Disability Rights California (DRC) condemns the violent attempt to prevent the peaceful transfer of power that occurred in our nation’s Capitol earlier this week. DRC has been working for years to ensure that voters with disabilities have equal access to elections and that their votes will be counted. This week’s events demonstrate that so long as white supremacy continues to undergird our institutions, our democracy is threatened. President Trump and many of his supporters, who have lied for weeks about the election results and have fomented and encouraged the violence we witnessed this week, must be held accountable.

And we must also hold our institutions accountable. We must question why law enforcement was unwilling to prevent the subversion of democracy while having engaged this summer in abusive tactics to disperse the thousands who have protested for the dignity of Black lives. In 2015, when ADAPT came to Washington to protest Congressional efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, 43 protesters with disabilities were arrested by Capitol Police officers for “obstructing passage through the hallway and into nearby offices.” Why did the predominantly White rioters on Wednesday not receive the kind of police response that protesters from marginalized communities have received? We call for a thorough investigation of discriminatory disparities in law enforcement coupled with systemic changes that advance the ideal of equal justice under law.

We must question why so many millions of Americans don’t believe that over half the country has a legitimate right to elect our leaders. Why do over a hundred federal elected officials still refuse to affirm the results of lawful elections?

We also grieve the shocking nature of this event that exposes the deep flaws in our system of white supremacy and systemic racism. The peaceful transfer of power in an election is the foundation of our democracy, and this week’s acts were an attempt to overturn the election and continue the disgraceful efforts at voter disenfranchisement being targeted at communities of color. This attack may have delayed but fortunately did not stop US lawmakers from confirming the election results.

We call on our elected officials – the newly seated and the seasoned – to set to work eradicating the systems that led to this week’s violent events: to strengthen our safety net; to deliver quality health care and education, and access to good jobs; to combat discrimination; and to end voter suppression.   

As an organization, we stand with marginalized communities, including Black, Latino, Native American, Asian Pacific Islander, immigrant, LGBTQIA+ communities, and people with disabilities within these groups. We are committed and will continue to fight for equality, civil rights, and justice.