APP Releases New Report: “Black Lives Matter & The BREATHE Act”
WASHINGTON — Today American Principles Project (APP) released a new report focused on the Black Lives Matter movement and its signature legislative proposal, the BREATHE Act. The detailed report, Black Lives Matter & The BREATHE Act, is authored by APP president Frank Cannon, executive director Terry Schilling, and director of policy and government affairs Jon Schweppe.
You can read the full APP report here.
The BREATHE Act is a legislative proposal endorsed by Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and authored by the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL), an umbrella organization boasting a broad coalition of more than 150 activist groups. Some of the BREATHE Act’s most radical provisions include:
- The abolition of all federal law enforcement
- Banning prisons and abolishing life sentences
- Ending incarceration for individuals under the age of 24
- The legalization of drug dealing, drug use, prostitution, and pimping
- The decriminalization of illegal immigration
- The legalization of certain forms of racial discrimination
- Taxpayer-funded abortions and sex changes
- A government takeover of housing
- Tax increases and a socialist “restructuring” of the economy
- New government commissions to study and enact reparations for “slavery,” the “War on Drugs and mass criminalization,” “police violence,” and immigration enforcement.
Report co-author Jon Schweppe also released the following statement:
The BREATHE Act is one of the most dangerous bills introduced in Congress in recent memory. It’s not clear who the BLM movement is trying to help with this legislative proposal, but it’s obvious who it will hurt the most: working families and underprivileged communities.
Let’s be clear: the BREATHE Act is the legislative priority for the BLM movement. When you hear celebrities, left-wing activists, Fortune 500 companies, and Democratic politicians speaking out about ‘change’ and ‘social justice,’ this is in reality what they mean. And that should be seriously concerning to the American people.
As our report shows, one simply cannot divorce the phrase ‘Black lives matter’ from the movement, or the movement from the policy proposals. A raised fist and a bent knee in support of BLM should be interpreted as support for the BREATHE Act.
Cannon, Schilling, and Schweppe concluded APP’s report with a call for transparency:
So where do public supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement stand? Where do the incurious “journalists” — those brave men and women on the front lines who refuse to cover BLM in any sort of meaningful way — where do they stand? Where do corporations that fund BLM stand? Where do leading Democrats stand?
It simply is not acceptable that an entire political party is being allowed to remain silent on legislation so dangerous, being pushed by some of the party’s own leading activists — including [the Black Lives Matter Global Network], [Movement for Black Lives], the NAACP, and at least two Members of Congress.
Democrats must be forced to answer for legislation that is so fundamentally antithetical to the rule of law. If they plan on passing this bill, the American people deserve to know about it.
Jon Schweppe is available for interviews this week. To schedule, contact Paul Dupont at (o) 202-503-2010 or pdupont@americanprinciplesproject.org.