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We Need Better Tools to Combat Domestic Terrorism
BY KENNETH L. MARCUS
THE CAPITOL RIOT should
be a wake-up call for those who
did not hear the alarm four
years ago at Charlottesville. The
riot wasn’t just an assault on
the seat of America’s govern-
ment, but also a development
that could endanger Americans
throughout the 50 states.

More than 70 people connected
with the Capitol riot have already
been charged, and the Justice
Department expects the number to
increase. Congress and the Justice
Department are right to address
the issue of insurrection first. It is
now increasingly clear that many
in the riot aimed to undermine
American democracy. When the
dust clears, President Joe Biden
and Congress must also address
the threat to all of us: The rioters
clearly signaled that they mean
to harm not only elected officials
but ordinary Americans.

A proper response must
protect all of the groups to
whom the rioters intend harm.

Many rioters were motivated by
racial hatred and anti-Semitic
beliefs. Several displayed known
symbols of hate: Confederate
flags, signaling anti-Black
racism, or the white nationalist
“Kekistan” flag, or a Three
Percenters flag, reflecting hatred
of Muslims and immigrants.

One rioter even wore a “Camp
Auschwitz” shirt.

But the Capitol riot was just
the tip of the iceberg. The latest
FBI hate crimes report shows
that hate crimes in 2019 surged
to their highest level in a decade,
including a record number of
hate murders. These figures are
simply too high. So what do we
do about it?
Some are now arguing for
hate speech laws, but this would
actually undermine our work.

Richard Stengel, the transition
team leader for the U.S. Agency
for Global Media, has urged new
legislation to curb Quran burning
and misinformation about
Russian election interference.

Such speech laws raise multiple
dangers, including political bias,
governmental favoritism and
outright censorship.

Some progressives may relish
the idea of suppressing right-
wing hate speech. But they
should consider that future
conservative governments, given
the same weapons, may restrict
progressive speech. Consider,
for example, Poland’s use of
hate-speech laws to persecute
LGBTQ activists who criticize
the Catholic Church.

Instead, begin by beefing
up police departments’ efforts
to protect all populations,
including the most vulnerable,
from physical violence. The
funds need not go to exotic
initiatives. What is needed is
basic law enforcement.

A recent report from the
U.S. Commission on Civil
Rights, which I directed over
a decade ago, urged funding
police departments to improve
data reporting on hate crimes.

Conservative commissioners
dissented from the report,
observing that it overempha-
sized right-wing crimes.

The dissenters are correct
to insist on evenhandedness in
a field that is too often polit-
icized. At the same time, in
order to adequately respond to
hate crimes committed in this
country, we have to understand
where, why and how often they
are happening.

Improved reporting is also
needed at colleges and univer-
sities. Swastika vandalism,
for example, has been under-
reported based on dubious
guidance from federal bureau-
crats. The Department of
Education recently rescinded
that guidance, but still permits
colleges to rely on it.

We also must do more to
combat domestic terrorism.

This year, a joint report by
the Anti-Defamation League
and the George Washington
University Program
on Extremism revealed the dearth
of reliable data on domestic
terrorism. The report’s primary
focus is white supremacy,
and the report noted that the
National Counterterrorism
Center, which was created to
produce integrated, interagency
assessments on terrorism issues,
is troublingly not permitted to
do so with respect to domestic
terrorism. The report also urged
the FBI to provide clear data on
its efforts to understand white
supremacist violence.

If left unchecked, this type
of hate can also fester within
American higher education. A
comprehensive response must
address places at which young
Americans are radicalized. This
includes not only right-wing
white supremacist organizations,
but also left-wing university
activities that promote violence.

Consider, for example,
that convicted hijacker Leila
Khaled, a leader in the desig-
nated-terrorist organization
Popular Front for the Liberation
of Palestine, was just this year
invited to speak at San Francisco
State University, New York
University and the University
of Hawaii at Manoa (remotely).

Khaled’s events were canceled
only when Zoom refused to
cooperate, understanding that
allowing the events to be hosted
on its platform could violate
anti-terrorism laws.

