By Civitas
Special to The AFRO
I. Introduction: The illusion of a free republic has collapsed
The United States no longer teeters on the edge of authoritarianism—it has crossed the threshold.
In a single week, the Trump administration and its aligned agencies have moved to suspend habeas corpus, reopened Alcatraz as a prison for “ideological offenders,” arrested the mayor of Newark, N.J., implemented facial recognition at land borders, disrupted air traffic infrastructure, and exacerbated a global trade war that has triggered food price spikes and port slowdowns.
This is not a storm on the horizon. It is the storm we’re standing in.
These events are not isolated. They are the strategic execution of Project 2025, a blueprint for remaking America into an authoritarian state through legal, bureaucratic and executive means.
II. A week in constitutional free fall
1. Habeas Corpus Under Threat
Senior Trump officials, including Stephen Miller, confirmed the administration is actively reviewing the suspension of habeas corpus, the constitutional protection against unlawful detention (Article I, Sec. 9). Miller cited “migrant invasion” language, arguing this invokes the constitutional clause for suspension in cases of “rebellion or invasion” . Legal scholars and civil rights advocates warn this would eliminate due process for both migrants and citizens.
2. Reopening Alcatraz
President Trump ordered the reopening of Alcatraz, closed since 1963, to house “repeat and ideological offenders.” Federal agencies including DHS, DOJ and ICE have been mobilized to identify candidates for incarceration under expanded definitions of “domestic threats” .
This symbolic return to fortress-style incarceration serves as both a physical and psychological warning to dissenters: protest may now be punishable by imprisonment.
3. Arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka
On May 9, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested outside Delaney Hall, a reopened ICE detention center operating without city permits. Baraka was joined by U.S. Reps. Rob Menendez and Bonnie Watson Coleman, and State Rep. LaMonica McIver, attempting to inspect the facility.
Federal agents arrested Baraka for “trespassing,” despite his legal authority to inspect city infrastructure. Civil rights groups have condemned the arrest as a direct assault on First Amendment rights and local governance, warning that federal force is being used to suppress lawful political dissent .
4. Border exit surveillance expands
Citizens attempting to leave the U.S. via Canada or Mexico now face facial scans, questioning and secondary inspection. Customs and Border Protection claims this is an anti-smuggling effort, but privacy advocates note that monitoring exits is a major shift in policy. This “soft lockdown” resembles practices used in surveillance states like China and Russia .
5. Newark Airport radar blackouts and infrastructure failures
For the second time in weeks, radar systems at Newark Liberty Airport failed, prompting walkouts by air traffic controllers and widespread flight cancellations. The Department of Transportation has been accused of negligence and interference, as critical aviation infrastructure appears to be deteriorating without oversight .
III. Project 2025 is no longer theory — it’s in implementation
Project 2025 is a 900-plus-page plan produced by the Heritage Foundation that includes:
- Firing up to 50,000 civil servants and replacing them with loyalists
- Centralizing agency power under the president
- Using the Insurrection Act against domestic protests
- Redefining citizenship and revoking birthright protections
- Eliminating DEI mandates and civil rights enforcement
This isn’t a hypothetical conservative platform. It is the administrative architecture of a soft dictatorship—and it is being executed.
IV. Legal identity and belonging have become conditional
What happens when citizenship becomes revocable?
When crossing a border requires permission to leave?
When protest equals criminal conspiracy?
You get a system where rights are no longer guaranteed but granted based on compliance, identity and political loyalty.
This is not democratic pluralism. It is legalized stratification, systematized through executive orders, court decisions and silence.
V. Trade wars, empty ports, and food insecurity: The collapse beneath the crisis
As constitutional protections are dismantled, America’s economic foundation is crumbling under the weight of an aggressive and poorly calibrated trade war.
Trump’s Tariff Blitz
In April 2025, President Trump imposed a sweeping series of trade restrictions under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA):
- A 10 percent universal tariff on nearly all imports
- “Reciprocal” tariffs on more than 50 countries, ranging from 11 percent to 50 percent, including:
- China: 34 percent (up to 145 percent in targeted sectors like steel and electronics)
- India: 26 percent
- Japan: 24 percent
- South Korea: 25 percent
- European Union: 20 percent
- A 25 percent tariff on all imported automobiles, excluding those compliant with USMCA standards
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Port Chaos and Supply Chain Breakdown
As a result of these sudden and sweeping tariffs:
- Major container shipping companies have canceled routes between Asia and the U.S., slashing capacity by over 1.3 million 40-foot containers annually
- U.S. port traffic is down 35 percent, with warehouse backups and idle longshore labor growing along both coasts
- Import-dependent sectors—from groceries to electronics—are experiencing weeks-long delays or outright shortages
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The price of isolation: American families hit hard
According to a report from Yale’s Budget Lab and the Center for Science in the Public Interest:
- The average U.S. household will pay up to $4,900 more annually for groceries if current tariffs remain in place.
- Fresh produce costs have already surged 5-8 percent, due to the country’s reliance on imported vegetables and fruits.
- Staples like rice, cooking oil, canned fish and baby formula have risen 30-50 percent in some markets.
- Grocery chains like Kroger and Target are initiating ration limits in urban and rural locations alike.
Meanwhile, food banks and school meal programs are experiencing record shortfalls, especially in Black, Indigenous, and immigrant communities.
(Sources: Food & Wine, CSPI, May 2025)
Conclusion: From inflation to scarcity to control
This is not just economic policy. It is economic warfare against the population, with tariffs weaponized not to protect jobs—but to centralize control.
The trade war is not a side story to the republic’s collapse. It is a strategic front: starve the people, break their independence, and replace survival with dependence.
What we must do now
1. Document and Protect
- Apostille key documents (acquire certificate that verifies the country of origin)
- Backup IDs and legal records offline
- Prepare to verify your status without institutional help
2. Mobilize and Educate
- Build neighborhood defense and food networks
- Teach basic survival: canning, seed saving, filtration
- Distribute print resources and bypass censored platforms
3. Speak and Refuse
- Call this moment what it is: engineered authoritarianism
- Refuse to normalize soft martial law, disappearing mayors, or grocery rationing
- Hold public spaces, stories, and memory
VII. Emergency Preparedness Is the New Front Line
You cannot protest if you are hungry.
You cannot organize if you are isolated.
You cannot resist if you are unprepared.
Preparedness is resistance. It is civic power.
Build Your Kit Now: Visit this Emergency Storefront
Water (First Priority)
Food
Light and Power
Medical
Shelter and Sanitation
Grow and Store
VIII. Final Word: This is the unraveling — but not the end
The Constitution is being rewritten without votes.
Groceries are vanishing.
Elected mayors are arrested.
But we’re still here. And that means we still have power.
The question is not whether America survives. The question is whether you, your community, and your people survive it with your dignity, agency, and memory intact.
Start your kit.
Share this article.
Resist. Prepare. Rebuild.
Drawing inspiration from the original authors of the Federalist papers’ use of “Publius” (referring to Publius Valerius Publicola, a founder of the Roman Republic), we use “Civitas” as our pseudonym.“Civitas” is Latin for “citizenship” or “community of citizens,” emphasizing both the rights and responsibilities of citizens in maintaining a constitutional republic. This pseudonym reflects our focus on civic engagement and the collective effort required to preserve democratic institutions in the face of current challenges.