In a bid to shut us all up, nineteen Republican-led state legislatures have introduced bills to limit or stifle peaceful demonstrations, say UN investigators.
Over the past few months, on the heels of a fresh wave of organizing by liberals, at least 19 states have introduced measures that would criminalize peaceful protest. In places such as Minnesota, Michigan and Iowa, Republican lawmakers have proposed laws that would stiffen penalties for demonstrators who block traffic. In North Dakota, GOP leaders are pushing a bill that would allow motorists to run over and kill agitators, as long as the crash was accidental. In Indiana, conservatives want to instruct police to use “any means necessary” to remove activists from a roadway. Opponents worry this could lead to more brutal police response.
Republicans are apparently happy to rip up the Constitution, now that Trump is in office.
Some bills increase fines and jail time, and some are tailor-made for particular issues in particular states.
In Missouri, some lawmakers want to make it illegal to wear a robe, mask or disguise (remarkably, a hoodie would count) to a protest. Lawmakers in North Carolina want to make it a crime to heckle lawmakers.
Taken together, the United Nations warns, these bills represent an “alarming and undemocratic” trend that could have a chilling effect on activism.
These bills conflate protest with violent protesters.
The U.N. experts said there was no such thing as a violent protest, only violent protesters. "One person’s decision to resort to violence does not strip other protesters of their right to freedom of peaceful assembly," Kaye and Kiai said.
Ironically, the U.S. State Department criticized Russia’s response to recent protests there, “calling them an affront to democratic values.” Will the U.S. State Department say anything about their Republican friends affronting our values in statehouses across the country?
The states listed in the Washington Post and Reuters articles linked above are:
Colorado, Missouri, North Dakota, North Carolina, Virginia, Indiana, Oklahoma, Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia
Time to protest these bills! And this is another reason for Democrats to filibuster Gorsuch. If these bills become law, they will almost certainly be challenged in court. It would be nice if the Supreme Court decided to uphold the Constitution and strike them down. But a lot of damage would be done in the meantime.
