“There’s more of us than there are of them, and we’ve got the law on our side and righteousness on our side,” New York Attorney General Letitia James told about 500 people gathered for a symposium on saving American democracy Jan. 29.
James was a keynote speaker at “Together for Democracy,” an event in Washington, D.C., organized by Democracy Forward. She is a nationally known figure for taking on President Donald Trump in court and for his retaliation against her through the Department of Justice.
The fight against Trump’s authoritarianism and cruel tyranny is “a righteous fight, a moral fight,” she said. “All I need is some individuals with a backbone who are not afraid. All I need is for individuals to understand that the power runs through this room.”
“All I need is some individuals with a backbone who are not afraid.”
While Trump may have big money behind him, he does not have as many people on his side as the pro-democracy forces have, James declared. And that’s why the Trump administration is so fearful of the protests rolling across Minnesota right now.
“Whenever I call a meeting and thousands of people show up, not only in New York but in other states, because they care about their neighbors and they care about the rule above, but most importantly, they care about our democracy and our country and what they’re seeing now. They just can’t believe that’s happening.”
James began her remarks Thursday by talking about Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two citizens killed by federal agents in Minneapolis while protesting ICE and CBP tactics.
She compared the present moment to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s: “Then as now, the state used force to intimidate, to criminalize and suppress entire populations. Then as now, leaders invoke law and order to justify brutality. Then as now, the nation stood at crossroads, forced to choose between justice and convenience, between moral clarity and complicity.”
The fight for democracy is righteous because “our constitution, the Bill of Rights, is what the people are entitled to and what the government cannot refuse, cannot deny, cannot disrupt and cannot end.”
She quoted legendary Congressman John Lewis who “once said democracy is not a state, it is an act and each generation must do its part. So we must fight because the promise of democracy is not some intangible ideal and we see it so brutally violated. Like we saw last week in Minnesota, we cannot stand idly by.
“Although I wear glasses, my eyes do not lie. They are shooting people in the street.”
“Although I wear glasses, my eyes do not lie. They are shooting people in the street. They’re entering homes without judicial warrants. They’re stopping and detaining individuals simply because of their ethnicity or their language. They are deploying tear gas indiscriminately. They’re retaining children, they’re breaking windows and violently pulling individuals from their cars and using violence as a tool for compliance. And the weaponization of government as a tool for revenge. From re-litigating claims of rigged elections to prosecuting individuals for doing their jobs in the way from these lawless executions by ICE.”
Like Minnesota’s leaders, “our message must be clear,” James said. “This must be direct, that we will not back down and that we have their backs. I want to tell my good friend, my brother, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, all of us are with him and we’re very proud of him. … We are with him as we witness the ongoing assault on his state and on his residents.”
James took particular aim at U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, who recently wrote a letter to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz saying she would end the federal immigration crackdown in the state if he turned over to her voter rolls and other personal data. James called such a demand “breathtaking” and “a dangerous escalation that threatens the balance of power between the states and the federal government.”
What’s happening in Minnesota could happen in any state, she warned. “The true purpose is basically to terrify the people of Minnesota into abandoning policies and protections for its residents. As we say in my beloved Brooklyn, we’re not going to be intimidated. We’ll uphold the law and we are standing with Minneapolis. We’re also standing with Chicago. We’re also standing with Maine. We’re also standing with Portland. We’re also standing with California.”
“The objective of all this is to silence us, to use fear and terror as a tool.”
What’s not in dispute is that the federal government has the authority to enforce federal immigration law, she explained, “but this conduct has nothing to do with immigration enforcement.”
James joined other speakers at the event decrying the federal seizure of voting information from Georgia the day before. “The objective of all this is to silence us, to use fear and terror as a tool. Now they want to seek broad access to our personal and private data. As we saw in Georgia yesterday, they want to settle those scores with their eyes on the midterms. We know our elections are a state and local matter, and we will fight to ensure free and fair elections.”
Democracy, she said, “means inspiring people. Democracy means empowering people and democracy means loving and respecting people. Democracy means being in the community and being part of a community, shoulder to shoulder, with no space between us because democracy is fighting all of our respected rights.”
She urged participants to pray with their eyes wide open and keep their minds stayed on freedom.
“We’ll not let them silence truth. We’ll not let them punish dissent. We’ll not shrink into the shadows. We’ll not bend the knee. We’ll not break. We’ll not bow. We’ll not let them kill our fellow citizens in the streets with impunity or suppress the right to vote. We, all of us in this room, won’t back down from a fight. We must act with urgency to put our shared faith and democracy into action.”
She called upon the memory of Civil Rights marchers who “believed in something bigger than themselves because they believed that as the Lord told Prophet Isaiah, fear not and be not dismayed. I’ll strengthen you. I’ll help you. I’ll uphold you with my righteous hand.”