Silencing Black Voices Must End

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Dear Friend,

              Earlier this month, we received a very disappointing decision from the United States District Court in our litigation on behalf of Black Lives Matter, DC about the assault on anti-racism demonstrators in Lafayette Park on June 1, 2020. The Court’s decision effectively concluded that the President, the Attorney General, and other federal officials are above the law. We disagree and will continue to fight.

              As a nation, we profess to believe in protest and have enshrined it as a basic freedom in the First Amendment. Black protest, however, has never received the same protection as other demonstrators. There is an uninterrupted history of the violent suppression of people of color seeking to demonstrate for change that stretches from long before Bull Connor’s dogs or the Alabama State Troopers at the Edmund Pettis Bridge through the protests last summer.

              For Black lives to matter, we must hear Black protest and Black voices. What happened in June 1 was wrong and those responsible must be held to account.

Jonathan M. Smith
Executive Director

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Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, we temporarily transitioned our Clinic to a telephonic legal advice service.

To schedule an intake, contact (202) 319-1000 ext. 118. For Spanish please call (202) 319-1000 ext. 123.

Click here to get involved.