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News > World

Black Lives Matter Responds to Trump’s Muslim Ban

  • Isaiah Dupree holds a sign to protest Donald Trump in New York, N.Y. Jan.  25, 2017

    Isaiah Dupree holds a sign to protest Donald Trump in New York, N.Y. Jan. 25, 2017 | Photo: Reuters

Published 2 February 2017
Opinion

"We cannot allow this injustice to continue...we know that an attack on any of us is an attack on all of us," said the statement released Tuesday.

In a statement released Tuesday, the Black Lives Matter Global Network responded to U.S. president Donald Trump’s ban on Muslim travelers and refugees declaring solidarity with "our Black Muslim, immigrant, and refugee family."

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"The war against Muslims and refugees, the separation of families, immigrants deported and detained, the turning away of those seeking asylum and the denial of basic human dignity must stop," read the statement, released to Mic. on Tuesday.

On Friday President Trump issued an executive order banning all Muslim asylum seekers and travelers from seven majority Muslim countries from entering the U.S.

The order has spawned chaos and a massive resistance, with thousands swarming airports to defend those illegally detained by customs and border patrol agents, and dozens of lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the ban.

Despite the fact that several courts have already issued temporary stays against the order, hundreds of Muslim travelers, including U.S. permanent residents, have been detained and hundreds more prevented from even boarding planes flying to the U.S.

"Within the first week of this new administration, we watched as families were detained for hours without food, some were denied legal counsel and some have been released while many more still await their fate," continued the statement.

"We cannot allow this injustice to continue," they declared adding, "Since the order, thousands of people have gathered at airports across the nation demanding the removal of the ban and the immediate release of detainees. Local Black Lives Matter chapters have been in the fight; we know that an attack on any of us is an attack on all of us."

Black Lives Matter is a chapter-based national organization focussed on "(re) building the Black liberation movement." It was founded in 2012 after George Zimmerman was acquitted of murder despite shooting to death unarmed 17-year old Trayvon Martin.

The statement went on to connect Trump’s Islamophobic executive order with Sunday’s murder of six Muslims during prayers at a Mosque in Quebec by a Trump-supporting white nationalist.

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"We must rise in solidarity whenever and wherever necessary," the statement emphasized. "We know that these attacks do not live in a vacuum and that our issues are connected. White supremacy and Neo-Nazis are not only being emboldened in America — this is a worldwide growing and strengthening of their ideals and movement. We must be steadfast that this is not normal."

The statement concluded with a firm declaration that Black Lives Matter will "show up for the lives of people who are being profiled and pushed out."

"This fight is for all who believe in justice," added the statement, concluding, "We will fight for the safety of all people. We will protect people everywhere that we can. This is going to be a long fight; Black Lives Matter will be there every step of the way."

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