WA's anti-hate/extremism task force recap

Yesterday was the initial meeting of Washington’s new Domestic Violent Extremism Task Force, part of the current Attorney General and Governor-elect’s anti-hate agenda.

Click the article below for the full details of this new task force.

URGENT!! WA Call to Action

The funding for this task force was approved in the 2024 WA budget (click the above link to our previous article with those details), with bipartisan approval in the state senate, a party-line vote in the house. What we’re trying to figure out is why no one sounded the alarm before now. Citizens were rightly outraged about HB 1333 which would have created a commission to achieve what the task force will be doing.

Key takeaways from yesterday’s initial meeting:

• The task force consists of 31 members, appointed by the Attorney General’s Office (AGO). 2 of the members are from an organization called PERIL, Polarization & Extremism Research Innovation Lab out of Chicago, IL. They noted they have been “contracted” for the task force, meaning Washington taxpayers are footing the bill for their “services.”

One of the PERIL members is Rabbi Seth Limmer who was investigated and ultimately resigned from his synagogue for creating a hostile workplace.

The other is Cynthia Miller-Idriss, author, speaker, and researcher, on the topic of hate speech and “far right extremism.”

• Black Lives Matter King County Seattle, executive director, Katrina Johnson also has a seat on the task force. BLM King County states their mission “to dismantle anti-black systems, policies, and outcomes that lead to the oppression, torture, and death of black and brown people.”

Among the guiding principles of BLM:

• We dismantle the patriarchal practice that requires mothers to work “double shifts” so that they can mother in private even as they participate in public justice work.

• We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and “villages” that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents and children are comfortable.

• A few of the task force members mentioned the critical nature of this group given the recent election of Donald Trump and the incoming administration.

• 8 people signed up to give public comment. All of the comments addressed concerns about the task force and its mission. 4 people sent in written comments which were read aloud during the meeting. You can submit comments to anti-hate@atg.wa.gov

During the AGO’s presentation to the legislature in public hearing on HB 1333 the following slides were shared. These give us a good idea of the population that will be targeted as “extremists” by the task force will be. You can access the full presentation HERE

*Additional sources: Attorney General’s 2022 Domestic Terrorism Study: https://agportal-s3bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/2022%20Domestic%20Terrorism%20Study.pdf

AG’s 2020 recommendations from the “hate crimes working group”: https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/ag-s-hate-crimes-working-group-releases-recommendations-legislature

TAKE ACTION:

• Send your comments or concerns to anti-hate@atg.wa.gov

• Mark your calendar and plan to attend the next task force meeting on January 10th at 9AM. The meeting will be via zoom and you should be able to attend in person. Even if you cannot comment, your attendance to the zoom meeting shows that you are watching - that matters!

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