypes. One school's "Braves" and another school's "Warriors" could keep their names but must ditch logos featuring arrowheads and Indigenous imagery. The board will also vote on implementing Oklahoma's strict "bell-to-bell" cell phone ban and new truancy policies. While existing mascots get grandfathered protection, future school branding can't use any human representations. - The Oklahoma Eagle
5,000 Latinas vs. fascism: Ten days after Hitler bombed Guernica in 1937, 5,000 Latina women in Tampa's Ybor City organized one of the largest antifascist demonstrations in U.S. history. These working-class immigrants marched dressed in black, chanting "No pasarán!" (“They shall not pass”) in response to rising fascism abroad and at home. Led by labor organizer Luisa Moreno, they chose women as their public face because men of color faced violent retaliation in the Jim Crow South. Despite its massive scale, this historic march was largely forgotten until recent efforts brought it back to public memory. - Luz Media
Other recommended reading
China arms Burkina Faso as Sahel turns away from Western security promises - South China Morning Post
Black people who see themselves in Palestinians find that Israel sees the same - Black Agenda Report
After months of lawsuits, courts stymie some of Trump’s higher ed agenda - Inside Higher Ed
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