The team at the California Budget & Policy Center, a nonpartisan, data-driven organization with a focus on evaluating public policies and their effect on Californians with low and middle incomes, issued the following statement on the attacks on the US Capitol and our democracy:
Today, we share in gratitude and relief that members of Congress completed the constitutional requirement and their responsibility to certify the 2020 election and confirm our nation’s next president and vice president — Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
Still, we are heartbroken. We condemn the racist and violent assault on our elected officials, their staff, the many people who work to protect and maintain the US Capitol, and our democracy — and all incited by President Trump and enabled by high-ranking national and state officials, including some in California. Those California elected officials who voted to disenfranchise millions of voters in other states and advanced false narratives about the validity of the presidential election failed our democracy.
White supremacy and acts of terror harm Black and brown people every day, and cannot be justified in our country, our state, or by those who we elect and trust to uphold our democracy, respect the will of the voters, and ensure the peaceful transfer of power.
Amid a pandemic, a crushing recession, and blatant attempts to suppress Black and brown voters, 160 million Americans voted — the largest total voter turnout in US history.
We at the Budget Center will continue to speak out against racial injustices and stand by our mission to advance public policies that improve the lives of Californians with low incomes and dismantle white supremacy and racism that is embedded in our public policies.
We urge our elected leaders to uphold the values of our democracy, protect our democratic institutions, and ensure the voices of Black and brown people are centered in every policy choice and decision to improve the economic, social, and political conditions of people, our state, and nation.
###
