[UPDATE 6/3/21] We’re pleased to announce that today we sent President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Attorney General Merrick Garland our #DropTheCharges letter—urging them to dismiss the federal charges against more than 350 anti-racist protesters who participated in last year’s uprising for Black lives—endorsed by a total of 90 organizations and signed by a total of 4600+ individuals! Thank you all so very much for participating and spreading the word about this campaign! Read the final cover letter sent to the Biden Administration here.
We encourage everyone to stay involved with ongoing, local #DropTheCharges campaigns in various municipalities. Check out the work of our friends at the Drop The Charges Coalition (one of the organizational endorsers of our campaign) to take action against the criminalization of anti-racist demonstrators facing state charges.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: communications@nlg.org
The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) demands that charges against demonstrators who participated in the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests be dropped immediately. During last spring and summer’s protests against racist police violence, more than 13,600 people were arrested and many are still facing legal consequences. Many legal experts have said that these cases are nothing more than an overreach on the part of the Department of Justice under former President Donald Trump, and should never have been filed in federal court. As such, the NLG is launching a petition requesting that President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Attorney General Merrick Garland drop the charges against these protesters as a step toward condemning white supremacy and federal repression.
While the NLG does not believe that substantial, systemic change can happen through existing channels of power, we also believe that people exercising their right to protest deserve to do so without facing lawsuits. The Trump administration made blatant attempts to silence and punish leftist and progressive movements, and the Biden administration has the power and duty to mitigate these harms.
We urge our members, affiliates, supporters, and anyone else who believes in racial justice to sign the following letters to Biden, Harris, and Garland. Once signatures have been collected, the petition—written by NLG Chicago Mass Defense Committee members Matthew McLaughlin and Sharlyn Grace, in collaboration with the national Mass Defense Steering Committee—will be sent to the Biden administration.
Please join us in our call to #DropTheCharges by signing the petition at bit.ly/DropTheChargesBLM and helping us spread the word on social media!
If your organization would like to co-sign the petition, please complete the form for organizational endorsements here. Organizational endorsements will be added to the list below as they come in, and included on the final letter sent to Biden, Harris, and Garland. Thank you!
Organizational Endorsers:
- 1 Million Madly Motivated Moms
- Advocating Opportunity
- American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
- African Communities Together
- Bergen County Green Party
- Bergen County Immigration Strategy Group
- Big “W” Hobbies
- Black and Brown United in Action
- Black Liberation Fund
- Brooklyn Community Bail Fund
- Campaign to Bring Mumia Home
- Capital District Coalition Against Islamophobia, Albany NY
- Center for Constitutional Rights
- Chicago Community Bond Fund
- Civil Liberties Defense Center
- CODEPINK
- Colorado Freedom Fund
- Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF)
- Community Hotline for Incarcerated People (CHIP)
- Community Justice Exchange – National Bail Fund Network
- Craven County Community Bail Fund
- Defending Rights & Dissent
- Detroit Justice Center
- Detroit Will Breathe
- Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps
- Drop The Charges Coalition
- Emergency Release Fund
- Freedom Network USA
- Food Chain Workers Alliance
- Fund for Community Reparations for Autistic People of Color’s Interdependence, Survival, & Empowerment
- Granny Peace Brigade
- Grassroots Leadership
- Greenpeace USA
- Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice
- Hawai’i Community Bail Fund
- Incarcerated Nation Network
- Jailbreak PGH
- Jailhouse Lawyers Speak
- Jewish Voice for Peace Action
- Justice Action Center
- Kansas City Community Bail Fund
- Las Vegas Peace & Justice Center
- Louisiana Advocates for Immigrants in Detention
- Massachusetts Bail Fund
- Michigan Solidarity Bail Fund
- Milwaukee Freedom Fund
- Movement Law Lab
- Movement Media
- Muslim Solidarity Committee, Albany NY
- Nation Inside
- National Advocates For Pregnant Women
- National Conference of Black Lawyers
- National Immigration Project (NIP-NLG)
- NC Community Bail Fund Of Durham
- No Detention Centers in Michigan
- NorCal Resist
- Northwest Community Bail Fund
- Occupy Bergen County
- Palestine Legal
- Partners for Dignity & Rights
- People’s Strike Bay Area
- PM Press
- Positive Women’s Network – USA
- Prairielands Freedom Fund
- Project South
- Protect the Protest
- Reale Justice Network
- Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES)
- Richmond Community Bail Fund
- Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
- Safety Net Project of the Urban Justice Center
- Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
- Sanctuary DMV
- Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ)
- Showing up for Racial Justice (SURJ) – Westchester
- Struggle La Lucha for Socialism
- Sugar Law Center
- SumOfUs
- Sylvia Rivera Law Project
- Tucson Second Chance Community Bail Fund
- UndocuBlack Network
- Unidad Latina en Acción
- UnLocal
- Wall of Women
- Water Protector Legal Collective
- WESPAC Foundation, Inc.
- Women Against War
- Working Narratives
If you aren’t already, we highly recommend following Drop The Charges—one of the organizational endorsers of this petition, and a coalition of community organizations united against the criminalization of protesters who have been out supporting Black lives.
Below are some active local petitions we’ve compiled related to specific arrests in various localities. Please consider supporting them as well!
- Austin, TX
- Boston, MA
- Cincinnati, OH
- Detroit, MI
- Greenville, NC
- Lexington, KY
- New York, NY
- Phoenix, AZ
- Pittsburgh, PA
- Tampa Bay, FL
The National Lawyers Guild, whose membership includes lawyers, legal workers, jailhouse lawyers, and law students, was formed in 1937 as the United States’ first racially-integrated bar association to advocate for the protection of constitutional, human and civil rights.
# # #