Friend,

Nearly a month out from January 6th’s violent white nationalist attack on the U.S. Capitol, and at the start of Black History Month—now’s the time to reckon with our country’s long history of white terror.

Time and again, violent white mobs have terrorized marginalized communities and gotten away with it, because white nationalism has been ingrained in this country since its founding.

To truly change the unjust status quo, we’ve got to hold the recent insurrectionists and their enablers in elected office accountable. But how we do so matters.

Because of our country’s inherent injustices and racist law enforcement, any expansion of surveillance or national security powers will be used to profile and target already-over-policed religious minorities and Black, brown, and Indigenous communities. This would further undermine our democracy and erode the American people’s human and civil rights.

That’s why I led progressive members of Congress to send a letter to congressional leadership opposing any expansion of our national security powers. More members of Congress and advocacy groups have joined the call, and now we urgently need members of the public to do the same. Can you join us?

Please sign now to tell Congress: In the wake of January 6th’s attack, use existing laws and authority to address white nationalist and far-right extremist groups' threats to our national security. Do not expand national security powers or laws, which would likely erode our liberties and jeopardize our rights.

Thank you,

Rashida

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Rashida Tlaib
Date: Wed, Feb 3, 2021
Subject: In wake of Capitol attack, some members of Congress want to take away rights
To: [email protected]

Friend,

In one of the darkest days for our democracy, a violent mob of white nationalists attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6th. We must hold these insurrectionists accountable, along with the government officials who incited and encouraged them.

However, in the wake of the attack, some of my colleagues in Congress are pushing to expand our laws to investigate and prosecute acts of domestic terrorism—measures which will further erode our human and civil rights.

Every time our country has increased its national security powers, they’ve been used to disproportionately target, surveil, and criminalize already-over-policed communities of color and religious minorities—the same marginalized groups targeted by white nationalists.

Sign now to tell Congress: Don’t expand national security powers at the expense of our rights. Use existing tools to hold white nationalists and insurrectionists accountable.

To expand the government's national security powers once again at the expense of the human and civil rights of the American people would only serve to further undermine our democracy, not protect it.

And because justice is not equal in this country, any new domestic terrorism legislation would end up being used to profile already-over-policed marginalized people.

We know this based on our country’s history, which is especially important to reckon with as we start Black History Month. As long as white people have been in this country, violent white mobs have inflicted terror as part of maintaining the unjust status quo. And they’ve gotten away with it.

The Department of Justice can already use over 50 federal statutes to hold the people who participated in the insurrection accountable. However, such laws have rarely been used against far-right extremists—instead, they’ve often been used against marginalized communities. (Given that a number of law enforcement officers were among the violent mob that attacked the Capitol, is this any surprise?)

As Diala Shamas, a staff attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, noted:

“Anyone familiar with the scope of surveillance and targeting of Black political dissent, or Muslim communities, knows that law enforcement has all the tools it needs to aggressively disrupt and hold accountable those who planned and participated in the storming of the Capitol. Why they didn’t raises serious questions, but it was not because their hands were tied. We don’t need new terrorism designations.”

It’s true!

Our national government already has the tools, resources, and authority needed to investigate and hold accountable the people who participated in January 6th’s insurrection. It’s just a matter of political will.

That’s why over 150 civil and human rights groups sent a letter to Congress opposing the creation of a new domestic terrorism charge, and it’s why I led 10 progressive members of Congress to send a letter to congressional leadership opposing any expansion of our national security powers.

And now we urgently need members of the public to do the same. Can you join us?

Please sign now to tell Congress: In the wake of January 6th’s attack, use existing laws, powers, and regulations to address white nationalist and far-right extremist groups' threats to our national security. Do not expand national security powers or laws, which would likely erode our liberties and jeopardize our rights.

Thank you for taking action!

Always serving you,

Rashida Tlaib