Two Republican Tennessee congressmen have proposed a multi-part bill designed to enable police crackdowns on protesters. The bill was adopted by the Tennessee Senate on Monday and seems likely to pass in the House. Its provisions include:

• Allowing police to demand that members of the media and public remain 25 feet away from any “ongoing threat to public safety,” including crime scenes and traffic stops
• Redefining the crime of “littering” to include the distribution of fliers and hanging banners and signs
• Enabling law enforcement to demand a person’s name based on “reasonable suspicion of a legal violation”

The good news is: our Never Again Tennessee chapter was part of a powerful show of solidarity, as they joined their partners, a coalition of over two dozen groups including Muslim, Jewish, Black, immigrant, and civil liberties advocate Tennesseans, to send a letter to their representatives warning of the harms that could result from the new bill.

It was especially important that we spoke out as Jews because this is yet another bill targeting immigrants and pro-Palestine protesters on the false premise of protecting Jews. The bill had its origins when Nashville’s primarily Democratic city council passed ordinances aimed at preventing hate speech, in response to several anti-semitic and racist demonstrations by white supremacists and neo-Nazis. Instead, we know empowering police to suppress protests is not going to protect Jewish and Black Tennesseans.

As our friend, Sabina Mohyuddin, executive director of the American Muslim Advisory Council Tennessee, powerfully said in the letter: “In today’s political climate—where immigrant and pro-Palestinian voices are increasingly targeted—this legislation raises grave concerns.”

(Taken from an email sent to me by Never Again Action.)