26 Protesters Arrested for Disrupting the Sessions Hearing!

January 10, 2017 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

Carl Dix on Disrupting the Sessions Hearing: There Is A Way… and There Are Forces Acting To Stop The Trump Regime Before It Starts

Carl Dix was interviewed by Refuse Fascism after his release from jail on January 10. Read the full interview here.

Refuse Fascism: Tell us what you did at the confirmation hearing for Jeff Sessions, Trump’s nominee for Attorney General today, and why.

Carl Dix: What I did was, I called out what Sessions concentrates, in terms of character of the regime that Trump and Pence will bring if they’re allowed to take the reins of power. Because you’ve got this guy who remembers fondly the days of Jim Crow, who wants to unleash a vicious clampdown on immigrants, and he is being tapped by Trump to be the head of the Justice Department. The guy who is supposed to be in charge of administering justice in this society. And it makes real clear that the injustices that already come down on people will be greatly intensified, like put on steroids. And the ability to fight those injustices is going to be closed in on.

So, looking at that, and sitting as the hearing was opening, and listening to the Senators talk about what a great guy Jefferson Beauregard Sessions was, how there’s no racism in his history. And they didn’t say, he’s moved from his history, they said he was misrepresented in the past, and that he was misrepresented again today. And it was very hard to sit there and listen to that. So the minute that Sessions goes into his opening remarks, I felt like, this has gotta be stopped. This can’t go on without it being called out for what it is. And I stood up and began, “No Trump, No KKK, No Fascist USA!”

Read full interview

Reverend William Barber led an interfaith march of 500 people on January 9 to speak out against Sessions' appointment.

The confirmation hearings for Trump’s nominee for Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, did not go as hoped for, or planned, for these imperial politicians. Time and time again the hearings were disrupted—by a broad array of fighters from many different movements and sections of the people who came together with the same common determination to denounce Sessions’ appointment and these hearings.

Even before Sessions had a chance to open his mouth, he was greeted by two hooded ‘members’ of the Ku Klux Klan with big foam sports ‘hands’ declaring their full support for Sessions, joined by others from Code Pink (see interview with Medea Benjamin). All of them were dragged out of the chambers and arrested. Shortly after that, Carl Dix, an initiator of RefuseFascism.org, and another activist with RefuseFascism stood up and declared for all to hear: “No Trump! No KKK! No Fascist USA! Millions must pour into the streets to prevent Trump-Pence from taking power. RefuseFascism.org.” Dix was followed by two other groups of organizers with the RefuseFascism movement who stood up and continued: “NO Trump! No KKK! No Fascist USA!” They too were hauled out of the room.

But the people were not done. Again the hearings resumed, getting back to the ‘solemn’ process of putting their rubber stamp of approval on this pig. Once again, this time people chanting “Black Lives Matter” stood up, one after another, and raised signs and made statements as they were escorted out of the room. And still later, seven people involved with the regional organization CASA Latino stood up and called out Sessions’ anti-immigrant attacks, including his threats that people of the Muslim religion should be treated as suspects, his support for the Klan, and more. On January 14, protests are planned against Trump’s threat to immigrants in 22 cities across the country.

And at the same time that the hearing was taking place, a group of Howard University students, from the NAACP Chapter and members of Democracy Spring—with the support of the Howard University Student Association—took over Sessions’ nearby office and were arrested and dragged out when they refused to leave. In all, 26 protesters were arrested for refusing to allow the fascist regime’s first appointment to be sanctified without a message being delivered that for millions of people in this country, this approaching horror is unacceptable.

In addition, on the day before this hearing, Reverend William Barber, the top official of North Carolina’s NAACP, led a march of 500 people speaking out against Sessions’ appointment before delivering a petition against Sessions to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office. Barber said that “Sessions’s immoral record shows consistent support for ideological extremism, racist and classist policies, and the writing of discrimination into laws.”

The impact of all of these different expressions of opposition and resistance have delivered a powerful challenge to the hearings as a whole. They make clear that many different and growing sections of society are awakening to the danger, the horror represented by the Trump-Pence regime and are compelled to speak out, and to act with courage and daring to oppose, resist, and do all they can to stop Sessions.

Code Pink was one of the organizations that disrupted the Senate confirmation hearings of Jeff Sessions today. The staff of refusefascism.org interviewed Code Pink spokesperson Medea Benjamin on what they did, and why. The following is an excerpt from that interview. Read the full interview here.

