Civil Rights Groups Urge Barr to Protect Voters from White Supremacist Threats at the Polls

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 7, 2020
Contact: Janessa Sambola-Harris, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, [email protected]
Phoebe Plagens, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, [email protected],
646.979.7382

WASHINGTON – In reaction to comments by Trump in recent weeks, members of white nationalist gangs seemingly feel emboldened to commit more acts of violence to interfere with the election. In response to this threat, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and 56 other national and state organizations urged U.S. Attorney General William Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray to protect Americans from the threat of white supremacists as early in-person voting continues in several states.

“Within minutes of the President calling on the Proud Boys to ‘stand back and stand by’ during the debate last week, members and supporters of this virulently anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic, misogynistic, anti-immigrant and racist gang celebrated the president’s words as a call to action.   And when the president encouraged his supporters ‘to go into the polls and watch very carefully,’ many heard a call for voter intimidation, a fear bolstered by the actions of armed white right-wing militias that have garnered support from the president in recent months as they confronted anti-racist protesters,” the groups wrote in their letter to Barr and Wray.

The FBI has acknowledged the danger posed to national security by white supremacist organizations and people who ascribe to their racist ideologies. The groups’ letter notes that recent Department of Homeland Security reports confirm that white supremacists pose the gravest terror threat to the United States.

“We are already seeing an unprecedented number of voters, with more than 5.5 million people already having cast their ballots at the time we are sending this letter. Like all people who believe in our democracy, we celebrate this increase in voter engagement and activity, and we want to ensure that you are taking all possible actions to protect it. The Department of Justice has an obligation to ensure that all qualified voters have the opportunity to cast their ballots and have their votes counted free of discrimination and intimidation,” they advised.

The civil rights groups requested a thorough plan to protect voters from the threat of white nationalists’ activities, and to account for the allocation of resources devoted to tracking these gangs’ activities throughout the election.

The signatories and letter are available here.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 220 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.

Founded in 1940, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) is the nation’s first civil and human rights law organization and has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957—although LDF was originally founded by the NAACP and shares its commitment to equal rights. LDF’s Thurgood Marshall Institute is a multi-disciplinary and collaborative hub within LDF that launches targeted campaigns and undertakes innovative research to shape the civil rights narrative. In media attributions, please refer to us as the NAACP Legal Defense Fund or LDF.