Democrats, Including “Progressives,” Just Voted to Declare War on Black Activists and Pipeline Fighters

This nation was “founded” on a combination of defiance, confrontation and civil disobedience. The “Protect and Serve Act,” which is already being considered in the Senate after passing the House earlier this week, is an attempt to micturate on this tradition of civil disobedience and the 1st amendment of our Constitution via covert racism and white supremacy — and Democrats just allowed it to happen.

One of the greatest uses of civil disobedience occurred during the Civil Rights epoch of the 1960s, and today we are part of a resurgence with more and more people using non-violent direct action. Since 2014, as we’ve witnessed the murders Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, Alton Sterling, Sandra Bland and hundreds of Black and Brown men and women whose deaths have not received equal coverage, more and more people are taking to the streets to showcase their support for the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Black Liberation activists have pushed back through acts of civil disobedience and confrontation, with major flash points occurring in Ferguson, MO and Baltimore, MD.

Similarly, water protectors and pipeline fighters have upped the ante in demonstrating their defiance of fossil fuel infrastructure. Groups like the “Valve Turners,” who shut off five of the largest pipelines bringing in tar sands oil from Canada to the United States joined a growing community of everyday people standing up to the infrastructure and corporations fueling and funding the ever present climate crisis. And, of course, no one will ever forget the history made by the Native-led resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock, ND.

It cannot be denied that these collective acts of defiance have rocked the consciousness of the country, and, in some cases, have resulted in actions that directly benefit the people and the planet. The previous administration issued injunctions against the Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipelines (only to see them overturned by the current administration), Native Tribes have declared their sovereign rights by, in some cases, evicting fossil fuel infrastructure from their lands, one of the Valve Turners was just given clearance to utilize the necessity defense in her upcoming trial and more and more people are taking to the streets and otherwise showcasing their support for the #BlackLivesMatter movement. The status quo is rattled, but it does not necessarily appear that they are, in the words of the hip hop group Mobb Deep, “Shook Ones.”

Almost immediately after the departure of the last water protectors from Standing Rock’s Oceti Sakowin encampment, North Dakota Governor, Doug Burgum signed four bills into state law making it easier for law enforcement to suppress acts of civil disobedience. And states across the country have followed suit, with similar pieces of legislation passed or attempted from Washington State to Massachusetts. The one thing these bills have in common is that they were sponsored and largely supported by republican lawmakers. But that all changed very recently.

This Wednesday, with little attention, the House of Representative just passed the “Protect and Serve Act of 2018” sponsored by Representative John H. Rutherford (R-FL). The bill would make it a federal crime, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, for “knowingly causing serious bodily injury to a law enforcement officer, or attempts to do so.” It joins a host of others deemed “Blue Lives Matter” laws, which have been introduced and passed, in part as a reaction to rising defiance to documented brutality and racism practiced by law enforcement in this county.

Let us be clear: police departments across the country have justified brutality and murder by accusing their victims of assault, for actions as heinous as dodging a night stick or pushing back on a barricade that is crushing against a crowd. And we don’t need body cameras to know that law enforcement officials are not always honest about their actions that result in arrests and lethal force — assuming the cameras aren’t turned off as was the case with Stephon Clark in Sacramento. Cops in the U.S. already have more of a License to Kill than James Bond, and in many cases enjoy more impunity that he does (Bond at least, at times, faces some scrutiny from M for his actions.)

The Democratic support (162 voting “Yea”) for this bill is revealing, considering it includes “progressive champions” and Bernie Sanders allies Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), and Rep. Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke (D-TX), who is currently in a tight race for the U.S Senate against Ted Cruz. Outspoken Sanders supporter, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), who resigned from a party leadership seat due to her endorsement, abstained her vote on the bill.

It’s bad enough these “progressive” democrats voted on the bill in the first place. But did they closely examine the language of the bill, and recognize that in addition to being aimed at Black Liberation activists and their allies, it also serves as a warning shot to water protectors and others standing up to fossil fuel infrastructure? Assuming they didn’t, it’s important to review Section § 120 of the bill, which stipulates:

For purposes of subsection (a), the circumstances described in this subparagraph are that —

“(1) the conduct described in subsection (a) occurs during the course of, or as the result of, the travel of the defendant or the victim —

“(A) across a State line or national border; or

“(B) using a channel, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce;

“(2) the defendant uses a channel, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce in connection with the conduct described in subsection (a);

Looking closely, the clause associated with “using a channel, facility, or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce” is clearly aimed at those who put it on the line to confront fossil fuel infrastructure like interstate and international pipelines similar to DAPL, KXL and Kinder Morgan, and attempting to intimidate those considering action. In short, we have a ball game, and the opponent is putting lots of pine tar on the balls. The slope couldn’t be more slippery if you added all the oil we need to keep in the ground to it.

Consider this: a water protector locks down to a pipeline utilizing non-violent direct action. If a law enforcement official is injured in the process of cutting them free, that subject could face ten years in prison. And the same situation applies when people defend their communities from police assault — think Ferguson and Baltimore. It’s up to us to kill this bill in the Senate before it allows more people to be killed in the streets and their backyards, and before it punishes people for having the temerity to fight for the planet and human survival.

The Protect and Serve Act coincides with Donald Trump’s profoundly authoritarian speech earlier this week honoring law enforcement officials who recently lost their lives. At one point Trump stated, “We must stand up for our police, we must confront and condemn dangerous anti-police prejudice,” and took it to another level when he commented, “We are the ones who are taking back the streets.” The comments drew condemnation from the ACLU and NAACP. Law enforcement officials already have a blank check as it pertains to using lethal force and unchecked brutality against unarmed citizens - the combination of this bill and this president now gives them more of an opportunity to cash it.

The great Fred Hampton told us, “you can kill the revolutionary, but you can’t kill the revolution.” Despite these intimidation tactics and abandonment by Democrats and “progressives” alike who supported this bill, if I were a betting man, I’d still put my money on the revolution staying alive and multiplying like Bebe’s kids.

All power to the people, and all people to the power.