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Given the formidable threat posed by Project 2025, Muslims for Just Futures developed this brief with contributions from the Detention Watch Network and the Armenian-American Action Network. It provides an overview of Project 2025, emphasizing the proposed policies within the expansion of militarism, immigration enforcement, prisons, and jails. It analyzes the potential impact on BAMEMSA and SWANA communities and offers recommendations for community groups on effectively countering Project 2025 and building long-term power. The recommendations and analysis covered in this brief apply to BAMEMSA and SWANA community groups and broader movements building toward a radical democracy.

Building Community Power Requires Strong Defense

Our rights are only as powerful as our knowledge of them. That's why Muslims for Just Futures is launching a series of "Know Your Rights" (KYR) resources tailored for community members and organizers. Our first resource focuses on general rights awareness in Chicago, especially in light of the upcoming DNC. We strongly encourage groups to download and share the full KYR guide. This resource covers: 1) Agencies that can bring criminal charges against you in Chicago; 2) What to do if you're arrested. 3) Pretrial detention procedures. 4) How to protect your privacy during searches.

This community memorandum offers input from organizations working with impacted BAMEMSA and SWANA communities on key initial recommendations, as a starting point, for federal government agencies in implementing a comprehensive White House Islamophobia strategy. This memorandum also offers concerns with the existing process for developing the White House Islamophobia strategy, provides a community-rooted framework of structural and gendered Islamophobia and contains key agency recommendations. While these recommendations are wide-ranging, we note that they are not exhaustive. This community memorandum was developed by Muslims for Just Futures with consultation from our working-class community members and Palestine Legal, Afghans for a Better Tomorrow, HEART, DREAM of Detroit, Muslim Women For, American Muslim Bar Association (AMBA), Center for Constitutional Rights, and Savage Daughters. Overall, 95 community-based organizations, national networks, and coalitions working across communities have endorsed the recommendations and joined this memorandum

According to disturbing reporting from Wired, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner pointed to ceasefire protesters outside Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's house as a basis for keeping open the backdoor search loophole within Section 702 of FISA; (slides from his presentation). Instead of reining in intelligence agencies for rampant, warrantless spying on people nationwide, Chairman Turner is falsely scapegoating protestors to push through 702 reauthorization, undermine reform, and further entrench mass surveillance.

We strongly reject the use of anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, and anti-Muslim racism by congressional members to justify keeping the backdoor-search loophole in Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). We reject the continued use of mass surveillance, which utilizes racist and Islamophobic logics against all of our collective communities.

Chicago becomes the largest city in the U.S. to endorse a ceasefire in Gaza after historic City Council Vote

Today, Chicago became the largest city to endorse a ceasefire, supported by the work of a multi-racial, multi-faith coalition of 165 community organizations and over 100 Chicago City Council staffers. This vote comes 116 days after the start of Israel’s most recent onslaught in Gaza. Since October 7, 2023, Israel has killed more than 26,400 Palestinians, mainly women and children, and injured over 64,400. The vast majority of Palestinians in Gaza are displaced and face starvation and disease as Israel blocks humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, including water, food, and critical medicine.