At home, we are also facing threats to democracy – different in kind, but threats, nonetheless.
We see them in efforts to undermine the right to vote.
We see them in the violence and threats of violence that are directed at people because of who they are or how they serve the public.
We saw them when a violent mob stormed the United States Capitol in an attempt to prevent the peaceful transfer of power.
First, I want to talk to you about the right to vote.
Shortly before I started high school, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act, thanks to the persistent calls to action of the Civil Rights Movement. That Act gave the Justice Department important tools to protect the cornerstone of our democracy – the right of all eligible citizens to vote.
But while many of you were in high school, the Supreme Court significantly weakened those protections. And while you were in college or graduate school, court decisions weakened them even further.
Following those decisions, there has been a dramatic increase in legislative efforts that make it harder for millions of eligible voters to vote and to elect representatives of their own choice.
Those efforts threaten the foundation of our system of government. And there may be worse to come.
Some have even suggested giving state legislatures the power to set aside the choice of the voters themselves.
That is not the way a representative democracy is supposed to work.
As I said before, when I was sitting where you are sitting today, there were many things to worry about. But it never occurred to me that the right to vote would again be threatened in this country.
At the same time that we are witnessing efforts to undermine the right to vote, we are also witnessing violence and threats of violence that undermine the rule of law upon which our democracy is based.
We have all seen the violence and threats of violence that have been directed at people solely because of who they are, where they are from, what they look like, whom they love, how they worship, or what they believe.
Just weeks ago, we witnessed the horrific attack that took the lives of 10 Black Americans, and injured three others, in Buffalo, New York. The Justice Department is investigating that act as a hate crime and an act of racially motivated violent extremism. (Applause.)
We have also seen the violence and threats of violence directed against Americans who serve and interact with the public at every level — many of whom make our democracy work every day.
These are our fellow citizens — who administer our elections, ensure our safe travel, treat the sick, teach the children, report the news, represent their constituents, ensure the rule of law, and keep our communities safe.
These threats and acts of violence are permeating so many parts of our national life that they are becoming normalized and routine.
This is deeply dangerous for our democracy.
In a democracy, people vote, argue, and debate – often loudly – in order to achieve the policy outcome they desire.
But the promise of democracy is that people will not employ violence to affect that outcome.
And yet, we saw that promise tested on January 6, 2021.
On that day, as the United States Congress was meeting to certify the vote count of the Electoral College, a large crowd violently forced entry into the Capitol.
We all watched as police officers were punched, dragged, tased, and beaten.
We saw journalists targeted, assaulted, tackled, and harassed.
Members of Congress had to be evacuated.
And proceedings were disrupted for hours — interfering with a fundamental element of American democracy: the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to the next.
Like the threat to voting rights, this kind of direct attack on an American institution is something I never worried about as I was graduating from college. There had been such attacks on foreign capitals in foreign lands. But a storming of the U.S. Capitol itself had not taken place since the War of 1812.
Our country’s institutions – like the Department I lead – are central to the effort to defend our democracy.
The Justice Department was founded for exactly that purpose in the midst of Reconstruction following the Civil War. Its first principal task was to battle with white supremacists – particularly the Ku Klux Klan – who violently sought to prevent Black Americans from exercising their constitutional rights.
Defending democracy remains our urgent charge today.
Today, we are assisting international efforts to identify and hold accountable those responsible for the atrocities in Ukraine.
More Articles
- Board of Governors: Minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee June 14–15, 2022; Consumer Price Inflation Remained Elevated
- The Horror; A “Vacuum Bomb"; Do You Remember the First Time You Heard the Term 'Atomic Bomb'?
- From The Desk of Secretary Antony J. Blinken, US Department of State
- Representative John Lewis Speaks with High School Students: 'Good Trouble' in Georgia's Fifth District
- Opening Statement of Marie L. Yovanovitch to the House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Committee on Foreign Affairs, & Committee on Oversight and Reform October 11, 2019
- Updated: House Committees Release Testimony of Sondland and Volker in Addition to Yovanovitch and McKinley As Part of New Public Phase of Impeachment Inquiry
- Updated: House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Hearing; Whistle Blower Complaint Released
- Aging America: The Cities That Are Graying The Fastest