Warning Signs for Philanthropy: The Authoritarian Crackdown on Social Movements
For over 50 years, there have been growing, multifaceted authoritarian attacks on our intersectional freedoms perpetrated by a network of federal, state, and local elected officials, prosecutors and judges, right-wing media outlets, and Christian nationalist movements. They have centralized and concentrated government power through the courts, gerrymandering and voter suppression, public narratives and culture wars, and of course, devastating attacks on social movements for justice and equality.
However, the Department of Justice (DOJ) recently released a scathing report stemming from a three-year investigation into the Phoenix Police Department and the City of Phoenix. The DOJ determined that Phoenix police routinely use unnecessary lethal and nonlethal force, engage in a practice of racially profiling Black, Latinx, and Indigenous people, and regularly violate the constitutional rights of people experiencing homelessness. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke acknowledged the findings of the report as “historic…mark[ing] the first time that the Justice Department found violations of the civil and constitutional rights of people who are homeless.”
