Between the grilling of Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber before the House Oversight Committee and the release of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on torture, there have been plenty of fireworks in Washington, D.C. today. It was easy, then, to miss a Senate hearing Tuesday afternoon on the state of civil rights and human rights in the United States chaired by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).
In one hour I'll convene my hearing on the #StateOfCivilRights & #HumanRights on the Hill. Stream it live here http://t.co/3fPgaDlTlw
— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) December 9, 2014
Excited to join RT @SenatorDurbin In one hour I'll convene my hearing on the #StateOfCivilRights & #HumanRights http://t.co/2b5DfwuSWz
— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) December 9, 2014
Finishing my speech for #StateofCivilRights hearing in Senate Judiciary with @RepGutierrez @CoryBooker @SenatorDurbin pic.twitter.com/r1S4nBcqVg
— Keith Ellison (@keithellison) December 9, 2014
The hearing might have been overshadowed for most by other business, but groups like Color of Change, CAIR, the Community Justice Project, and the Black Alliance for Just Immigration adopted the hearing as their own, encouraging their members to tweet Durbin their stories of police brutality with the hashtags #OurHearing and #ThisStopsToday.
RT: Ever experience police brutality? Make sure your story is heard during @SenatorDurbin hearing on #humanrights! pic.twitter.com/F1tvysi0tI
— ColorOfChange.org (@ColorOfChange) December 9, 2014
Help create twitter storm during @SenatorDurbin 's congressional hearing on #humanrights. How has police violence impacted you? #OurHearing
— ColorOfChange.org (@ColorOfChange) December 9, 2014
Quite a few Twitter users delivered.
https://twitter.com/geauxAWAYheaux/status/542396948959866880
https://twitter.com/geauxAWAYheaux/status/542397212198592513
https://twitter.com/AshleyPoag/status/542407601279868929
being unlawfully detained for 16 hours for peacefully protesting and demanding justice #ThisStopsToday @SenatorDurbin
— fyowhore dostoevsky (@melaninmedusa) December 9, 2014
@SenatorDurbin I've been arrested over 5x in recent months 4 marching w/my hands up & speaking. PD's who kill children have not. #ourhearing
— Vanessa Lynch/Zorlu (@drvonskillet) December 9, 2014
@SenatorDurbin I've been beaten by police for feeding the homeless. Where is my justice?
— Mista Matt (@mateolerma) December 9, 2014
White police officers view our young black boys and girls as "men and women" — Why can't our youth be young? #ourhearing @SenatorDurbin
— Black Student Union (@StanfordBSU) December 9, 2014
https://twitter.com/Right_Then_Left/status/542413845063421953
If Durbin had anything to say in defense of law enforcement, he kept it to himself in favor of throwing police (and the Founding Fathers) under the bus. His words were certain to please his audience, though.
The history of our country has been a slow march to fulfill the promise of our ideas #StateOfCivilRights #HumanRights
— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) December 9, 2014
"The men who wrote that "all men are created equal" were slaveholders." Important reminder from @SenatorDurbin, speaking on race in US.
— NCJW (@NCJW) December 9, 2014
@SenatorDurbin: Whites use drugs at a higher rate than blacks, but blacks are prosecuted 10x more often. #StateOfCivilRights hearing.
— Lindsey Kerr (@LindsKerr1) December 9, 2014
When our govt believes it is ok to racially profile innocent Americans, there is more work to do #StateOfCivilRights
— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) December 9, 2014
When Muslim Americans are the targets of violent hate crimes simply b/c of their religion, there is more work to do #StateOfCivilRights
— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) December 9, 2014
When states around the country adopt laws that make it harder for minority communities to vote, there is more work to do #StateOfCivilRights
— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) December 9, 2014
When unarmed African-American men & boys are killed, their names bringing tears to our eyes, there is more work to do #StateOfCivilRights
— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) December 9, 2014
When protestors take to the streets crying “Hands up, don’t shoot” or “I can’t breathe”, there is more work to do #StateOfCivilRights
— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) December 9, 2014
5.8M Americans are denied the right to vote b/c they are ex-offenders. This disproportionately affects people of color #StateOfCivilRights
— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) December 9, 2014
Congress must play its part. We should start with bipartisan efforts to protect #CivilRights & #HumanRights #StateOfCivilRights
— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) December 9, 2014
Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Ill.) delivered some similar talking points.
People can't breathe because of the cycle of violence between police and African Americans: http://t.co/MKMwQXH5Tg #StateOfCivilRights
— Keith Ellison (@keithellison) December 9, 2014
We cannot stop the pattern of violence unless we deal with the structural economic abandonment of cities like Ferguson #StateOfCivilRights
— Keith Ellison (@keithellison) December 9, 2014
So, the key to stopping violence is to halt “the structural economic abandonment of cities like Ferguson”? Burning it down wasn’t the right move, then.
Too many people see Muslim Americans as a security problem — not members of our community ready to contribute #StateOfCivilRights
— Keith Ellison (@keithellison) December 9, 2014
African Amer & Latinos are disproportionately impacted by the criminal justice system overall. #stateofcivilrights pic.twitter.com/GJF9qHwFVV
— Luis V. Gutierrez (@RepGutierrez) December 9, 2014
We cannot rest in pursuit of justice & fairness, esp in the face of tragic, needless loss of life #stateofcivilrights pic.twitter.com/tzVUjj6t2g
— Luis V. Gutierrez (@RepGutierrez) December 9, 2014
Attendees and viewers seemed upset that several senators bugged out early.
.@SenatorDurbin and @alfranken only senators remaining at subcommittee hearing on state of civil and human rights in the US.
— ruthie epstein (@carla_ruth) December 9, 2014
Disappointed that only @SenatorDurbin and @alfranken remain at Senate hearing on #StateOfCivilRights
— NCJW (@NCJW) December 9, 2014
Durbin’s mantra seemed to be, “there is more work to do” — which makes this next bit of news all that much better.
Today is @SenatorDurbin's last hearing as chair of the civil rights subcommittee before handing the gavel to @tedcruz #StateOfCivilRights
— Jeremy Haile (@texpat) December 9, 2014
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