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Capitol siege underscores need for bold action

Editor's Note: Following is an excerpt from an opinion piece authored by Margaret Huang, President and CEO of the Southern Poverty Law Center

Margaret Huang

One of the powerful lessons we must take away from this week’s coup attempt by President Trump and his supporters is that 2021 is not a time for half measures in the fight against hate and extremism.

Yes, Wednesday began with hope. The results of the Senate runoff elections in Georgia offered proof that the South can help lead the way into a new political era. But the events at the U.S. Capitol reminded us of the racist violence that continues to threaten our country. This violence is bolstered by the infrastructure of white nationalist movements that the Southern Poverty Law Center has been tracking and fighting for decades.

We are not powerless – but we must take swift and bold action immediately to prevent future attacks and ensure the safety of millions of vulnerable people. These recommendations must be prioritized in the first 100 days of the new administration to combat this threat:

  • At the state and municipal level, federal funding should be provided to remove Confederate monuments and other public displays of such symbols of white supremacy. More than 100 such symbols have been removed in communities across the country since George Floyd’s death last May, but much more can be done. That’s why we will continue to campaign for the removal of Confederate monuments and symbols from public spaces across the Deep South.
  • We must confront institutional racism by closing broad loopholes that allow discriminatory policing to continue. Programs that militarize the police, such as the transfer of excess military property to law enforcement agencies must end.
  • Move funding for Department of Education programs aimed at preventing extremism and promoting deradicalization from punishment models to initiatives that build community resilience.
  • The establishment of a national truth, racial healing and transformation commission to examine the history of white supremacy and structural racism in the United States. We must reckon with our nation’s long history of injustice committed in the cause of white supremacy.


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