On 2nd Anniversary of the Tragedy in Buffalo, National Coalition Calls on Congressional Leadership to Remove Members Who Amplify Bigoted Rhetoric from Committee Assignments
On the two-year anniversary of the horrifying racially-motivated Buffalo shooting that killed ten Black people, more than 60 civil and human rights organizations have signed on to a letter to Congressional leadership urging them to unequivocally denounce white supremacist conspiracy theories and their use by members of Congress, and encourage members of their caucuses to refrain from peddling dangerous rhetoric.
Read the letter with full list of signers HERE: https://www.westernstatescenter.org/national-coalition-calls-on-congressional-leadership-to-remove-members-from-committee-assignments
The letter, signed by organizations including Southern Poverty Law Center, Western States Center, America's Voice, Color of Change, the National Urban League, Human Rights Campaign, Newtown Action Alliance, Voto Latino, Buffalo Jewish Federation, and others details how the Buffalo shooter was inspired by white supremacy and the conspiratorial notion of a great replacement. The perpetrator of the Buffalo attack wrote that he was motivated by the “great replacement” conspiracy theory, which he believed was facilitating a political replacement of white people. Two years later, this same false notion of “replacement” and “invasion” is leveraged regularly by Members of Congress to further political agendas related to immigration and national security.
The Great Replacement Theory has influenced other mass shootings including the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh that targeted Jewish people, the 2019 Walmart shooting in El Paso that explicitly targeted Latino people, and the 2019 Poway synagogue shooting, among others. Despite the clear danger that amplifying the Great Replacement Theory poses, members of Congress have referred to peaceful migrants and asylum seekers as “invaders” or as an “invasion” at least 127 times in their official capacity in hearings, on the floor, on official social media, or in official press releases.
The letter concludes:
We implore House and Senate leadership to not only condemn references to conspiratorial and white supremacist rhetoric, including references to “replacement” and an “invasion,” but to recognize the harms carried out by domestic extremists inspired by anti-Black conspiracy theories, remove members who amplify this rhetoric from Committees, and to publicly encourage the Members of your caucuses to refrain from using such rhetoric. We cannot allow prejudiced and inflammatory language to dominate critical policy conversations nor threaten our communities' safety and liberty.
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