An extended non-fly list. New crimes on the books. Increased use of the death penalty.
These are some of the ways in which politicians, experts and law enforcement want to repeat the January 6 attack on the Chapter. But a renewal of national security aimed at tackling domestic terrorism has caring civil liberties groups worried that far-right extremist movements will instead take place against communities of color and left-wing activists.
Last summer’s racial justice protests began a national conversation about the resistance of racism in America’s law enforcement and security apparatus. But despite the campaign to reform these institutions, some mass Democrats are now taking the lead in calling for their expansion.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has called for the Capitol rebels to be on the banned list. President Joe Biden, whose campaign website promises his administration that it “will work for an internal terrorism law,” has ordered a comprehensive assessment of domestic violent extremism. House spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi called for a new “11/11 commission.” And the first domestic legislation on terrorism following the Capitol attack was introduced in the House last week by Illinois Democrat Brad Schneider.
However, the Democratic Party is not fully united in this regard.
Ten progressive members of Congress, led by Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, have sent a letter to congressional leadership expressing opposition to expanding national security powers.
“The success of the Trump mafia in violating the Chapter was not due to the lack of resources available to federal law enforcement,” the letter reads. “We strongly believe that the national security and surveillance powers of the US government are already too broad, undefined and unspoken for the people.”
“Our history is full of examples of initiatives sold as necessary to combat extremism that are rapidly becoming tools used for the mass violation of the human and civil rights of the American people,” the letter continued.
He cites as examples the McCarthy House House of Representatives, the surveillance of the civil rights movement in the 1960s, and the invention of a category in 2017 called “Black Identity Extremism,” supported by the FBI, pose a risk of internal terrorism.
More than 100 civil and human rights organizations have also joined in a statement of opposition to any new domestic terrorism legislation.
Read more: