An extensive list with no flies. New crimes posted. Increased use of the death penalty.
These are some of the ways politicians, experts and law enforcers want to fend off a repeat of the January 6 attack on the Capitol. But a renewed push for national security aimed at addressing domestic terrorism has left civil freedom groups concerned that the move to combat right-wing extremism would rather colored communities and left-wing activists be.
Last summer’s protests against racial justice sparked a national debate over the endurance of racism in America’s law enforcement and security apparatus. But despite a campaign on the need for institutional reform, some mainstream Democrats are now taking the lead in calls to expand it.
Senate leader Chuck Schumer called for the Capitol rioters to be placed on the no-fly list. President Joe Biden, whose website on his campaign promises the government will push for a domestic terrorism law, has ordered a comprehensive review of domestic violent extremism. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for a new “9/11-type commission”. And the first local anti-terrorism legislation that followed the Capitol attack was introduced in the House last week by Illinois Democrat Brad Schneider.
However, the Democratic Party is not entirely united on the issue.
Ten progressive members of Congress, led by Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, have sent a letter to the congressional leadership expressing opposition to the expansion of national security forces.
“The Trump mob’s success in violating the Capitol was not due to a lack of resources available to federal law enforcement,” the letter said. “We firmly believe that the US Government’s security and oversight powers are already too broad, undefined and irresponsible for the people.”
“Our history is littered with examples of initiatives deemed necessary to combat extremism that are rapidly being transferred to instruments used for the massive violation of the human rights and civil rights of the American people,” the letter continues.
It cites as examples the House Un-American Activity Committee of the McCarthy era, the surveillance of the civil rights movement in the 1960s and the invention of a category in 2017 called “Black Identity Extremism” which according to the FBI poses a risk to domestic terrorism inhou.
More than a hundred civil and human rights organizations have also joined a statement of opposition to any new domestic terrorism legislation.
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