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Welcome to the Truth and Action Roundup, your reliable weekly source for information, inspiration, and opportunities for action during the second Trump administration.  Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up here to continue receiving it.

This week marked the remembrance of George Floyd’s death on May 25, 2020, with vigils and programming from churches across the country. Despite the current nadir in social justice under the Trump Administration, pastors and faith leaders throughout the country were determined to keep the memory of this tragic moment, which called the country to address policing throughout the country.

Unfortunately, the necessity of these efforts was driven home by two events which followed closely. The Minnesota Republican Party marked the moment a few days after the anniversary by holding a moment of silence for Officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted for the murder of George Floyd. One of the two major American parties using its time during a state convention to honor someone convicted of murder demonstrates the growing acceptance of such outwardly hateful rhetoric in our politics.

Then, on Monday, the acquittal of Rick Chow in the murder of Cyrus Carmack-Belton echoed the outcomes of trials in the deaths of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman and the grand jury process in the killing of Michael Brown by Officer Darren Wilson. These moments moved people to action, and in many communities, churches answered the call in leading demands for the value of Black lives. As we have seen a retreat from these demands, we have also witnessed a rise in white Christian Nationalism. With the National Guard continuing to occupy our cities, ICE and Border Patrol targeting people in our communities, and rising militarism in Iran, Cuba, and elsewhere, we must once again demand that we recognize the image of God in every life.

–Rev. Moya Harris and Chad Stanton, Sojourners

P.S. We are continuing to build an intentional community of people looking to enact their faith in our Sojourners Faith and Practice Forum on Mighty Networks. Please consider joining us.

In the News

1. The Trump administration continued carrying out its cruel deportation agenda, even as Congress debated passing billions of dollars in additional funding for it.

   • The Senate moved ahead with legislation to fund immigration enforcement agencies after dropping Trump’s $1.8 billion slush fund for election deniers and insurrectionists from the bill. The bill would inject roughly $70 billion into immigration enforcement agencies.

   • Chidozie Okeke, a Nigerian immigrant who was arrested outside a New York City hospital last month, is accusing ICE officers of violating his constitutional rights in a lawsuit filed this week. The suit alleges he was pulled over without probable cause, threatened at gunpoint, beaten, and tased by officers. The lawsuit asks the court to immediately terminate Okeke’s removal proceedings.

   • Trump administration officials apparently can’t get their story straight on whether there is a hunger strike going on at the Delaney Hall detention facility in New Jersey. DHS has denied the existence of a hunger strike, then threatened to force-feed the strikers whose existence they deny. New Jersey activist groups, meanwhile, say that hundreds of detainees launched a hunger strike over Memorial Day weekend to protest insufficient and spoiled food, medical neglect, poor living conditions, and abuse.

2. The cost of living continued to rise, especially for economically vulnerable people who have benefited from government programs such as SNAP and Medicaid.

   • Food banks across the country are bracing for a surge in demand this summer as childhood hunger, which is already a bigger problem when school is out, collides with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s cuts to SNAP (formerly known as food stamps). Participation in the SNAP program is already down nearly 9 percent since the OBBBA’s signing last year, a drop that equals about 3.5 million people losing access to the program.

   • A rushed Medicaid review in Minnesota has left thousands of care providers suddenly without funding, putting services and jobs at risk. The review was triggered when the Trump administration withheld $2 billion in Medicaid funding from the state over dubious claims of fraud. The state was asked to complete a review process in five months that normally takes two years.

   • Gas prices, though falling slightly from the highs of mid-May highs, are still well over 40 percent higher nationwide than they were before the Iran war began.

3. In foreign affairs, Secretary Rubio faced a barrage of questions at several hearings this week, and a shift in the Ukraine war became more evident.

   • Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended U.S. military strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean during a Senate hearing on Tuesday, claiming the Defense Department determined each strike’s legality. Many legal experts have concluded otherwise, arguing that the strikes, which have killed over 200 people to date, are not consistent with the laws of war or Article 2(4) of the UN Charter.

   • Rubio was also repeatedly pressed by Sen. Tim Kaine to explain why lawmakers have not been given an unredacted version of the Office of Legal Counsel opinion justifying the legality of the Iran war. Kaine pointed out that in the past, it’s been common for Congress to receive classified legal rationales for other operations. Rubio reportedly appeared visibly uncomfortable but did not commit to securing the release of the unredacted memo.

   • The tide in the Ukraine-Russia war appears to be turning against Moscow. Ukrainian forces, thanks to NATO support, have managed to retake territory for the first time in years. According to British intelligence, nearly 500,000 Russian soldiers have been killed since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Up to 140,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed, according to CSIS.

Take Action

• Cosecha is calling on lawmakers to free the people detained in Delaney Hall.

• We’re continuing to call for an end to the blockading of Cuba.

What We’re Reading

“Ken Paxton Insists God Is Male. The Bible Says Not Quite” | “The GOP nominee in the Texas Senate race is wrapping his campaign in a debate that scripture answered long ago.” (by Heather Brady)

“An Archive of Queer Catholic Histories Didn't Exist. So I Made One” | “When I was coming out of the closet, I was looking for someone—anyone—to share about their experience of coming out as a queer woman raised Catholic.” (by Emma Cieslik)

Deep Breaths

Access

As this nation marches toward its semiquincentennial, we are watching a battle over truth. This administration is working hard to curate a sanitized origin story, offering the world a polished myth while burying the violence that underwrites the American project. Painting over cracks and fissures with fake gold, while attempting to exude wealth and splendor, actually spotlights the lies and gaslighting.

Pay close attention to the words, the symbols, the currency, the monuments, and even the commemorative coins that are being rolled out for this 250-year moment. They are sermons in metal and marble, catechisms in red, white, and blue. They preach a story about who is fully human, who belongs, and who must stay invisible to keep the fantasy intact. A whitewashed history produces a whitewashed god.

What happens when the full story is not told? When genocide, enslavement, and racial caste are edited out, it trains future generations to see hierarchy as normal and Black suffering as background noise. When a distorted representation of the imago Dei is centered, racism becomes folk theology: some lives reflecting God, other lives rendered disposable. Lies preached long enough to become liturgy.

Langston Hughes’ words still ring true, reminding the nation of its unsettling history, saying, “I, too, sing America… I am the darker brother.” His words testify that America tries to hide its darker kin in the kitchen, out of sight when “company comes,” and yet the darker brother keeps singing, keeps growing strong, keeps insisting, “I, too, am America.” Hughes is prophesying a reordering in which those pushed aside stand in the full light of dignity.

Right now, the table is being set for a dystopian 250-year celebration. This table continues to be guarded, fenced, and surveilled by white supremacy. Access to citizenship, safety, dignity, bodily autonomy, and economic possibility is being attacked in statehouses, courthouses, and school boards across the country. This is a direct assault on the God-given image of those forced to the margins.

So the question is not only, “What will the church say?” but “What will the church do?” Will we bless a dishonest birthday party, or will we stand in the tradition of prophets who tear down idols and tell the truth when it is most inconvenient? Will we cling to a cheap peace that depends on someone else’s silence, or will we move the obstacles out of the way so that those long kept from the table can sit, speak, and shape what comes next?

–Rev. Moya Harris, Senior Program Director, Sojourners

The Truth and Action Roundup is compiled by Sojourners staff:

President: Rev. Adam Russell Taylor
Senior Research Associate: J.K. Granberg-Michaelson
Digital Content and Community Specialist: Kassandra Tapia
Chief Program and Impact Officer: Bryan Epps
Political Director: Chad V. Stanton
Senior Program Director: Rev. Moya Harris
Digital Education and Outreach Specialist: Cortnie Brooks
Policy and Action Assistant: Trinity Williams