Seth Limmer, Ciera Bates-Chamberlain, Michael Pfleger and Otis Moss III are faith leaders in Chicago who have written statements together in the past about the problems facing Chicago and the larger society. This statement was first published in the Chicago Tribune.

The signs are all there.

We as a nation have invoked laws to determine that a certain people — based on their ethnicity, language, hat choices and tattoo styles — are enemies of the state. 

We are using a mega-prison far from the public eye, in a foreign nation, to incarcerate those determined by our president to be enemies of our people. While flouting the rule of law and the rulings of the judiciary branch, these falsely labeled enemies of the state are flown to this frighteningly real place without any of the due process purportedly guaranteed by our Constitution.

The faith community of St. Sabina Catholic Church should not be the only location in Chicago hanging the flag of the United States upside down: We are a nation in distress.

We are experiencing a terrifying imbalance of power in America.

It is well documented that universities, science and learning are under attack. We need not add more detail there but would be remiss not to highlight three themes demonstrating how pernicious the threat is to our American way of life.

To start, history is being rewritten. Jan. 6 insurrectionists not only received pardons, but the 2025 annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. intelligence community is devoid of any mention of domestic terrorist threats. While the federal government diverts its gaze from the Proud Boys and the Ku Klux Klan, it nonetheless argues it will pursue “homegrown terrorists,” language currently coded to attack Black and minority communities. In a painful irony, the National Museum of African American History and Culture is attacked for promoting a “divisive, race-centered” ideology simply because it tells the full story of African American history. At the U.S. Naval Academy, books with a focus on LGBTQ and Black lives were removed from shelves that still offer “Mein Kampf.”

Secondly, our sanctuaries are under threat of desecration. Since the Book of Samuel, the sancta of our houses of worship were recognized by all political parties as sacred spaces in which enforcement was held at bay. But just this month, that potential for gathering safely in our sacred spaces was stolen by a judge upholding the administration’s move to commence Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in churches, synagogues, mosques and other holy spaces.

Lastly, our government is manipulating minorities, turning them against each other in a perverse prisoner’s dilemma. In addition to the threat of cutting services so disadvantaged communities feel the need to fight over scraps, the administration actively seeks to sow enmity to promote its unconstitutional ends. Nowhere is this better seen than in the administration’s sheathing of its attempts to undermine democracy inside the sham of “preventing antisemitism.” Such moves were maligned by coalitions of mainstream Jewish organizations, which assert that the rule of law and strong democratic norms and institutions are vital to all minorities.  Curtailing any of those in the name of one minority will, in the end, hurt all minorities, they say.

How, then, do we citizens counter these attacks on our democracy?

While we are grateful to have a governor and state officials who are standing up to the administration, even their admirable work is not enough. Every citizen needs to play a part in defending democracy.

In the face of these threats, we can either capitulate like Chicago’s cowardly Kirkland & Ellis — prizing and prioritizing our own resources at the expense of others — or we can stand united and resist those who would trample our democracy.

In the face of these threats, as we watch our nation dance to the echo of a Confederate vision of limited human rights, we are reminded of the courage of Dred Scott, who dared sue his enslaver Irene Emerson in 1846. A little over 10 years later, in 1857, the Supreme Court sided with his Emerson, stating that no person of African descent, enslaved or free, has any rights a white person is bound to protect or respect. This case set the stage for the long struggle toward the 14th Amendment, which finally gave Black people citizenship and also expanded “due process” beyond the classification of “white” to all who are part of the civic project we call the United States of America.

Those who know what it is like to be classified as “the other” can sense the tragedy and evil lurking underneath the rhetoric of this administration’s attempt to circumvent the Constitution.

The undaunted courage of individuals and the collective courage of mass protests are what is needed today.  As best as we can, we need not only rise up with the history-changing courage of Scott, but also like a holy host of Scotts riding together to transform America.

The mass protests that are happening are only stage one of what Americans will need to do. This administration seems too far removed from the people and will likely just go back to Mar-a-Lago for golf while people stand in the streets, making speeches.

In our opinion, these protests will have to reach the point of revolutionary scale — but not focused on just the president but also those senators and representatives on Capitol Hill and the Supreme Court, whose nine justices must daily be reminded of their duty to execute justice.

Just as our lives are being transformed by these attacks on American democracy, there needs to be a transformation in terms of how often and how consistently all American elected and appointed officials hear from our citizens early and often.

As our friend and colleague Christopher Griffin reminds us: Power is never given. Power is taken, and never easily.

Right now, we need to take back our power. We need to say that America’s future isn’t up to the politicians: It’s up to the people. We, the people, do have the power — it is ours for the taking. Let us take it and, together, restore our democracy.