Letter to Michael E. Horowitz, Inspector General of the United States Department of Justice - Congresswoman Cori Bush Sends Letter to the Department of Justice Inspector General Calling for Investigation into DOJ's Treatment of Black Protesters

Letter

Dear Mr. Horowitz,
I write today to convey my deep concern regarding the disparate treatment of Black protesters in
defense of Black lives and the white supremacist insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol Building.
The attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, in which a mob of insurrectionists illegally and
violently stormed the halls of Congress, justifiably terrified our country. It was a shameful act that
will forever stain this nation's history.
In the days since January 6th, it has become clear that this mob of insurrectionists barged through the
U.S. Capitol to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power and suppress the votes of millions of Black,
brown, and Indigenous people. Incited by former President Donald Trump, 800 insurrectionists
breached the first security perimeter of the Capitol Building, some heavily armed and prepared to
carry out acts of violence.
They stormed the U.S. Capitol, barreled past fences, barricades and walls,
and climbed over protective barriers and through broken windows. They then made their way to the
second-floor lobby and into the Senate Chamber. One woman was shot, and later pronounced dead,
and four other people died on Capitol grounds, including a U.S. Capitol Police officer.
Police seized five guns.
Of the 800 people who stormed the Capitol Building, 206 people have been arrested, and charged,
many of them charged with violating curfew laws.
It has come to my attention that Eric Muchel, one
of the insurrectionists who came prepared to hold Members of Congress hostage, was released on bond. And another, Riley June Williams, accused of stealing Speaker Nancy Pelosi's laptop, was
released to the custody of her mother as she awaits trial.

The pretrial conditions used for the insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol are rarely, if ever, used
when Black protesters are in question.
Too often, pretrial detention measures that aim to reduce the
rate of incarceration, like bail, advantage wealthier individuals over the poor, and are used as a tool to
incentivize guilty pleas. This must change, and it must change for every person in America.
The stark contrast between police treatment of these insurgents and the protesters who took to the
street following the police murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd could not be clearer.

In the
aftermath of the police torture and murder of George Floyd on June 1, 2020, 326 people were
arrested.
That same day, police officers cleared protesters using chemical agents to allow President
Trump a chance to take a photo-op,
and former Attorney General Bill Barr instructed law
enforcement officers to clear the streets around Lafayette Square, a directive that led to significant
aggressive policing towards peaceful protests.

In a year of mass protests in defense of Black lives,
when we have all borne witness to the deadly consequences of police brutality and negligence, this
discrepancy is personal. Too many of us witnessed the events of January 6th and knew that if these
insurrectionists looked like us, the response would have been very different.
As an organizer, nurse, pastor and activist on the ground in Ferguson in the wake of Michael Brown
Jr.'s murder, I was tear gassed and physically assaulted by law enforcement. I was stomped on by
police officers for trying to help a woman who we believed to be having a heart attack. I saw friends
and neighbors arrested and violence unleashed in our streets as law enforcement, including federal
agents, swarmed into Ferguson in 2014. I understand, intimately, the cyclical trauma of criminalizing
protest movements. The federal charges that have been lodged against Black protesters have lasting
impacts on the lives of those in our communities. It impacts our housing, our benefits, our access to social safety nets and resources. It is because of this that I am committed to not only understanding
the federal patterns and practices as they pertain to the criminalization of Black protesters--but I am
also fueled to propose solutions in an effort to mitigate these trends.
To better understand the criminalization of Black protesters, the DOJ Office of Inspector General
must investigate the disparate and racially biased treatment of activists and protesters by federal law
enforcement. To that end, I am requesting that you investigate the following:
1. During the summer 2020 protests that followed the torture and murder of George Floyd and
the murder of Breonna Taylor, did the Department of Justice implement policies and
procedures to guard against the violation of First Amendment rights, particularly when it
came to mass protests stemming from police violence? If so, please provide documents with
that information.
2. Did the Department of Justice issue guidance to federal agents and/or prosecutors related to
the arrest and charging decisions that stemmed from the George Floyd and Breonna Taylor
protests in the summer of 2020 and to the January 6th attack on the Capitol? If so, please
provide documents with that information.
3. Between 2014-2020, how many people have been federally charged due to activities relating
to Black Lives Matter protests? To the extent possible, please disaggregate this data by race,
gender, and county for each year.
4. Between 2014-2020, how many people have been held in federal detention, without bail, due
to activities relating to Black Lives Matter protests?
5. Between 2014-2020, how many complaints of misconduct have been lodged against federal
agents during Black Lives Matter protests? If there were complaints lodged against federal
agents, did the Department of Justice investigate them further?
6. Between 2014-2020, how many civil rights complaints have been lodged against federal
agents for their conduct during Black Lives Matter protests?
7. Between 2014-2020, did the apprehension and charging decisions of the Department of
Justice result in racially disparate outcomes?
If any of the information above is unavailable, we kindly request the Department's plan for gathering
this data in the future, as it is crucial in establishing institutional legitimacy. The American people's
faith in the credibility of our legal system is necessarily dependent on its ability to guard against
infringements on our constitutional right to peacefully protest, particularly when those rights are
being used to affirm the value of Black life. For this reason, I urge you to swiftly and thoroughly
conduct all necessary investigations and provide all available information. Thank you.
Sincerely,

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