Closing Ranks: State Legislators Deepen Assaults on the Right to Protest

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

Tweet text:Nora Benavidez
@AttorneyNora
The anti-protest policy movement has been alive & well since 2017. But our new @PENamerica research found things are getting worse since George Floyd protest began last summer, with an uptick in pace of bills while penalties for protest become more severe.

Closing Ranks: State Legislators Deepen Assaults on the Right to Protest
State policymakers have introduced at least 100 proposals since June 2020 to reduce the scope of Americans’ right to protest, PEN America research finds.
pen.org
11:07 AM · May 18, 2021

https://pen.org/closing-ranks-state-legislators-deepen-assaults-on-the-right-to-protest/

In the wake of the mass protests for racial justice sparked by the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, a flood of legislation has been introduced in statehouses across the United States that would restrict protest rights. From June 1, 2020, through March 15, 2021, state policymakers have introduced at least 100 proposals in 33 states. Anti-protest bills were being introduced at an alarming rate even prior to last year’s protests, but as a point of comparison, from January to May of 2020, PEN America identified only 15 such proposals. The rate at which such legislation is being introduced has significantly increased since the protests sparked by Floyd’s murder began.

The 100 proposals introduced since June 2020 primarily take aim at protest-related activity—that is, activities that arise naturally from participating in a protest or are likely to occur as a foreseeable part of protests—seeking to create new penalties or expand existing penalties for such activity. A smaller number of proposals incentivize greater police presence during protests. Only six of the 100 proposals have a Democrat as a primary sponsor.

The majority—73—of these proposals came in the wake of the January 6 Capitol Hill riot. But it would be misleading to conclude that these bills have been developed overall as a direct response to the Capitol siege. The continuity between anti-protest bills proposed before January 6 and those that came after strongly indicates that state legislators have been sticking to the same anti-protest playbook developed in response to the largely peaceful Black Lives Matter protests.2 Many state legislatures also started a new legislative session in January, which accounts for the significant number of bills introduced since then. And based on existing research, there is reason to anticipate that even bills introduced on the pretext of responding to a right-wing insurrection are likely to be disproportionately enforced against movements led by people of color or focused on issues of racial and social justice.

These bills are part of a larger trend of anti-protest legislation proposed in recent years, which PEN America first documented in Arresting Dissent: Legislative Restrictions on the Right to Protest. That report was released on May 27, 2020, just two days after Floyd’s murder. In Arresting Dissent, PEN America found that many bills were seemingly or explicitly designed to target movements led by people of color, including Black Lives Matter protests and anti-pipeline protests often led by Native American communities; and the anti-fascist or “antifa” movement.

*snip*

[Lovie777]

1. This includes RWers? . . ..

Peaceful protest is a 1st Amendment right.

[Budi]

2. Red State things to criminalize before 2022:

Right to Vote
Rights of Women as equal
Rights of People of color, Religion, Gender
Right to Fair & Truthful education
Right to Gather & Protest
...
...
...

[Towlie]

3. Unfortunately, it's easy to sabotage a protest that you don't like.

 
←

All you have to do is disguise yourself, wait until dark, and join the crowd. Then join the other faux protestors in vandalizing and looting the area, take your spoils home with you, and the next day blame it all on the protesters as you enjoy your new stolen possessions.

The right to assemble peacefully and petition the government for a redress of grievances is a valuable and critical provision of our Bill of Rights, but it's fragile and vulnerable.