The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) stands with all concerned Americans during this time of heightened uncertainty and fear. We are closely monitoring the situation both in the Capital and with our contacts around the country in different states. As the threat of additional violence remains, ADC is calling on all community members to proceed with extreme caution, particularly those that reside in Washington, D.C., and near State Capitals across the country. We are asking our community to please be aware of your surroundings and to keep one another safe.
While we understand that the recent events in our Nation’s Capital have been alarming, we want you to know that ADC is with you and is ready to respond to your questions and needs. Please contact us at [?][email protected] with any of your concerns as the next few days unfold. If you are placed in physical danger because of your ethnicity, religion or national origin: Call the police (dial 911 in most communities), and/or click here to contact your local FBI office. It is the FBI’s job to investigate hate-motivated crimes and specific threats of violence. You can also report a hate crime to the FBI online using this form.
As the country grapples with the fallout from last week’s act of insurrection and sedition in the U.S. Capitol, ADC calls on lawmakers and elected officials to do what they can to bring an immediate end to the violence and division. Further, it is in the nation’s best interest that those responsible for the seditious acts to be held accountable. America is facing a reckoning with its comfortable relationship with white supremacy, a relationship that has been embraced and welcomed by elected officials, including the President of the United States, congressmen, senators and lawmakers alike. By embracing and coddling an extremist, conspiracy-laden, racist and hate-filled ideology, these elected officials have put the lives of all Americans especially BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) at risk and instead embraced Trumpism. Their refusal to acknowledge election results is nothing short of an attack on the democratic foundations and institutions of this country. More importantly, it is an attack on all Americans and our enfranchisement.
We also cannot ignore the extreme discrepancies in the response law enforcement had towards the January 6th insurrectionists and that which protestors and organizers from communities of color regularly face when calling for justice. ADC hopes that this attempted insurrection leads to immediate structural and societal changes that will seriously address the threat of white supremacy, demagoguery and fasicm. Now is the time for our elected officials to address the systems that have for so long wrongfully discriminated against and policed our communities, while at the same time allowing for right wing extremism to rein in every corner of our society. The attacks on January 6th put BIPOC, but also all Americans, at risk of succumbing to this dangerous and deadly ideology. We cannot allow for this to continue and demand accountability.