
The FBI is investigating recent bomb threats at Fayetteville State University, Winston-Salem State University, and other HBCU’s
Republicans deflect discussion of bomb threats against HBCU’s
WASHINGTON — Leaders of faith organizations and Historically Black Colleges and Universities told members of a U.S. House panel on Thursday how their institutions and places of worship have been roiled by bomb threats and extremism.
They talked about the recent waves of bomb threats aimed at HBCUs, a terrifying hostage-taking at a Texas synagogue and a mass shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin.
But Republicans on the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security objected to the thrust of the hearing, saying Congress should instead focus on crime rates and threats made to law enforcement officers.
The ranking Republican on the panel, Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona, said that “there are other issues related to violent crimes,” and blamed Democrats for pushing policies to “defund the police.” Republicans seeking to take back the U.S. House in the midterm elections this fall are making crime a main campaign theme.
In an opening statement, Republican Rep. Burgess Owens of Utah called into question the need to investigate threats to the institutions that were the subject of the hearing.
“This overall rise in crime has killed or harmed more minorities and Black Americans than the unfortunate bomb threats at the HBCUs,” he said.
“The solutions must include respect for our law enforcement officers,” Owens said. “We are ignoring the bigger problem. Congress must do its part to address crime.”
Tennessee Democrat Steve Cohen pressed Biggs to name a Democrat on that subcommittee who had backed calls to “defund the police.”
Biggs pulled up a statement from the chairman of the full committee, Jerry Nadler of New York, who said in June 2020 that he felt the New York Police Department’s budget was too large.
“Who said ‘defund the police’?” Cohen asked.
Biggs laughed and said, “Is that your best defense, Mr. Cohen?”
Missouri Democrat Cori Bush is the only member of the subcommittee who has explicitly called to “defund the police,” and recently told Black reporters she will not change her rhetoric until there is meaningful police reform, according to Axios. She was not at the hearing.
President Joe Biden in a recent trip to New York City said the answer to gun violence “is not to defund the police.”
Extremist hate
Two of the Democrats’ witnesses detailed their experiences with extremist hate of religious groups that resulted in violence.
Pardeep Singh Kaleka, the executive director of the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee, recalled to lawmakers the 2012 temple shooting in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, that left six dead.
One of the worshipers killed was his father. Read more