At Northeastern University,
Students for Justice in Palestine
announced an event to study the
PFLP’s “strategies and theory.”
At this event, students expected
to learn how to conduct “armed
struggle taking the form of
guerrilla warfare at first and
developing in the direction of
the protracted people’s liberation
war” against their “enemies.”
Their enemies include the “world
Zionist movement,” as well as
Israel, Arab moderates and
“world imperialism” (read: the
United States and its European
allies). In other words, they would
learn that the proper response to
political disagreement is not civil
dialogue but “armed struggle.”
What America needs, in
the wake of the Capitol riot, is
not for political dissidents —
whether they come from the left
or the right — to preach armed
violence. We should not pretend that
such adulation of terrorism
has no impact on real life any
more than we can pretend
that online white supremacy
groups are harmless. At the
University of Illinois, manda-
tory diversity training last year
included praise for the terrorist
Khaled. It is unlikely a coinci-
dence that this campus has
also experienced an uptick in
anti-Semitic incidents. It was
announced recently that the
U.S. Department of Education’s
Office for Civil Rights will inves-
tigate the university based on an
anti-Semitism complaint backed
by the Louis D. Brandeis Center
for Human Rights, the organiza-
tion that I founded and now run.

The university has pledged to
address the problem. Time will
tell whether it delivers.

Back in April, on the
campaign trail, Biden marked
the one-year anniversary of the
deadly shooting at a synagogue
in Poway, California, with a
commitment and plan to combat
hate crimes. If the president is
serious about this commitment,
his new attorney general cannot
permit hate and terrorist activity
to fester. After the Capitol riot,
this must be priority No. 1. l
Kenneth L. Marcus is chairman
of the Louis D. Brandeis Center
for Human Rights Under Law and
author of “The Definition of Anti-
Semitism.” He served as assistant
secretary of education for civil
rights (2018-2020).

We Must Do More to Protect Essential Workers
BY DORIT SASSON
WITH THE THREAT of a
renewed coronavirus outbreak,
essential workers are even
more needed on the front
lines. Every day, our essential
14 JANUARY 21, 2021
employees risk their lives to
protect ours. Our nation has
a responsibility to protect the
health and financial stability of
these heroes and their families.

As the wife of an essential
worker, I deeply understand
JEWISH EXPONENT
the risks that these essen-
tial workers face every day.

They are trapped in what I
refer to as a “psychological
malaise” stemming from fear
of exposure. They are asking
themselves, “Have I already
been exposed to the disease?
Will I need to take a COVID
test? Is it possible that I could
die from complications? What
will this mean for my family?
For my job?”
Because it’s difficult to
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



O pinion
adequately measure the risks,
especially in grocery store
environments, it’s even more
necessary to require closer
monitoring. Establishing a
“good neighbor policy” triage
system of checking in on each
other is what’s needed right now
to create a sense of community.

This cost-effective, easy-to-im-
plement strategy begins with
management asking their
employees daily, “Are you OK?
Is there anything you need?”
Embracing the notion that
we’re all in this together will, I
hope, create a stronger sense of
community, especially in retail
and medical environments
where workers may be trapped
in their feelings of loneliness
due to the stress and fear of
potentially being exposed to
the disease. But all too often,
these vulnerable workers end
up “playing it safe”for fear of
losing their jobs.

Establishing an “I’ve got
your back” community-wide
system could be great news for
mental health, as research d
demonstrates an increase in
mental health issues. Recent
case studies have shown that
“the feeling of increased
social support and of being in
this together may help limit
increases in loneliness.” I look
forward to seeing what will
be revealed in future studies
of companies that decide
to implement such “good
neighbor policies.”
Our government needs a
better understanding of these
essential workers — from retail
to medical establishments and
particularly those in custom-
er-facing roles and the risks
they face. Emerging research
shows that these workers are
five times as likely to test
positive as their colleagues
in other positions, which
raises the question of whether
essential workers potentially
exposed to COVID-19 can
manage coronavirus-related
health impacts in their own
lives. Already, many of them
are at an economic disad-
vantage — generally earning
lower wages and carrying
less health-related insurance.

Because of their high risk of
exposure, our country should
regard COVID-19 essential
workers similar to trained
military professionals and
offer a benefits package that
represents their obligations
and dangers.

There are some essential
workers who feel that at the
end of the day, all compa-
nies really only care about
is increased efficiency and
revenue. Even as we’re hoping
for favorable outcomes with
the vaccine rollout, our human
supply chain is breaking and
crumbling. We are not talking
about keeping up with the
supply chain of toilet paper
or wipes. If anything, after
a renewed outbreak globally
with more than 1 million
reported deaths worldwide,
this pandemic will have taught
us the fragility of the human
supply chain.

Our essential workers
are the heart of our global
economy, and without them,
our retail, grocery and hospital
systems would not exist.

