The Trump administration's flurry of executive orders is impacting decades of progress on civil rights, women's and LGBTQ rights and democratic principles, says Northwestern University social movements and protest expert Aldon Morris. The professor is available to speak to media and has provided the following quote:
Quote from Professor Morris
"In the wake of major changes enacted and planned by the Trump administration, a major question arises: will large swaths of Americans passively accept what many see as the possible rise of fascism in the country they believe to be the world's greatest democracy? Or are the winds of revolt gathering?
"Righteous indignation is known to fuel protest and set in motion the machinery and infrastructure of rebellion. Evidence suggests that Trump will continue to poke this bear of discontent because it is his nature and his agenda. But will this administrative stance summon a day of reckoning for the President and his followers?
"Perhaps the discontented masses are too overwhelmed and unorganized to launch consequential protests. Yet, history has shown that the timing and power of protests can be misjudged and underestimated. Few in 1955 thought that a seamstress and the oppressed Black masses of Montgomery, Alabama, would rise underneath the brutal regime of Jim Crow and launch a powerful movement that would topple that evil empire.
"There are those who believe such massive protests cannot happen today because a large majority of Americans believe in and support Trump. But election data does not support this claim. A slight majority of the electorate voted for Trump and supplied the margin of victory in the Electoral College and the popular vote. That's hardly a sweeping Trumpian mandate.
"The question remains, will millions of Americans stand idle and accept what they believe to be a fascist future? Or are we likely to see massive economic boycotts, demonstrations in the streets, court challenges and widespread assaults on perceived injustices? In this historic moment, time and the arrival of warm weather will tell."
Morris is professor emeritus of sociology at Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern. He is the author of the prize-winning book "The Origins of the Civil Rights Movement
