Activist and Code
Pink (a pro-peace feminist organization)
founder Medea Benjamin was simply walking the
halls of Congress when she spotted Congressman
Darrell Issa (R-CA). She asked him about
Israel’s attack on Qatar, and his rude reply
was” go away”. She followed him a few feet
into his office to repeat her question, and he
instructed his staff to “take her phone”. They
called the Capitol police and Medea Benjamin
was arrested for “impeding a congressman”. She
now has a court date for October.
This arrest is
absurd. Don’t our taxpayer dollars fund the
Capitol building? Should we all have the right
and opportunity to walk through the building,
to stop and talk to our elected
representatives, whose salaries we pay? Issa,
whose brusque behavior was caught on video,
was never “impeded”. The statute reads that
anybody who “forcibly assaults, resists,
opposes, impedes, intimidates or interferes
with” certain government officials engaged in
official duties shall be fined and imprisoned
by up to a year. I saw the video. The only way
Issa was “impeded” was by a question. She at
no time put her hands on him, resisted him, or
interfered with him. Arresting and charging
her is overreach, designed to intimidate, to
frighten people from going to places where we
are fully entitled to be.
Medea’s arrest is
not the first attempt to criminalize dissent
in this era of lies and misinformation. When
National Guard roam the streets of Washington,
DC, randomly stopping, arresting, and
deporting people, detaining Medea is business
as usual in this repressive regime. Consider
California Senator Alex Padilla (D), who
entered a press conference to ask a question
and was wrestled to the ground and handcuffed
by federal agents. They claimed they attacked
him to assure the safety of Homeland Security
Secretary Kristi Noem. He was held for a brief
period but received no apology. Instead,
federal agents claimed Padilla did not
identify himself as a US Senator. He says he
did and, furthermore, he was in a federal
building in California, the state he
represents. Their physical attack on him was
just another part of the Trump sideshow,
designed to intimidate.
One of the most
egregious efforts to criminalize dissent
happened when Congresswoman LaMonica McIver
(D-NJ) was indicted on two felonies and one
misdemeanor for “assaulting, resisting,
impeding, and interfering with federal law
enforcement officers.” Having seen the video
and been apprised of the circumstances,
nothing could be further from the truth.
McIver and other New Jersey elected officials
were simply doing their jobs when they made an
oversight visit to Delaney Hall. Federal
officials attempted to arresting them
trespassing, but they weren’t. Each felony
count could get a sentence of eight years, and
the misdemeanor could get a year. The
Congresswoman is scheduled to go to trial in
November.
Meanwhile,
right-wing extremist Congressman Clay Higgins
(R-LA) introduced a measure to censure
Congresswoman McIver and remove her from the
Homeland Security Committee. While Republicans
have tended to vote lockstep, on September 3,
2025, the Higgins motion failed, 215-207. Five
Republicans opposed the censure and two voted
“present”. The effort to intimidate
Congresswoman MacIver failed.
While the vote to
censure Congresswoman McIver failed in
September, Congressman Al Green (D-TX) was
censured because he interrupted the
President’s address to a joint session of
Congress in March, shaking his cane and
shouting that the President had no mandate.
The May vote, 224-198, had ten Democrats
voting with Republicans. When the censure
resolution was read, Congressman Green and
several other Democrats sang, “We Shall
Overcome” so long that House Speaker Mike
Johnson had to call a recess. Green faces no
fine or jail time for the censure, but his
Congressional seat was one of those eliminated
in the Texas redistricting.
This administration
is committed to criminalizing dissent, and
they have dozens of elected lackeys following
the instructions of their mob boss. Absent his
influence, I doubt that either Madea Benjamin
or LaMonica McIver would have been charged.
The extremist law and order response to
dissent is a hallmark of this administration,
as is evidenced by the unleashing of the
National Guard in many cities, including DC.
And Congressman Green may have had a less
severe punishment. Remember South Carolina Joe
Wilson yelling “you lie” at President Obama
during Obama’s speech before a joint session
of Congress. He earned a resolution of
disapproval (less serious than censure) from
his colleagues.
The effort to
criminalize dissent is an effort to silence
us. But there are resisters who will not be
silenced, resisters who will not be moved,
thanks to Medea Benjamin, LaMonica McIver, Al
Green and all of those who understand that
silence is complicity.
