Rep. Hank Johnson arrested at voting rights protest
By Ali Zaslav, Paul LeBlanc and Nicquel Terry Ellis, CNN
Rep. Hank Johnson was arrested by Capitol Police on Thursday during a protest on “Senate inaction on voting rights legislation,” according to a video posted on Twitter.
Johnson can be seen in the video with his hands restrained behind his back while still participating in a chant with other protesters yelling, “Whose streets? Our streets. Whose House? Our House.” He is one of 10 people whom the Capitol Police arrested for “unlawfully demonstrating” outside the Hart Senate Office Building and charged with crowding, obstructing or incommoding.
“Today, Congressman Hank Johnson was arrested along with a group of black male voting rights activists protesting against Senate inaction on voting rights legislation and filibuster reform,” Johnson’s office said in a statement to CNN.
The protest, the statement said, was also in response to restrictive voting laws across the country “that target students, the elderly and people of color. In the spirit of his dear friend and mentor — the late Congressman John Lewis — Rep. Johnson was getting in ‘good trouble’ fighting for and protecting civil and voting rights for all Americans.”
Two prominent Black activists were also arrested at the Capitol Hill protest. A spokesperson for Color of Change confirmed that Rashad Robinson, the organization’s president, had been arrested, and a spokeswoman for Black Voters Matter confirmed that co-founder Cliff Albright had been arrested as well.
Robinson said in a statement Thursday that “it was worth the risk to use our power to demand voting rights protections for Black people, and all communities, in our country.”
Johnson is the second lawmaker to be arrested in as many weeks while protesting for voting rights. Rep. Joyce Beatty, the Democratic chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, was arrested on July 15 by Capitol Police after participating in a voting rights protest that culminated in a march inside the Senate Hart Office Building atrium.
Both protests centered on protecting voting rights and passing the For the People Act. The Democratic legislation passed the House earlier this year but was blocked by Republicans in the Senate in late June. Democrats have pushed the bill as way to address the raft of voting restrictions being advanced by GOP state lawmakers nationwide.
Eighteen states have enacted 30 new laws that make it harder to vote, according to a new tally by the liberal-leaning Brennan Center for Justice that tracks state activity through July 14.
Among the most common provisions, according to Brennan’s researchers: measures in seven states that either expand officials’ ability to purge voters from the registration rolls or put voters at risk of having their names improperly removed. Those laws were enacted in Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Texas and Utah, the center found.
Three of the 18 states with new restrictions have passed sweeping, omnibus bills that cover a broad range of voting activity: Florida, Georgia and Iowa.
Biden and Democrats in Congress, Robinson said Thursday, “won their elections on promises to restore voting rights access and protect the Black vote. But more than six months into this Administration, we’ve yet to see real, meaningful action on voting rights.”
This story has been updated with additional information Thursday.
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CNN’s Fredreka Schouten contributed to this report.