Q: Could you tell us what happened today, at the Sessions hearing, what Code Pink did ?

Medea Benjamin: Well, we started out with two of our members dressed as members of the Ku Klux Klan, with white hoods on, and white sheets. They got up on chairs before the hearing started and were doing a parody, saying “hey, Sessions, he’s our boy, we’re so glad you’re gonna be in charge. We’ll go back to the good old days”. They started getting dragged out, and they shouted “hey, you can’t arrest me, I’m a white guy”. And, well, they got arrested.

And then we had another woman who got arrested simply for actually laughing when one of the people introducing Sessions said his stellar record speaks for itself! Then of course a number of other people got arrested for different things. Many of us were there with our Lady Liberty costumes, dressed as the Statue of Liberty. We had signs saying “end racism, Stop Sessions”, “No To Islamophobia, Stop Sessions”, and other messages of that sort. Messages like supporting the LGBTQ community ....

One person from Code Pink is still in jail and two people are out. They were charged with “disrupting Congress”, even though the people who are out did their disrupting before the Congressional hearing even started.

Q: What inspired and motivated people to do this?

MB: Well, we have been more and more shocked by, not only Donald Trump’s declaration of victory, but his cabinet picks. Each one has been worse than the other one. So, we have been determined to protest as many of them as we could. And we’re particularly concerned about Jeff Sessions as the attorney general, because this is the highest law enforcement agency of the land. To have someone who has the reputation and record of being a racist, and an Islamophobe, an anti-LGBTQ community person, is a terrible thing.

So, we do these things to show the American people that there are those of us concerned who are courageous enough to stand up, and try to inspire a lot of people. We do it to show the global community that there are Americans willing to stand up. And we do it because we care about our country, and its future. Many of us have kids, and grandkids, and we’re concerned about their future. So, for all of those reasons we were there, speaking out.

“We are all going to lose if we don’t fight for justice and real democracy”

Revolution was able to interview an Immigrants Rights activist from CASA Latino who was at the Sessions Hearing. The following is an excerpt of the interview:

Revolution: Tell us what happened in the confirmation hearing.

Young woman: We went inside. There was a very diverse group of activists. And citizens that are very, very much concerned about the possibility of having somebody like Sessions as our Attorney General. The person who becomes the Attorney General is going to be basically the architect who’s going to shape the policies that affect immigrants, Muslims, the LGBT community, women, and African Americans, basically the minorities.

So, we went there to denounce what we know about Sessions. That he has worked with the KKK. That he has called African American men “boys”, and that he has always been very anti-immigrant. He has never collaborated on any immigration reform bills. He’s also anti LGBT. And we expressed our concern, and asked the other senators to do their job and defend the American people. And not vote him in.

I know there were folks from Code Pink. The beautiful thing about this is that we were seven. But we were told there were 26 people arrested today from different organizations arrested. Which shows that there is activity resonating, with concern about our message.

Q: Talk more about this being a “beautiful thing.”

Young woman:That we are not alone when we are taking a stand. We immediately realized that there were many others with us, also defending very similar positions that we hold dear to our hearts. For me that was a beautiful thing. It wasn’t a coordinated effort. I mean, we didn’t know Code Pink was gonna be here. We didn’t know that these other groups were going to be here. United We Dream. We all converged, and said what we needed to say, and now we’re all here.

Q: What happened inside the Senate?

Young woman: During the hearing, different Senators were asking questions. When it was our turn to be inside the hall… Senator Ted Cruz was speaking, and at that point we realized that Senator Cruz was not going to do any critical inquiries, and he was just there grandstanding. So one by one, all seven stood up and spoke their minds very loudly. They were removed from the room and arrested. They said that Sessions has worked with the KKK. And with white supremacist groups, and that he is an enemy of the African American community, of the immigrant community. And that the senators have to do their job, and not confirm him. Variations of that message, in one way or another.

Q: What do you see as what needs to be done now?

Young woman: What we have to do right now, is this is the first hearing of a serious nomination that the president elect is trying desperately to railroad, to get his way, without proper vetting, and basically discouraging any form of protest and dissent. It’s really critical that the progressive community set the tone and say we are not going to take this lying down. And that we are going to be fighting every step of the way. With all of our resources available. Whether it is civil disobedience... we’re in this together, whether we realize it or not, or want to or not. And we are all going to lose if we don’t fight for justice and real democracy.

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