Tlaib said that “speech in pursuit of civil and human rights” is protected by the First Amendment.“What was the Boston Tea Party but a boycott?” Tlaib asked. “Where would we be now without the boycotts led by the civil rights activists in the 1950s and ’60s?”She even evoked Nazi Germany to help make her case: “Americans boycotted Nazi Germany in response to the dehumanization, imprisonment and genocide of the Jewish people.”“It sets a dangerous precedent because it seeks to delegitimize a certain people’s political speech – and send a message that our government can and will take action against speech it doesn’t like.” Major speech by @RashidaTlaib against @AIPAC’s #HRes246. pic.twitter.com/LkOP18zYBX
— IfNotNow (@IfNotNowOrg) July 23, 2019
Her speech mirrored a resolution submitted last week by her colleague, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota-5): her House Resolution 496 affirms “that all Americans have the right to participate in boycotts in pursuit of civil and human rights.”
Omar evoked the same previous boycotts by Americans, which The Jerusalem Post was able to demonstrate do not directly compare to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.Tlaib said that she believes that Americans’ right to free speech is threatened by Resolution 246, and that it “sets a dangerous precedent” by attempting to delegitimize a “certain people’s” political speech and sends a message that “our government can and will take action against speech it does not like.”“I oppose all legislative efforts that target speech,” Tlaib concluded.