Dear,

Let's be clear -- yesterday's insurrection was not just an attack on the Capitol, it was an attack on us. And it was entirely foreseeable that violence would ensue. For two months Trump and his Republican cronies have been trying to subvert the will of the people, and yesterday, Trump ordered his followers to march on the Capitol building as the Electoral College vote certification was happening.

Yet despite the attack, 147 Republican members of Congress still objected to the Biden-Harris election, in an attempt to undermine the voters -- including these senators:(1) 

These actions cannot stand.

Please sign our petition with Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Working Families Party, calling for Congress to immediately act to impeach Trump, expel members who supported his attempt to overturn the election, and investigate the dangerously lax security response.

The violence wasn't isolated to Washington, D.C. -- it spread around several states, including California. This was after we registered, mobilized, and turned out in record numbers to elect Biden and Harris with a clear and definitive margin of victory in November, then flip the Senate to Democratic control with victories for Senators-elect Reverend Warnock and Ossoff this week.

There is so much work to be done regarding yesterday’s actions to ensure that our leaders serve us, the people, and not themselves. We must find out why law enforcement were ill-prepared and treated the white supremacists with a respect never afforded to Black Lives Matter protesters. We must hold the media accountable for their role in giving the president and his Republican enablers platforms to spread their lies and instigate violence.

Our first step is to call for accountability from our leadership. That’s why we’ve joined Working Families Party’s petition demanding:

• Support the Articles of Impeachment against Trump sponsored by Rep. Ilhan Omar, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, and others.
• Support Rep. Cori Bush's resolution to expel Members of Congress who are opposing the certification of lawful election results.
• Demand a full investigation into the security response to yesterday’s events, which allowed white nationalist insurrectionists to enter the Capitol, terrorizing people and causing the deaths of at least 4 people.

We did prevail early this morning when Congress certified the Biden-Harris victory. Now we must ensure that this power stays with us -- not the violent and influential few -- for the foreseeable future.

Will you sign on to demand that the people responsible for yesterday’s attempt to overturn the election are held accountable?

In solidarity,

Irene, along with Angela, Annie, Caitlin, Deepthi, Jay, Lindsay, LisaMarie, Molly, Raquel, and Scottie (the Courage team)

Footnote:

1. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/01/07/us/elections/electoral-college-biden-objectors.html