Dear friends,

One year ago, a mob of armed insurrectionists stormed the Capitol building in an attempt to disrupt the election certification. They endangered the lives of everyone in that building, erected gallows to threaten violence against lawmakers, and attacked Capitol police officers who bravely defended our government.

Today, I am also thinking about the heroic officer who put his life on the line to protect us that day, as well as others who have died by suicide because of the terrible trauma they experienced. 

Friends, we must never allow such a horrific event to happen again in our nation. And so we must take some very important lessons from last year.

The fact that we came incredibly close to losing our democracy shows that it is something that must be protected. We must strengthen voting rights around the country, especially for marginalized communities who have historically faced disproportionate barriers to the ballot box and continue to do so.

And we must tackle the constant bombardment of misinformation and conspiracy theories online that have empowered bad actors to take up arms against our government. Tech companies must face consequences for their negligence, and as a member of the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, I am fighting for accountability in order to ensure that we don’t hand extremists a megaphone to spread their hateful views.

As we look forward to the 2022 elections, we have our work cut out for us. But I know we can do this. And I will keep fighting the good fight to protect our democracy and the good people of this country. 

–Yvette D. Clarke