I look forward to celebrating Black History Month every year. It’s a time to celebrate our achievements, our culture, and our lives. But this year, the importance of learning Black History is more critical than ever — especially for people outside of our community.
Millions of Americans are horrified and shocked to see ICE’s rapid stampede to lawlessness. As Black Americans, we are horrified to see civilians murdered on the street — but we are not shocked.
It’s the rest of the country that is now, unfortunately, experiencing our history for themselves. They are experiencing the pain and terror that Black people have experienced for generations. We know from deep and personal experience, that those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
The Black community knows state-sponsored violence all too painfully well: our enslavement, the lynchings, bombings, and homes and communities burned to the ground. We’ve experienced threats to free speech and our very lives when speaking against violence. We know state-sanctioned kidnappings, from our motherland to American shores, to slave patrols when we tried to emancipate ourselves. It’s part of our history and part of our DNA.
The roots of American policing grew out of slave patrols — something many Americans don’t realize. Slave patrols of the 17th and 18th centuries were common, with agents traveling far beyond the Mason-Dixon line. Slave catchers could enter any home, without permission or warrant, if they thought to catch an escaped slave. After the Civil War, slave patrols got uniforms, and police enforcement of Jim Crow laws in the late 19th and 20th centuries was common. I’ll never forget the image of Bull Connor.
In the 21st century, police have murdered civilians in plain sight. And yet, these rogue cops continue with impunity and limited accountability, and necessary reforms have been far too slow. After George Floyd’s murder, I helped pass legislation in the House to reform policing, including strong training and rigorous accountability.
But the Senate failed to act, and the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act was not enacted.
Today, we see Black and Brown families targeted, taken from schools and homes, and kidnapped to modern day American internment camps: Alligator Alcatraz, Speedway Slammer. More than 70,000 souls are caged in ICE facilities in inhumane conditions.
Black leaders warned America.
Kamala Harris warned America.
We warned America. But America refused to listen, because too many people thought the horrors that we experienced would never happen to them.
We knew fascism was not only possible, but it was the direct path in front of us if Donald Trump took back the White House. And here we are.
Project 2025 laid it out. They told us what they would do, and too many ignored the warnings. Despite Trump’s populist appeal and promises that he would focus on affordability, his true goals were always in plain sight. Project 2025 called for doubling the detentions and deportations of immigrants, militarizing the border and enabling a nationwide deportation machine. We must act now to end these attacks.
As a Senior Member of the House Intelligence Committee, I’ve been sounding the alarm about the most dangerous threat to our country’s security – domestic terrorism and white supremacist violence. Just like we saw in Charlottesville, on January 6th, and now in the streets by masked ICE agents. White supremacists have consistently surpassed threats from foreign terrorist organizations.
I’m calling for an immediate suspension of ICE operations in urban centers throughout the country. Congress must re-write the law and end ICE as we know it. I’m also calling for the impeachment of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem. ICE is now Trump’s Gestapo — locking up his enemies and hurting people he hates. I voted against new DHS funding and refuse to rubber stamp this administration’s cruelty.
This Black History Month, we see this administration continue to erase our history –stripping the slavery exhibit off the walls at the place where the founders worked to establish our independence in Philadelphia. They’re trying to erase the history of an enslaved chef, Hercules Posey, who was owned by George Washington before Posey emancipated himself. Washington wanted his property back, so he paid slave catchers to find Posey, but he escaped to New York where he lived and worked as a free man for the rest of his life.
Trump can take down an exhibit, but nobody can take away or erase that history.
Our resistance and indomitable spirit is in our DNA that drove our ancestors to survive the indignities, the injustices and the attacks on our bodies.
This Black History Month, I hope our history helps our neighbors strengthen their resolve to endure and not give up. Even while our immigrant neighbors — largely from Black and Brown-majority countries, or who appear to be — are being snatched off the streets, kidnapped and deported, and our Native American brothers and sisters are attacked. These actions are not symbolic. They embolden white supremacists.
But these unjust actions also embolden us. These attacks strengthen our resolve to keep fighting. Standing with our neighbors in this fight against ICE, against white supremacy, xenophobia, hate and discrimination. We will continue to say the names of those who have been abused, kidnapped and killed by white supremacist hatred — from the founding of our country, to now.
So where do we go from here?
We “Lift Every Voice.” We work together. We embrace our history, and we share it with those who are still in the dark. We build up our resilience. We keep speaking up, keep standing up, and keep fighting to build the Beloved Community we all want.
