Editor's Notes: The Heavily Armed Forces of the Federal Jim Crow

It has been five days since I wrote about the murder of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and the machinery of violence that led to that outcome. In that time, ICE has murdered two more innocent people.

Back in October, the political scientist Don Moynihan summarized the Trump administration strategy as "Purge, Merge, and Surge."

• Purge - eliminating those deemed not to be aligned with Trump.
• Merge - combine different components into a single omniforce.
• Surge - impose Trump’s control over Democratic cities; instigate enough unrest to justify escalation; find examples to brutalize and tamp down any dissent.

The truth is that DHS did not particularly need the first step. It was already an "omniforce" ready and willing to do whatever Trump and his people wanted it to do. It has only grown larger over the course of the past 18 months.

I think a lot about Jim Crow these days. In particular, how it was defeated. It had moments a lot like the murders of Renée Good and Alex Pretti, where a huge cross section of the country paid attention and was outraged by what they saw. But those moments were often consolidated into tangible gains. What was different this time?