[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
THE TARGETING OF BLACK INSTITUTIONS: FROM
CHURCH VIOLENCE TO UNIVERSITY BOMB
THREATS
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
MARCH 17, 2022
__________
Serial No. 117-48
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Homeland Security
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
47-811 PDF WASHINGTON : 2022
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY
Bennie G. Thompson, Mississippi, Chairman
Sheila Jackson Lee, Texas John Katko, New York
James R. Langevin, Rhode Island Michael T. McCaul, Texas
Donald M. Payne, Jr., New Jersey Clay Higgins, Louisiana
J. Luis Correa, California Michael Guest, Mississippi
Elissa Slotkin, Michigan Dan Bishop, North Carolina
Emanuel Cleaver, Missouri Jefferson Van Drew, New Jersey
Al Green, Texas Ralph Norman, South Carolina
Yvette D. Clarke, New York Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Iowa
Eric Swalwell, California Diana Harshbarger, Tennessee
Dina Titus, Nevada Andrew S. Clyde, Georgia
Bonnie Watson Coleman, New Jersey Carlos A. Gimenez, Florida
Kathleen M. Rice, New York Jake LaTurner, Kansas
Val Butler Demings, Florida Peter Meijer, Michigan
Nanette Diaz Barragan, California Kat Cammack, Florida
Josh Gottheimer, New Jersey August Pfluger, Texas
Elaine G. Luria, Virginia Andrew R. Garbarino, New York
Tom Malinowski, New Jersey
Ritchie Torres, New York
Hope Goins, Staff Director
Daniel Kroese, Minority Staff Director
Natalie Nixon, Clerk
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Statements
The Honorable Bennie G. Thompson, a Representative in Congress
From the State of Mississippi, and Chairman, Committee on
Homeland Security:
Oral Statement................................................. 1
Prepared Statement............................................. 3
The Honorable John Katko, a Representative in Congress From the
State of New York, and Ranking Member, Committee on Homeland
Security:
Oral Statement................................................. 4
Prepared Statement............................................. 6
The Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee, a Representative in Congress
From the State of Texas:
Prepared Statement............................................. 7
The Honorable Ralph Norman, a Representative in Congress From the
State of South Carolina:
Prepared Statement............................................. 10
Witnesses
Rev. Eric S.C. Manning, Senior Pastor, Mother Emanuel AME Church:
Oral Statement................................................. 11
Prepared Statement............................................. 12
Mr. Thomas K. Hudson, President, Jackson State University:
Oral Statement................................................. 14
Prepared Statement............................................. 15
Ms. Janai Nelson, President and Director-Counsel, NAACP Legal
Defense Fund:
Oral Statement................................................. 17
Prepared Statement............................................. 19
For the Record
The Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee, a Representative in Congress
From the State of Texas:
Letter From Texas Southern University.......................... 47
The Honorable Dan Bishop, a Representative in Congress From the
State of North Carolina:
Tweet.......................................................... 31
Article, The Guardian.......................................... 31
Article, The Washington Post................................... 44
Appendix
Questions From Congresswoman Dina Titus for Eric S.C. Manning.... 71
Questions From Congresswoman Dina Titus for Thomas K. Hudson..... 71
Questions From Congresswoman Dina Titus for Janai Nelson......... 71
THE TARGETING OF BLACK INSTITUTIONS: FROM CHURCH VIOLENCE TO UNIVERSITY
BOMB THREATS
----------
Thursday, March 17, 2022
U.S. House of Representatives,
Committee on Homeland Security,
Washington, DC.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:01 a.m., via
Webex, Hon. Bennie G. Thompson [Chairman of the committee]
presiding.
Present: Representatives Thompson, Jackson Lee, Langevin,
Payne, Correa, Slotkin, Cleaver, Green, Clarke, Watson Coleman,
Rice, Demings, Barragan, Gottheimer, Malinowski, Katko,
Higgins, Guest, Bishop, Van Drew, Miller-Meeks, Clyde, Cammack,
and Pfluger.
Chairman Thompson. The Committee on Homeland Security will
come to order. Without objection, there is some--oh. Oh, OK.
So, the Committee on Homeland Security will come to order.
Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare the
committee in recess at any point.
Good morning. The committee is meeting to examine the
targeting of Black institutions from church violence to
university bomb threats. Exactly a year ago, Secretary
Alejandro Mayorkas testified before this committee that
domestic extremist violence represents the greatest threat to
the homeland right now.
Today we are here to discuss how one form of extremism,
White supremacist violence, threatens Black institutions,
particularly Black churches and Historically Black Colleges and
Universities. Data from the Center for Strategic and
International Studies, or CSIS, shows that right-wing extremism
has surged to dangerous levels. Since 2015, right-wing
extremists have been responsible for 267 plots and attacks and
91 deaths.
