In America, there are many national emergencies that warrant sweeping governmental response, from institutional and structural racism that results in deep and pervasive racial inequities across every indicator for success, to increased organizing by white nationalists espousing racism and anti-Semitism, to the systemic and targeted violence against people who are transgender.

Instead, President Trump has manufactured a crisis at the southern border to declare a national emergency, undermine our democratic processes, and build a racist, wasteful and unnecessary wall. This monument to hate reflects the Trump Administration’s xenophobic political agenda, one that has banned Muslims from entering the United States, separated an unknown number of children from their parents’ arms and put them in cages, and blocked people from lawfully seeking asylum at our borders.

As a racial justice organization, Race Forward rejects the Trump Administration’s fear-mongering rhetoric and its white supremacist policies of hate and division.

Rather, we support border communities and the people and families seeking refuge. We stand in solidarity with all who are mobilizing at Presidents Day protests around the country. And, we applaud local governments and leaders, many of whom are members of the Government Alliance on Race and Equity, who are speaking out against the border wall and focusing on the actual emergencies in communities around the country.