Congressmen Krishnamoorthi and Davis Question Decision To Block Funding For Organization Combatting White Supremacism
Congressmen Krishnamoorthi and Davis Question Decision To Block Funding For Organization Combatting White Supremacism
Congressmen Raja Krishnamoorthi and Danny Davis today sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security questioning its June 2017 decision to rescind funding for an initiative to counter right-wing extremism, including neo-Nazis, Klansmen, and other white supremacist groups responsible for the events in Charleston. The Obama administration initially awarded the $400,000 grant to the Chicago nonprofit Life After Hate through its Countering Violent Extremism program, but the Department of Homeland Security put a hold on the grant before ultimately rescinding it, even after a report the Department compiled with the FBI found that the white supremacist movement had carried out more attacks than any other domestic extremist groups since September 11th. The same report found that white supremacists were the largest threat of domestic terror to the United States, and would continue to pose a “lethal threat” over the next year.
In their letter, Representatives Krishnamoorthi and Davis question whether Department of Homeland Security officials were aware of this report, if they chose to disregard the report’s findings, and if any senior White House advisors played a role in rescinding the funding to Life After Hate, the only organization which was to receive funding to counter white nationalism through the Countering Violent Extremism program.
“The events of Charlottesville have been a blow to our entire country and have forced many to question how this could be happening in America in 2017,” said Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi. “Most Americans knew there were right-wing extremists out there, but I doubt nearly as many people realized the scale of the threat posed by Neo-Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan, and their supporters. But the Department of Homeland Security was aware of this problem and it even published a report with the FBI in May on the scale of the violence committed by white supremacists. The Department’s decision to rescind funding dedicated to combatting right-wing extremism, just a month after its own report sounded the alarm on this threat, presents serious questions about the Trump administration’s approach to combatting white supremacy.”