Stop Domestic Terror
Recently, there has been an explosion in threats and acts of domestic terrorism. The majority of these can be traced to groups and individuals who do not accept the results of our recent election or the laws enacted or proposed by those who have been elected. They seek to undermine the democratic process through threats, intimidation, and even outright murder. They can't accept the legitimacy of the President, or a woman's legal right to make choices about her own medical care, or an immigrant's right to be treated humanely under the law, so they carry out acts that are antithetical to American democracy, American values, and both civil and human rights.
The fringe elements that makes up those who commit these acts of terror, are frequently exploited by a continuous wave of rightwing media advocating violence, either directly or indirectly, by commentators amplifying the talking points of extremist religious leaders and extremist political leaders. The fringe is incited on our public airwaves, and urged to take matters into their own hands, with the underlying belief that the Bible and/or U.S. Constitution justify using "whatever means" are necessary to oppose what they believe to be immoral laws.
We are taking a stand against this dangerous trend towards the incitement of lawlessness and violence. We strongly believe in the First Amendment right of free expression and discourse, even when that expression is abhorrent or not in line with our own beliefs. However, the First Amendment does not protect debate where one side includes the threat or act of violence.
We have written a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder outlining our concerns and requesting that he act quickly to address this wave of domestic terrorism. A copy of the letter is here with the exhibits A-F here:
Exhibit A-Pet for Inquiry (FCC Letter)
Exhibit B-Letter to NTIA (NTIA Letter)
Exhibit C-Armed Revolution (Armed Revolution Website)
Exhibit D-Tiller Report (Op Rescue Tiller Baby Killer)
Exhibit E-talk radio(Structural Imbalance of Talk Radio)
Exhibit F-Frank Schaeffer letter (Schaeffer Letter to Holder)
Specifically, we are taking the following steps to address this dangerous trend toward extremism.
Urge the Department of Justice to:
study this trend toward the encouragement of violent lawlessness and initiate action to counter it,
investigate and prosecute those who are committing and inciting others to commit acts of violence,
review whether any media groups are violating antitrust laws by monopolizing media or media markets, or failing in their obligation to meet the "public interest" of their FCC broadcast licenses.
support an update and study by the FCC and NTIA of the 1993 report, "The Role of Telecommunications in Hate Crimes."
Conduct an investigation into the rise of extremism and violence and the role of the media in this phenomenon
Urge Congress to hold hearings on the responsibility of the licensed broadcast media to conduct itself in the public interest
Support legislation to require diversity in media ownership, encourage broader minority ownership of FCC licensed media outlets, and that otherwise reverses the dangerous trend of media monopolies allowed following the passage of Bill Clinton's Telecommunications Act of 1996.
We are calling on the CEOs and Boards of media organizations to denounce and remove hosts, commentators and others who use the media to incite violence and spread lies that lead others to violence.
We are calling on advertisers to cancel all ads on any media that uses the airwaves to spread a message of hate, intolerance, racism, lies and violence.
We are calling on religious leaders to denounce all forms of intimidation and violence, and to cooperate with the Department of Justice by reporting information about those who intend to commit violence.
We are working with leaders in the religious community who have taken a stand against violence, such as Frank Schaeffer, who was one of the architects of the Religious Right. Mr. Schaeffer, who will be promoting this campaign, has written a letter to Eric Holder offering his cooperation and insight into this trend toward violence and offering suggestions on how to address it.
We are supporting the efforts of other organizations that are addressing various aspects of this campaign, such as www.colorofchange.org, www.mediamatters.org, www.shockjock.org, www.rightwingwatch.org, www.splcenter.org, www.nhmc.org., suewilsonreports.com, www.alternet.org, www.freepress.net, www.thinkprogress.org, www.americanprogress.org, www.latinosagansthatespeech.org, www.adl.org, hladc-sf.blogspot.com.
We ask other organizations to sign on to this campaign by sending an email to StopDomesticTerror@velvetrevolution.us. Individuals can sign on using the form below. This campaign will include a broad public relations push so we urge everyone to spread the word and for the press to contact us for comment and interviews.
You can make targeted donations to this campaign at with an earmark comment in the box at http://www.velvetrevolution.us/donate.php.
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