President Donald Trump ordered the deployment of the National Guard to Washington, D.C. on Aug. 11. Since then, armed soldiers and armored vehicles have patrolled the streets of the nation’s capital as part of Trump’s new plan to combat homelessness and crime, following his earlier deployment of the Guard on LA streets.
These decisions sparked protests in both cities and beyond, with critics arguing that the deployment represents an attempt to militarize Democrat-led cities and impose martial law, Supporters, meanwhile, argue that these drastic measures are necessary to combat the “escalating” crime in America.
The nationwide division between Trump’s critics and his defenders can be seen in the 50s building at Skyline. The Oracle interviewed government teachers Jimmy Barbuto and Brandon Johnson, who teach in the 50s, about the National Guard.
President Trump said he will deploy the National Guard to other Democratic-run cities such as Baltimore, Chicago and New York. If he sent the National Guard to Oakland, what would you think?
BARBUTO:
I think that crime is down in Oakland right now. I think that sending in the National Guard would scare people and probably hurt businesses because people maybe might not want to leave the house or go out to spend money. They may be afraid to go to work.
My guess is that National Guard troops are soldiers that are trained to kill people and are not trained to do policing. Police are supposed to not kill people under normal circumstances when they’re out there doing their job. They are supposed to be trained to interact with the public.
So my guess is that it will be dangerous and scary to people, if that helps.
JOHNSON:
I don’t think Oakland is in a state where it needs it right now. But I don’t know about the other ones and what’s going on in the other cities. Trump says a lot of things [that could be] about him just talking. But the masses of the issues that were taking place in LA and D.C., yes, those were some serious issues.
Trump claims that he is using the National Guard to combat crime and homelessness. Do you think his actions are fixing those issues?
BARBUTO:
I don’t think it’s normal to use soldiers to deal with homelessness, that sounds like the job of a social worker, mental health professional, especially a social worker. I don’t know why you would send soldiers to do that work. In terms of crime, it’s usually the job of police to deal with crime and we have something called Operation Ceasefire that’s been bringing down the crime level in Oakland pretty successfully these last couple years. It seems they should be investing in Operation Ceasefire versus sending in soldiers; it doesn’t make sense to me at all.
JOHNSON:
I don’t know enough to answer those questions because I haven’t been keeping up with it. I do know that crime has dropped and that the violent actions against federal agents enforcing the laws that Congress wrote have stopped in LA. D.C. has lots of crime. The crime rate
has dropped, but it is still high. 1,800 violent crimes by August? NBC studios in Washington had two murders outside their building in a month’s time.
Can you imagine going to work and having two murders in one month’s time. Imagine going to work passing by two murder sites in one month.
What would you prefer if this is not your preferred way for Trump to handle this?
BARBUTO:
Investing more money in Operation Ceasefire and building more low-income housing in Oakland. More social workers, more mental health support for people that are homeless. Most people that become homeless are homeless because they have nowhere else to go, so helping them to have a place to go is probably best.
JOHNSON:
There are two different issues here. What is homelessness? There is “legit homelessness” and there are “the drug addicts having a party”
homelessness.
The issue is [unhoused people] not wanting to be part of the shelters because they [would then] have to follow the rules. The issue where adults can’t afford housing is not good, and that is a different issue.
For addicts, I’d look at the financial issues first. I could be wrong, but I don’t think I am; if you are a drug addict, you could be receiving disability payments of over $900 a month. So you live on the street and the money comes in. How do you use it? If you get hungry, you go to a food bank or a shelter and get food. The party goes on because the government funds it.
By defunding the purchase of drugs, the government could address drug issues and some of the homelessness — complex issues. The National Guard is good with putting people on the ground. When there are natural disasters, it’s common to send them to protect property and support local authorities.
Rampant crime is a tragedy. Most people do not want to live where they feel unsafe. This year, DC has had almost 1,800 violent crimes. That’s sad.
At least [Trump is] trying to do something instead of continuing the perpetual insanity.
Do you think that Trump was in the right to deploy the National Guard in D.C.?
BARBUTO:
So a judge just ruled that it was illegal, a federal judge. I believe we have something in the United States called posse comitatus and it allows the president to use National Guard troops in an emergency. However, I don’t believe that we’re in a national emergency, so I don’t believe the use of those troops was legal or necessary.
JOHNSON:
Well, this is the thing: According to the Constitution, Congress is in charge of D.C. very clearly. Donald Trump is the executive — the executor of all decisions in Congress. He runs the show for them. And so it falls under the federal government’s purview, and if they feel it, they have the right to do that. That’s what I do know; I don’t know enough. D.C. has been in a hot bed of water this whole time, but [Trump] is within the rights of the Constitution to do so.
