In response to the urgent need to protect our democracy as we face ongoing threats of violence in the nation’s capital ahead of Inauguration Day, Dr. Seft Hunter, Director of Community Change’s Black Freedom Collective said:

After a historic general election that saw a record turnout of Black voters in states that determined the outcome for President-elect Joe Biden, Donald Trump continues to spread disinformation about the election results. The president’s overt demands to invalidate the voices of Black voters by intimidation, lawsuits, and violence culminated in his supporters violently attacking the U.S. Capitol, resulting in multiple deaths and property damage. Trump continues to undermine the core of the American democratic system. His supporters are planning armed actions at state capitols across the country leading up to next week’s presidential inauguration.  

We understand that this white supremacist attack is in part a backlash against the celebration of the record number of Black Georgia voters electing the first Black Democratic senator in the history of the  state. Together, we flipped the U.S. Senate to Democratic control.  Black-led organizing created a new era of progressive political possibility to finally address the intersecting public health, economic and political crisis in the country. This was a hard-fought victory that we must not let be dismantled by the president, Republicans in Congress and their white supremacist supporters. 

In summer 2020, when a multiracial group of Americans organized and peacefully marched to demand police accountability, they were met with disproportionate violence and mass arrests — many are still fighting the countless charges brought against them. Meanwhile, those who planned, supported and participated in the U.S. Capitol riots were walk free and many remain at large. Those responsible for the insurrection include the Republican members of congress who, even after the riot, still tried to invalidate state-certified election results.

The Black Freedom Collective demands the following:

1. The Immediate removal of Donald Trump either through the invocation of the 25th amendment or impeachment.

• The censure and expulsion of any member of Congress who was involved in inciting or fomenting the January 6th insurrection.
• Immediate passage of legislation to restore crucial elements of the Voting Rights Act that were gutted by the U.S. Supreme Court; expand access to voting to all formerly and currently incarcerated people; enhance voting access and political representation by counting people who are incarcerated as residents of their most recent communities.

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Community Change is a national social justice organization that builds the power and capacity of low-income people, especially low-income people of color, to change the policies and institutions that impact their lives.

The Black Freedom Collective is a growing national coalition of black-led organizations across the field of community organizing, committed to Black liberation, the investment of the economic, social, and cultural infrastructure of black communities.  For more information go to communitychange.org #Repairtheharm.