Since our essential workers
risk their lives every day to
protect others, our nation and
individual companies should
speak up and show them how
much they matter. l
Dorit Sasson is a certified SEO
content strategist and writing
coach. Her new memoir is “Sand
and Steel: The Spiritual Journey
Home.” STATEMENT FROM THE PUBLISHER
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Connecting the Dots Between
Charlottesville and the Capitol Riot
BY KAREN DUNN, ROBERTA KAPLAN,
AMY SPITALNICK
THE JAN. 6 ATTACK on the
U.S. Capitol followed a playbook
we’ve seen before.

We know because we’re
bringing the federal lawsuit
against the
neo-Nazis, white supremacists and hate
groups responsible for the
Charlottesville violence. With
each new bit of information,
the parallels between Unite
the Right and Stop the Steal
become more alarming. A
straight line can be drawn from
Charlottesville to the Capitol
— and it is imperative, for our
safety and for our democracy,
that we all understand how to
connect the dots.

In August 2017, white
supremacists, neo-Nazis and
other far-right extremists
descended on Charlottesville.

As the evidence in our case
details, the violence that ensued
was no accident. It was metic-
ulously planned for months in
advance in private chat rooms:
a racist, violent conspiracy that
will finally be held accountable
in court later this year.

As with the Charlottesville
attack, what happened at
the Capitol was no accident.

These were not lone wolves
who spontaneously decided to
storm the U.S. Capitol building.

Rather, for weeks in advance,
on both mainstream and fringe
social media sites, these extrem-
ists organized, making clear
that there would be violence if
JEWISH EXPONENT
lawmakers, media, law enforce-
ment and others did not reject
the results of the 2020 election.

One person on the far-right
TheDonald forum asked,
“What if Congress ignores the
evidence?” “Storm the Capitol,”
was the response, with hundreds
of users liking the post. There
were countless similar posts
across various sites.

These posts eerily echo
the Discord chats in which
the Charlottesville violence
was planned, where there was
explicit discussion of hitting
protesters with cars nearly a
month before the attack that
took Heather Heyer’s life and
grievously injured our plaintiffs.

As in Charlottesville, the
Capitol insurrectionists showed
up with weapons and in tactical
gear, prepared for violence.

When these extremists say
they’re going to do something,
we must believe them.

The parallels
with Charlottesville don’t end with
the fact that both were violent
conspiracies planned online.

At the core of both Unite the
Right and Stop the Steal is a vile,
pervasive white supremacy that
includes palpable anti-Semitism.

The motivation for these extrem-
ists’ violence is their bigotry.

Much of this hate is predi-
cated on the idea of the country
being “stolen” from white people.

“Jews will not replace us” was a
direct callout to the vile Great
Replacement theory, which
argues that the white race is
being replaced by people of color,
with Jews as the puppet masters.

In fact, some of the same
white supremacists who terror-
ized Charlottesville showed up
at the Capitol, such as “Baked
Alaska” and Nick Fuentes who
were photographed ransacking
Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office.

One of the chief cheerleaders of
the Capitol attack was neo-Nazi
Andrew Anglin, a central player
in the Charlottesville violence
and a defendant in our suit.

And just as in Charlottesville,
within hours of the violence,
perpetrators defaulted to the
same excuse they used in 2017:
Antifa, even though there is zero
doubt that this was a premedi-
tated far-right extremist attack.

Now, these same extremists
are back online, using the Capitol
attack to recruit. So where do we
go from here? The only path
forward is one of accountability.

Our Charlottesville case
heads to trial this year — and
even before trial, there has
been true accountability for the
leaders of the violence, from
large financial penalties to an
extraordinary evidentiary
sanctions decision and even
jail time. It has deterred many
extremists from participating
in subsequent actions. Richard
Spencer recently complained
that he has been “financially
crippled” by the case, while
other defendants have had to
halt plans for new buildings or
events. But beyond our case and a
handful of individual prosecu-
tions, there has generally been
little accountability for violent
extremism. There is now an
opportunity to make clear the
severe consequences of this
terror. With a new administration
in office, there is an opportu-
nity to bring the full weight of
the federal government to bear
against these extremists —
and ensure that the playbook
seen in Charlottesville and at
the Capitol can never be used
again. l
Karen Dunn is a partner at Paul
Weiss and a former federal
prosecutor in Virginia. Roberta
Kaplan is the founding partner
at Kaplan Hecker Fink LLP. Amy
Spitalnick is the executive director
of Integrity First for America, the
civil rights nonprofit backing the
Charlottesville lawsuit.

JANUARY 21, 2021
15