New Orleans is the latest city to tell the DOJ and their grant to piss off….a virtual finger to Donny and his Gestapo….
After taking a “serious look” at applying for federal funding under the Trump administration’s Model Cities Initiative, the city leaders of cash-strapped New Orleans announced on Aug. 31 that they will not apply for the controversial grant program.
The $300 million grant program for cities and local governments of more than 100,000 people offers to pay for high-tech policing and public safety infrastructure in exchange for local officials complying with federal mass deportation efforts, among other priorities. Critics say the initiative is the tip of the spear for deploying mass surveillance tech and indulging the authoritarian impulses of President Donald Trump, who has filled the streets of multiple cities with violent federal immigration agents and, in several cases, armed federal troops.
New Orleans is a majority-Black city steeped in civil rights history, and activists have been ringing alarm bells for weeks as Mayor Helena Moreno and other city leaders mulled over whether to apply for the grant amid pressure from the state’s GOP-controlled government to address an ongoing budget crisis.
“The Model Cities Initiative is a Justice Department grant program that comes with serious strings attached, including the sharing of immigration information between state, federal and local agencies,” Romero told Truthout in an email. “This means surveillance for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to separate families and terrorize our communities.”
According to the Justice Department, one of the policy “blueprints” for the Model Cities Initiative is President Donald Trump’s law enforcement surge in Memphis, Tennessee — another Democratic-led, majority-Black city in a GOP-controlled state. Launched about a year ago and involving 13 federal agencies as well as state and local law enforcement, the surge of what the White House calls “hypervigilant policing” in Memphis is still in effect. Residents and civil rights groups describe the surge as a racist and militarized federal “assault” and “occupation” and a new form of colonialism.
I am proud of NOLA for I know the grant money would have helped in so many areas….but like they said….too damn many strings attached.
I knew I like NOLA….bully for them.
There is not a city in my state that would be so bold….how about where you live?
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”