Trump's inauguration speech really was a preface for the objectives of his administration. With the newly administered decision to increase military equipment available for police forces there is a particular line that stands out: “We will be protected by the great men and women of our military and law enforcement.”

And while Trump mentioned how law enforcement is supposed to operate, that is, protecting citizens, he conspicuously “forgot” to mention the circulating problem of excessive force used against people of color by police in his speech.

This is one example of how what Trump doesn’t say can be as important as what he does say. By ignoring the unlawful/violent treatment of people of color by police and exalting said police, it’s evident Trump doesn’t see any problem with our current law enforcement. One might even be just, at the time of his inauguration, to say Trump approves of the police’s excessive force used against minorities.

But now, one isn’t just for believing Trump approves of police violence, they are simply correct. Where most of the problems surrounding law enforcement has been an excess of violence, this administration has decided to increase that problem. And referring back to the quote above, it seems that Trump should have said “military law enforcement.”

This attempt at militarization of police creates a stronger connection between what should be two completely different institutions; any increase spending on military now directly gives law enforcement more means of using excessive violence. Combine this with Trump’s obsession with increasing military spending and you have the contents of a dystopian novel.

And make no mistake, this decision is very much fueled by the racist ideology of the administration, and is similar to Nixon’s decision to begin the war on drugs. As in the past where presidents were able to fund the war on drugs to achieve racist ends, the current administration can now increase military spending to attack the lives of racial minorities.

As terrible as this attack is on people of color, there is also the opposite side of the coin, which would be the protection of white people. I believe this issue is also important giving the recent rise of white supremacy and the demonstration we all saw at Charlottesville.

To many people, myself included, the recent actions of white supremacists would fall under the category of terrorism. But the police did not react to it as it were an act of violence with political intonations. Rather, they treated it as an act of free speech by a group of citizens merely exhibiting their rights.

The injustice of this leniency towards such a radical group is bewildering to say the least. There were literally people carrying around military-like weapons and venerating the ideas and practices of Hitler, or in other words, promoting the genocide of African-Americans and any other minorities they don’t consider human.

Yet they were able to continue on with little to no police impediment while some minorities don’t even have the luxury of going out in public without fear of police brutality. I know this doesn’t mean the police were necessarily protecting these people, but needless to say if they weren’t white there would have been police interference.

However, Trump did say we would be protected by our military and law enforcement, so it does raise the question who exactly is going to be protected by our newly equipped police. And in the light of current events, it seems the answer to the question is highly influenced by the racist ideology associated with the current administration and police force.