#RootOutRacism

After the white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, Va., which left anti-racist protestor Heather Heyer dead, President Trump publicly suggested more than once that white supremacists and anti-racist protestors were morally equivalent.

In response to this morally reprehensible suggestion, the CBC Chairman called the caucus together for an emergency phone meeting on August 17, 2017, so the caucus could discuss how it wanted to respond. 
After the phone meeting, the CBC launched a legislative and messaging campaign called #RootOutRacism with the goal of rooting out racism in federal policy, most importantly, as well as the White House and on federal property.

Federal Policy

The CBC hand-delivered a 130-page policy document to President Trump during the caucus’s one and only meeting with him on March 22, 2017 that criticized the Administration’s policies and included CBC legislation that would help African Americans and other marginalized communities. 

The CBC has also sent dozens of letters to the Administration criticizing its criminal justice, voting rights, education, health care and other policies. The Administration has only replied to a few of these letters.

A Top Ten List of the Trump Administration’s Racist and Discriminatory Policies 

• Voter Suppression Commission
• Supporting Texas’ Discriminatory Voter ID Law
• Reinstating the War on Drugs
• Attacking Affirmative Action at Colleges and Universities
• Rolling Back Consent Decrees that Keep Police Accountable
• Muslim Ban
• Mass Deportation
• Rolling Back Civil Rights Enforcement Across Federal Agencies
• Reinstating the Use of Private Prisons
• Refusing to Protect Americans and the Nation from White Supremacists

The White House

At the beginning of the Administration, there were three White House staffers working for President Trump who had white supremacists ties – Steve Bannon, Sebastion Gorka, and Stephen Miller. After Charlottesville, President Trump fired Bannon and Gorka. However, the CBC called on President Trump to fire all three staffers and is still pushing him to fire Miller. 

Federal Property

There are 10 U.S. military bases named after Confederate leaders who fought against the United States during the Civil War. In addition, there are 12 statues of Confederate Leaders in the U.S. capitol and other federal property (e.g. cemeteries, highways, post offices) that honor these leaders. 

CBC members have introduced to remove statues of Confederate leaders from the White House and to rename the 10 U.S. military bases that are named after Confederate leaders. CBC members have also introduced legislation to prohibit federal funds from being used to create, maintain, or display Confederate statues and symbols.  

Finally, the CBC has filed an amicus brief in the case of Moore v. Bryant, supporting the plaintiff’s position that Mississippi’s inclusion of the Confederate flag in its state flag is a violation of the Constitution’s equal protection clause.