Twenty-Six Arrested
At Sessions Confirmation Hearing
RESIST! DONALD TRUMP, IMMIGRATION, JEFF
SESSIONS, LGBTQ, MARIJUANA, RACISM, WOMEN
By Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.org
January 10th, 2017
By Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.org
January 10th, 2017
Above: Members of CODE
PINK, Lenny Bianchi (l) and Tighe Barry (r), dressed up as KKK members jumped
out of their seats at Sen. Jeff Sessions’ Attorney General confirmation
hearing. By ANDREW HARNIK/AP
A total of 26 protesters
were arrested today in opposition to Jeff Sessions, including members of Refuse
Fascism, the NAACP, Democracy Spring, Code Pink, and Howard University,
according to Refuse Fascism. The group is calling for millions to pour
into the streets of DC to prevent Trump and Pence from assuming power.
The protests began even
before confirmation hearings officially began. Two CODE PINK members
dressed in KKK costumes stood up before the hearing was gaveled to express
their support for Sessions. They praised “Jefferson Beauregard” and as they
were taken from the room they yelled mockingly “you can’t arrest me, I am
white!” and “white people own this government.” In the hall as they were being
detained they explained that Sessions history on racism, immigration, LGBTQ
rights and sexism made him inappropriate to serve as attorney general.
There were a series of
protests against Sessions. A common chant of the protesters was “No
Trump! no KKK! No fascist USA!”
Protesters focused on
Sessions history of racism and bigotry against immigrants. As Al Jazeera reported:
“He was rejected for a federal judgeship by the Senate Judiciary Committee 30
years ago amid accusations of racism…During a 1994 campaign for Alabama
attorney general, Sessions came out in support of chain gangs – forced labor of
prisoners – and life sentences for children as young as 14 years old…Sessions
has also accused the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
Peoples (NAACP) civil rights group and the American Civil Liberties Union of
being ‘un-American.’” Sessions was forced to disavow the Klan saying he
abhors the Klan and all it represents.
With his past history of
racist comments people are concerned that he will not follow through on
Department of Justice investigations of police brutality and killings of
African Americans.
Others protested his
immigration record which is among the most aggressive in the senate, his
support for deportations and his views on African Americans. Protesters chanted
“Black Lives Matter” and urged senators “Do your job.”
A group of marijuana law
reform advocates in the back of the room must not have liked what they heard
when Sessions discussed his views on federal marijuana enforcement in
states that have legalized, decriminalized or put in place medical marijuana
laws. Sessions said his job was to enforce federal law: “One obvious
concern is the United States Congress has made the possession in every state
and distribution an illegal act. If that’s something that’s not desired any
longer Congress should pass a law to change the rule. It is not the Attorney
General’s job to decide what laws to enforce.” In other words he says it is his
job to enforce federal law that would make possession and sale illegal even in
states that have decriminalized or legalized marijuana. If he follows through
on this, it would meanthe end of a
major new market, that may be bigger than the .com boom.
Under questioning from
Democratic senators Sessions was forced to admit that water boarding was
illegal and was against the law for any federal official. He was also admitted
that grabbing a woman by her genitals was sexual assault and an elected official,
if the person was the president, should be investigated and prosecuted for such
acts.
Donations can be sent
to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD
21218. Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their
lives." Eugene Victor Debs
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