No one could forget the tragedy at Mother Emanuel African
Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston in June 2015, when a
radicalized White supremacist murdered 9 churchgoers while
shouting racial epithets. According to the CSIS, Black churches
were targeted in another 15 plots or attacks from 2016 to April
2021.
As a son of the South, I know all too well the horror that
shakes a community when a house of worship is attacked. Today
we find ourselves confronting an unprecedented rise in threats
of violence against HBCUs. Between January 4 and February 4 of
this year, the FBI identified a staggering 51 total bomb
threats, 28 targeting HBCUs and 12 targeting Black churches.
There have been at least 8 more bomb threats in the last 6
weeks.
While the nature of violence toward Black institutions may
have evolved over the years, the attacks are by no means new.
When I was coming of age in Mississippi, White supremacists
attacked Black churches with impunity. Many were firebombed,
burned, or destroyed. I also recall with great sadness the
tragedy that occurred at Jackson State University when I was a
young man.
In May 1970, 75 police officers were sent to campus to
break up a protest. In a use-of-force incident the President's
Commission on Campus Unrest later called an unreasonable,
unjustified overreaction, police fired 140 shots toward a
dormitory building, tragically killing 2 students and injuring
another 12.
Shortly after I was elected to Congress, our Nation was
again confronted with a resurgence in attacks on Black
churches. In 1995 to `96 alone, there were as many as 35
burnings of Black churches. Here we are, yet again, today.
These attacks sicken me.
These terrorists, and they are terrorists, whether they be
engaged in physical violence or threats of such, seek to
intimidate good people from exercising their religious beliefs
and receiving an education. While these institutions have shown
remarkable resilience under terrible circumstances, their
academic or religious missions are too often hampered by having
to divert resources to ensure safety and security. Congress has
heard and answered the call for increasing funding for the
Nonprofit Security Grant Program. This program provides funding
for physical security enhancements and other security-related
activities to nonprofit organizations, such as houses of
worship and universities, that are at high risk of a terrorist
attack.
In fiscal year 2021, Congress doubled funding for the
program to $180 million, but significant needs remain. In
response, Congress increased funding for the program to $250
million in the fiscal year 2022 omnibus spending bill President
Biden signed into law this week.
Additionally, I have introduced legislation cosponsored by
Ranking Member Katko that would authorize $500 million for the
program. This legislation would also create an office tasked
with conducting outreach, education, and technical assistance
to eligible nonprofits, with a particular focus on underserved
communities.
As someone with a long history with the NPSG program, I am
pleased that we are holding this hearing today to get testimony
on the record about its importance and how it might be further
strengthened. I am also pleased to see that yesterday, the
Biden administration announced that HBCUs will be able to
access grant funds under the Project School Emergency Response
to Violence program to restore a safe learning environment.
They are important steps, but much more remains to be done
to help communities who have been hurt by this violence bring
the perpetrators to justice and prevent future threats and
attacks. It is unconscionable that Americans practicing their
faith at houses of worship or obtaining an education to better
themselves, their families, and future generations would have
to fear for their lives. Indeed, racially-motivated threats and
violence against Black churches and schools are attacks on
these institutions, but also on our American way of life. Our
response must be swift and serious, commensurate with the
persistent threat.
I am honored to have a distinguished panel of witnesses
before the committee this morning and look forward to hearing
their testimony on this important topic. Reverend Eric Manning
joined Mother Emanuel AME Church, Charleston, South Carolina,
as the senior pastor in June 2016, a year after the tragic
shooting. He has lifted his church and community in the years
since the terrorist attack and has continued to be a voice of
social justice.
My friend Mr. Thomas Hudson, president of Jackson State
University, is leading his university as it confronts this new
wave of threats. President Hudson offers a unique perspective
as HBCUs address this on-going crisis.
Finally, I look forward to hearing from Ms. Janai Nelson
about the broader threat landscape facing Black institutions
and what the Federal Government can do to help keep those
communities safe. I also wish to congratulate her on her recent
promotion, becoming the eighth president of the NAACP Legal
Defense and Education Fund.
Thank you again. I look forward to your testimony.
[The statement of Chairman Thompson follows:]
Statement of Chairman Bennie G. Thompson
March 17, 2022
The committee is meeting to examine the ``Targeting of Black
Institutions: From Church Violence to University Bomb Threats.''
Exactly a year ago, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testified before this
committee that ``domestic violent extremism'' represents the ``greatest
threat in the homeland right now.''
