'They Can Take Any Of Us': NJ Activists Rally Against NSPM-7, Criticize Trump Memo

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Not all “public hearings” take place in a town hall – some happen in the street.

Fed-up activists from several groups gathered last Wednesday in New Jersey to denounce the Trump administration’s National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7). Watch video footage from the demonstration here.

One by one, speakers stood behind a podium erected on the corner of McCarter Highway and Centre Place outside the FBI complex in Newark, sounding off about the controversial memo, which was issued in September by President Donald Trump.

The document says that “heinous assassinations” and other acts of political violence in the United States have dramatically increased in recent years. It blames the violence on Antifa, the “anti-fascist” movement, and people who support “anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism and anti-Christianity” – labeling them as “domestic terrorists.”

To combat the violence, Trump is calling for federal law enforcement authorities and other agencies like the IRS to work together and disrupt its potential sources, including nonprofits, their donors and individual activists.

Thousands of advocates from across the nation have been speaking out against the presidential decree, alleging that Trump is attempting to lump together political violence, terrorism and constitutionally protected free speech to go after what he calls “the enemy within.”

Critics include members of the No Complicity NJ Committee, which spearheaded last week’s protest in Newark.

Presenting their individual arguments against NSPM-7 – which were framed together as a “public hearing” – advocates called on Gov. Phil Murphy, Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill and Attorney General Matthew Platkin to apply New Jersey’s Immigrant Trust Directive to Trump’s memo.

Speakers included two recent gubernatorial candidates: Vic Kaplan of the New Jersey Libertarian Party and Lily Benavides from the Green Party of New Jersey.

“If we lose our free speech, then nothing else is sacred – nothing else is safe,” Kaplan said, claiming that the powers outlined in Trump’s memo might be used against Republicans the next time another party is in the White House.

Benavides – speaking as an immigrant and a naturalized citizen – said the memo paints a target on the backs of people of color, anyone with an accent, or “anyone who thinks different.”

“They can take any of us,” she urged.

• See Related: Third-Parties Face Unfair Playing Field In NJ Gov Election, Campaigns Say

Lawrence Hamm of the People’s Organization for Progress – a former U.S. Senate candidate – said the Newark-based group opposes NSPM-7.

Hamm said New Jersey’s federal representatives need to stand up against the memo, including U.S. Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim and the state’s House members.

“They’re not just going after a sliver of the people,” he said. “They want to lock up everybody… whether you’re a Democrat, or not a Democrat, they don’t care. If you oppose Trump, they want to find a way to neutralize you either physically, legally or in some other fashion.”

Bob Witanek, the editor of FightBackBetter.com, said last week’s demonstration in Newark shows that there is public concern over Trump’s controversial memo.

“We are placing as much opposition on the public record as possible,” Witanek said, urging New Jersey politicians to take action.

“Elections are over – it is time now to show what you mean when you were saying you would ‘fight Trump’ on Election Eve,” he charged.

Bennett Zurofsky, a Maplewood-based Constitutional law attorney, said the best way to battle back against NSPM-7 is to not comply personally with the mandate.

“That means to regularly identify ourselves as anti-fascist wherever we go, wherever we’re talking to people, and to engage in civil disobedience – and even civilly obedient protests like the one that we’re participating in this afternoon,” Zurofsky encouraged.

“There has to be massive non-compliance and massive nonviolent resistance, and it has to be public,” Zurofsky said.

Other speakers included Mike Grele of NJ Peace Action, David Schraeger of Resistencia en Acción NJ, Lisa Davis of the Black is Back Coalition, and a representative of Black Alliance for Peace.

The No Complicity NJ coalition is supported by the Green Party of New Jersey, the New Jersey Peace Action Political Activism Committee, and the Peoples Organization for Progress. Last week’s event also received participation and support from Black Alliance for Peace NJ, Uhuru Solidarity Movement, Black is Back Coalition, Resistencia en Acción NJ, and COSECHA NJ, as well as a performance by the Solidarity Singers.

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TASK FORCES, ANTIFA AND 'TERRORISM'

Trump’s NSPM-7 memo calls for the National Joint Terrorism Task Force and its local offices to come up with a nationwide crackdown strategy. There are currently about 200 of these task forces across the country, including at least one in each of the FBI’s 56 field offices, with hundreds of state, local and federal agencies also participating.

“Whether it be going back to the riots that started with Black Lives Matter and all the way through to the Antifa riots, the attacks on ICE officers, the doxxing campaigns and now the political assassinations – these are not lone, isolated events,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said.

“This is part of an organized campaign of radical left terrorism,” Miller said.

FBI Director Kash Patel said the FBI would “follow the money,” adding that law enforcement would “root out this new evil that is perpetrating our criminal activities across our societies.”

The memo was issued just days after the president signed an executive order that designated Antifa as a “domestic terrorist organization” – even though the loosely organized “anti-fascist” movement doesn’t have a distinct leader, membership list or structure.

• See Related: What Is Antifa: 5 Things To Know About The Movement

The Brennan Center for Justice said many of the incidents cited in the memo are cherry-picked to put the spotlight on “left-wing violence,” while ignoring violence that doesn’t fit the narrative. For example, the memo specifically calls out the shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the killing of United HealthCare CEO Brian Thompson and the attempted assassinations of Donald Trump.

However, it doesn’t mention the January 6 attack on the Capitol in 2021; a 2022 mass shooting at a New York grocery store that was motivated by white supremacist beliefs, or the deadly shootings of two Democratic Minnesota state lawmakers and their spouses earlier this year.

Meanwhile, the memo opens the doors to a wide interpretation of who is – or is not – a potential source of political violence, the Brennan Center for Justice says:

“Building on the Antifa executive order, which already targets a broad range of political speech, NSPM-7 directs federal agencies to prioritize investigations of a swath of identities and ideologies that it depicts as falling under “the umbrella of self-described ‘anti-fascism.’” These include “anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity; support for the overthrow of the United States government; extremism on migration, race, and gender; and hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality.” This breathtakingly broad list easily encompasses everyone from labor organizers, socialists, many libertarians, those who criticize Christianity, pro-immigration groups, anti-ICE protesters, and racial justice and transgender activists, to anyone who holds views that the administration considers to be “anti-American.”

Other advocates have decried the memo an attempt to create a “secret watchlist of Americans” that could have an even worse impact on civil rights than the USA Patriot Act, which was signed under former president George Bush in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

“On its face, NSPM-7 is chilling to read,” the ACLU says.

“If anyone needed proof that ‘terrorism’ and ‘political violence’ are slippery and fraught categories subject to political, ideological and racial manipulation and bias – well, this is it,” the nonprofit said.

While the memo is troubling, there are many constitutional safeguards in place that stand as a shield against Trump’s orders, including the First Amendment, the Fourth Amendment right to due process, and rights to equal protection under the 14th Amendment, the ACLU adds.

“A key thing to know is that the presidential memorandum does not create any new federal powers or crimes,” the ACLU continues.

“The president cannot rewrite the Constitution by memo or otherwise,” the nonprofit says. “No matter what the president says or tries to do through NSPM-7, the First Amendment constrains what federal agencies can do when it comes to punishing groups and people for exercising their rights to free speech, peaceful protest, and supporting causes by making donations. It also safeguards against viewpoint-based government discrimination, coercion and retaliation.”

• See Related: 'Know Your Protest Rights': New Jersey ACLU Shares Tips For Activists
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