Wash. legislator wants to criminalize anti-Trump protests
NEW YORK – A Washington state lawmaker wants to criminalize protests like those that have sprung up around the country against the election of Donald Trump to the White House.
“I respect the right to protest, but when it endangers people’s lives and property, it goes too far,” Washington state Sen. Doug Ericksen, a Republican, said in a statement. “Fear, intimidation and vandalism are not a legitimate form of political expression. Those who employ it must be called to account.”
Ericksen, a Trump supporter, is preparing the bill for the 2017 legislative session. It would create a new crime — economic terrorism — and make it a felony for anyone to take part in a protest aimed at disrupting economic activity that also threatens human life and property, according to the lawmaker’s office. The law also would apply to anyone who funds, sponsors or organizes such protests, the statement read.
His comments come in the wake of protests that have sprung up across the country since last week, when Trump won 290 electoral votes compared to Hillary Clinton’s 232. Many of the protests have disrupted traffic and shut down highways or busy commercial neighborhoods, and many have been led by high school students.
Under the bill, accomplices to protests could be required to pay restitution for economic damage, according to Ericksen. “Wealthy donors should not feel safe in disrupting middle-class jobs,” he said.
The proposed bill is not likely to make it through Washington’s divided legislature, according to the Seattle Times, and the American Civil Liberties Union called it unnecessary.
“We’re already concerned that some of its loose terms appear to be targeting civil disobedience as ‘terrorism,’ ” Doug Honig, communications director of the ACLU of Washington, said in a statement. “That’s the kind of excessive approach to peaceful protest that our country and state do not need.”
As Ericksen’s idea advanced, two teens on the other side of the country told USA TODAY they plan on continuing their demonstrations for equality and against a Trump presidency.
Max Drury, 15, and Elijah Newman, 16, two high school students at the Institute for Collaborative Education who planned some of the demonstrations that barreled through New York after Trump won the election, said they also have helped organize a rally of high schoolers that will take place at Borough Hall in Manhattan on Friday, and that they are trying to coordinate a bus of students to the “Women’s March on Washington,” slated to take place on Jan. 21, one day after Trump’s inauguration.
“I have this white privilege and I’m going to be totally fine throughout all this, and I want to help people that won’t be fine and I think a good place to start is by organizing and being in protests,” Drury said.
Drury, the son of a jazz musician and a teacher, and Newman, the son of an art education administrator and a lawyer who writes legislation for the city of New York, said they plan on documenting their experiences of the last few days through their passions. Drury is a photographer and is creating a photo essay of the protests. Newman is a writer, mostly of memoirs, and plans on writing about his experience.
“Writing down how you feel is very important,” Newman said. “I’ll be able to look back and say, ‘Wow, I was there.’ “
They said Trump won the election because of systemic racism and a flawed educational system, and while they acknowledge the student gatherings do seem to be dying down, they are grateful for the chance it gave them to share ideas and learn others’ thoughts – even Trump supporters – they said.
“I hate saying this but if Hillary was elected president I wouldn’t be able to have these conversations with people and share my ideas,” Newman said. “I mean it’s amazing. I’ve met so many people, and so many young people feel so strongly about this, it’s very interesting.”
Drury said they can’t take credit for launching a movement, but said they tapped into something already there.
“Since the Montgomery Bus Boycott, students have played a giant role in civil activism,” Drury said. “I think we were inspired and think about every time students have protested and taken part in civil rights. I think we may have just been the ones to say: ‘New York students, let’s get in this.’ “
Source:http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/11/17/wash-legislator-wants-criminalize-anti-trump-protests/94050860/
