Before I ever ran for office, I was a labor organizer in Texas.
We helped organize working families to successfully come together to fight for better wages, better benefits, or better treatment by employers. A critical part of those successes was utilizing our rights to protest.
The freedom to protest is one of the pillars of our democracy – and it’s how women got the right to vote, how the Civil Rights Movement ended segregation, and how we secured the abortion rights currently under assault in this country.
But the right to protest is under assault today. States like Texas have used law enforcement to attack peaceful protesters based on their views alone. Gov. Greg Abbott recently pardoned a man for shooting and killing a Black Lives Matter protestor based on the views of the victim and the accused, not based on the merits of the case. And the Supreme Court has refused to take up a case that could leave protest leaders legally responsible for the actions of random protest attendees.
This is an alarming assault on the First Amendment’s Freedom of Assembly. That’s why I recently spoke to the Washington Post about my experience organizing, protesting, and even purposely and peacefully being arrested while exercising these rights.
Thank you,
-Greg
Greg Casar
Congressman
Texas Congressional District 35
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