Demanding true public safety

Legal Defense Fund, the nation’s first civil rights legal organization, issued a blistering statement about “the weaponization of dehumanizing language by law enforcement officials,” which “contributes to a heightened risk of violence and is particularly egregious and abhorrent given their duty to respond to threats in the larger community, which includes immigrant communities.”

LDF noted that the Portage County (Ohio) Sheriff’s call for vigilantism against people who post Harris-Walz campaign signs in their yard “is anti-democratic and makes his residents unsafe.” Connecting this to the demonizing rhetoric about people born in Haiti who have made Ohio their home, LDF urged “DOJ and DHS to investigate the actions of Portage County Sheriff Zuchowski and to ensure that the residents of Springfield, Ohio, and Portage County are safe from political intimidation, racist threats of targeted violence, and law enforcement conduct that threatens public safety.”

Read the full statement here.