Today, we are here to discuss how one form of that extremism--White
supremacist violence--threatens Black institutions, particularly Black
churches and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Data
from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) shows
that right-wing extremism has surged to dangerous levels. Since 2015,
right-wing extremists have been responsible for 267 plots and attacks
and 91 deaths.
No one could forget the tragedy at Mother Emanuel African Methodist
Episcopal Church in Charleston in June 2015--when a radicalized White
supremacist murdered 9 churchgoers while shouting racial epithets.
According to the CSIS, Black churches were targeted in another 15 plots
or attacks from 2016 to April 2021.
As a son of the South, I know all too well the horror that shakes a
community when a house of worship is attacked. And today, we find
ourselves confronting an unprecedented rise in threats of violence
against HBCUs. Between January 4 and February 4 of this year, the FBI
identified a staggering 51 total bomb threats, 28 targeting HBCUs and
12 targeting Black churches. There have been at least 8 more bomb
threats in the last 6 weeks.
While the nature of violence toward Black institutions may have
evolved over the years, the attacks are by no means new. When I was
coming of age in Mississippi, White supremacists attacked Black
churches with impunity. Many were firebombed, burned, or destroyed. I
also recall with great sadness the tragedy that occurred at Jackson
State University when I was a young man.
In May 1970, 75 police officers were sent to campus to break up a
protest. In a use-of-force incident the President's Commission on
Campus Unrest later called an ``unreasonable, unjustified
overreaction,'' police fired 140 shots toward a dormitory building,
tragically killing 2 students and injuring another 12.
Shortly after I was elected to Congress, our Nation was again
confronted with a resurgence in attacks on Black churches. In 1995-96
alone, there were as many as 35 burnings of Black churches. And here we
are, yet again, today. These attacks sicken me.
These terrorists, and they are terrorists whether they be engaged
in physical violence or threats of such, seek to intimidate good people
from exercising their religious beliefs and receiving an education.
While these institutions have shown remarkable resilience under
terrible circumstances, their academic or religious missions are too
often hampered by having to divert resources to ensure safety and
security. Congress has heard and answered the call for increased
funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP). This program
provides funding for physical security enhancements and other security-
related activities to nonprofit organizations, such as houses of
worship and universities, that are at high risk of a terrorist attack.
In fiscal year 2021, Congress doubled funding for the program to
$180 million, but significant needs remain. In response, Congress
increased funding for the program to $250 million in the fiscal year
2022 Omnibus spending bill President Biden signed into law this week.
Additionally, I have introduced legislation co-sponsored by Ranking
Member Katko that would authorize $500 million for the program. This
legislation would also create an office tasked with conducting
outreach, education, and technical assistance to eligible non-profits,
with a particular focus on underserved communities.
As someone with a long history with the NPSG program, I am pleased
that we are holding this hearing today to get testimony on the record
about its importance and how it might be further strengthened. I was
also pleased to see that yesterday, the Biden administration announced
that HBCUs will be able to access grant funds under the Project School
Emergency Response to Violence (Project SERV) program to restore a safe
learning environment.
These are important steps, but much more remains to be done to help
communities who have been hurt by this violence, bring the perpetrators
to justice, and prevent future threats and attacks. It is
unconscionable that Americans practicing their faith at houses of
worship or obtaining an education to better themselves, their families,
and future generations would have to fear for their lives. Indeed,
racially-motivated threats and violence against Black churches and
schools are attacks on these institutions, but also on our American way
of life. Our response must be swift and serious, commensurate with this
persistent threat.
I am honored to have a distinguished panel of witnesses before the
committee this morning and look forward to hearing their testimony on
this important topic. Reverend Eric Manning joined Mother Emanuel AME
in Charleston, South Carolina as the senior pastor in June 2016, a year
after the tragic shooting. He has lifted his church and community in
the years since the terrorist attack and has continued to be a voice
for social justice. My friend, Mr. Thomas Hudson, president of Jackson
State University, is leading his university as it confronts this new
wave of threats. President Hudson offers a unique perspective as HBCUs
address an on-going crisis. Finally, I look forward to hearing from Ms.
Janai Nelson about the broader threat landscape facing Black
institutions and what the Federal Government can do to help keep those
communities safe.
Chairman Thompson. I now recognize the Ranking Member of
the full committee, the gentleman from New York, Mr. Katko.
Mr. Katko. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for your insight and
powerful statements. I appreciate them and I thank you for
holding this important hearing today.
To our witnesses, thank you for joining us in person and
virtually, I think one of them is virtually, to discuss a
troubling issue that threatens the safety and security of
Americans throughout the United States. Unfortunately, it is
not confined to the Black community, the Jewish community,
including my city suffered a bombing of a temple when I was a
prosecutor. This type of conduct, it is just sickening in
today's day.
