Professor Epps
About 100 community members were able to join us for a deeper dive about the Constitution, the Supreme Court and the Executive Branch with our guest speaker, Prof Garrett Epps, a constitutional scholar.
Prof. Epps brought his humor and his expertise to keep everyone engaged in a robust discussion. As you might imagine, we, the people can’t believe the blatant disrespect for the law and our Constitution under this administration. Prof Epps addressed how this work to undermine Congress and our Constitution have in in motion for decades by some people who oppose our core democratic principles. We are now seeing a culmination of these efforts playing out under this administration.
The Trump administration is ignoring the rule of law and corrupting justice itself. We have Supreme Court cases coming up to keep an eye on which may impact, for good or for ill, our rights as American citizens. We must stay engaged in this process to defend our democracy.
Professor Epps recommended reading the book "Civil Resistance: What Everyone Needs to Know" by Erica Chenoweth.
"One of the issues discussed last night that really struck me was what would happen if “birthright citizens” suddenly weren’t US citizens, OR citizens of other countries. Hearing Professor Epps compare 2026 to life before 1868 shifted everything into a very horrific possibility… especially when you begin to think about billionaires, and concentration camps filled with people who could become slaves. It’s insane to think this is possible, but when you put all the pieces together, alarms started going off in my mind and given the truly evil mindset of our current president and his administration, it all makes sense… yes, slavery is part of their “plan”. Americans need to wake up from this nightmare and take action.” Adrienne Bourne
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"The most disturbing thing I learned was how quickly DHS is building detention centers, a.k.a. concentration camps. More beds than almost every state prison system, except for, (which was it?) Texas and Florida? And soon we will have even more than Florida. This will essentially create a second class "slavery system" with thousands of people forced to do industrial labor at one dollar per hour.” and "Hearing about the pending detention center and relocation of the Coast Guard rescue helicopter in Newport Oregon. That facility, and the helicopter being relocated is being planned by DHS with no community notice or input, which is required by the state. That detention center is currently on hold but only until May 2026.” Audrey Stewart
