Surprise should not come from Senate silencing

An anonymously signed letter—later discovered to have ties to the FBI—was delivered to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with a bone-chilling message: “King, there is only one thing left for you to do. You know what it is.” The letter, known to many as the FBI’s “Suicide Letter,” was an attempt to silence the civil rights leader making strides against the grave injustices of the 1960s. Decades later on the advent of Black History Month, Senator Elizabeth Warren was silenced on the Senate floor after attempting to read — ironically enough — Coretta Scott King’s letter about Senator Jeff Sessions, written in 1986. Republicans immediately rebuked Senator Warren for violating rules against impugning other senators when she read the following lines. “Mr. Sessions has used the awesome power of his office to chill the free exercise of the vote by black citizens in the district he now seeks to serve as a federal judge.”

The public showed an outpouring of support, spawning social media campaigns with hashtags like #ShePersisted and #LetLizSpeak. Despite these efforts, Sessions was confirmed as Attorney General, constituting another blow to Democrats across the nation which came on the heels of Betsy DeVos’ confirmation just a day earlier. The news of these confirmations, as well as the senate’s silencing of Warren’s appeal, should come as no surprise. Our nation’s history of silencing opposition has been revitalized with this new administration.

In his inaugural address, Donald Trump said that the forgotten people of America will not be forgotten any longer. Many questioned exactly who these forgotten Americans were. From the Indian Removal Act of 1830 to the relocation of Asian Americans to internment camps in the mid-20th century, our history of the forgotten seems to pass unnoticed as this new administration is ushered in. The administration plays a dismal appeal with minority communities.

If Senator Warren’s silencing is any indication, the state of our democracy is being molded into a kind of fierce censoring campaign where attempts to stifle all forms of free and constitutionally protected opposition happen on senate floors and social media feeds. Donald Trump has repeatedly gone on the record to delegitimize credible news outlets which offer criticisms of his administration and state officials who bar flagrant violations of civil liberties. He has even challenged the legitimacy of our democratic voting process by calling for an investigation into “millions of illegal voters."

This demonstrative approach to any kind of disagreement that would come in the way of Trump and his team halts progress in its steps. Those who doubt the power and massive presence of our new president will feel it in an early morning tweet or midweek press conference, or may receive equally uncouth aspersions by his press secretary, Sean Spicer. After the heated senate debate, Spicer went on to say that if Coretta Scott King were still alive, he would “hope that she supports Jeff Sessions.” This deliberate attempt to silence the voice of an activist who wrote her opposition down on paper speaks to the surreal lack of competence displayed by the Trump administration.

No further surprises should come from future confirmations, overtly aggressive responses to the public via Trump’s Twitter account or the silencing of government officials who openly oppose controversial legislation. The beauty of our democracy is that opposition is allowed—if not openly welcomed—so that conversation can turn into solutions capable of manifesting into action. How are we to reach positive action if our voices cannot be heard over leaders telling us to remain still and to remain silent?

Jamal Michel is a Duke graduate and an English teacher at Northern High School in Durham.