Threats against African Americans are an ugly part of
American history and an issue our country clearly still
struggles with. Throughout the civil rights era, African
Americans were subject to violent and often deadly assaults as
they fought for the simple right of equality. Birmingham,
Alabama, alone, which served as a focal point of the civil
rights movement, experienced more than 40 deadly bombings
between the late '40's and the mid-'60's, earning it the
dubious nickname ``Bombingham.'' While our Nation has
thankfully made great progress, we still have much work to do
to ensure that all our citizens feel safe within our borders.
Thank you, Reverend Manning, for being here today. It is
devastating to recall the evening of June 17, 2015, when a mass
shooter took the lives of 9 African-American congregants who
were attending Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist
Episcopal Church in Charleston. This race-fueled attack at an
historic African American church shook our Nation to its core,
causing all of us to reflect on the fact that inherently evil
acts of violence continue to exist in many forms. That is why
we are here and that is our main mission. I am grateful to have
you here today to discuss how this horrific day shaped the
church's external engagement to enhance security and any
insights you may have into how Congress can better support the
safety and security of religious institutions of all stripes.
Almost a decade later, we are now dealing with a series of
threats, most of them targeted at the safety and well-being of
predominantly Black academic communities. The FBI reported that
57 Historically Black Colleges and Universities, or HBCUs, and
houses of worship were targeted with bomb threats from January
4 through February 16 of this year. The FBI has dedicated more
than 20 field offices to investigating these threats which they
have categorized as hate crimes.
While we are thankful that no bombs have been discovered,
these threats have derailed education and religious operations
while instilling fear in the hearts of students, faculty,
administrations, administrators, and worshipers.
To digress for a moment, the next step is what has been
happening in the Jewish community where people are losing their
lives. That is something we just can't have.
I commend the Federal, State, and local law enforcement
efforts to bring the perpetrators of these crimes to justice.
While law enforcement officers work to apprehend those
responsible, Congress has a sacred duty to ensure educational
institutions and houses of worship have access to and knowledge
of every safety and security tool in our Federal toolbox. The
Department of Homeland Security offers a variety of grants,
including the Nonprofit Security Grants and Targeted Violence
and Terrorist Prevention Grants to nonprofits and institutions
of higher education to establish or enhance security
capabilities, mitigate targeted violence, and prevent
terrorism.
At the same time, the FBI offers security training,
including active-shooter training, to teach leaders at schools,
houses of worship, and other at-risk settings how to respond to
threats and save lives. It is vital that soft targets, such as
our colleges and churches, are aware of these resources and
that we bolster their relationship with law enforcement to
prevent violence within our communities. Again, drawing on my
experience with what is happening with the Jewish community
across this country, most Jewish communities now have a very
robust and active security apparatus, and that is something we
should talk about today.
I am excited to hear from our witnesses today about how
they are working to protect HBCUs and African American houses
of worship. I am looking forward to learning more about the
unique threats our institutions face, the partnerships they
have fostered with law enforcement, the capabilities they have
to report and combat violence, and how Congress can strengthen
all of these efforts.
Threats against historically Black institutions are attacks
on the core freedoms promised to all Americans. Efforts to
derail any person's ability to seek higher education or pursue
their religious freedoms is an assault on their fundamental
Constitutional rights and the justice system must address it
swiftly and severely.
I want to thank you again to our witnesses for being here
today. I look forward to our conversation and I yield back my
time.
[The statement of Ranking Member Katko follows:]
Statement of Ranking Member John Katko
Thank you, Chairman Thompson, for holding this important hearing
today, and thank you to our witnesses for joining us to discuss a
troubling issue that threatens the safety and security of Americans
throughout the United States.
Threats against African Americans are an ugly part of American
history and an issue our country clearly still struggles with.
Throughout the civil rights era, African Americans were subject to
violent and often deadly assaults as they fought for their right for
equality.
Birmingham, Alabama alone, which served as a focal point of the
civil rights movement, experienced more than 40 deadly bombings between
the late 1940's to mid-1960's, earning it the dubious nickname
``Bombingham.''\1\ While our Nation has thankfully made great progress,
we still have work to do to ensure that all of our citizens feel safe
within our borders.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/07/06/197342590/
remembering-birming- hams-dynamite-hill-neighborhood.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you, Reverend Manning, for being here today. It's devastating
to recall the evening of June 17, 2015, when a mass shooter took the
lives of 9 African American congregants who were attending Bible study
at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston.
This race-fueled attack at a historic African American church shook
our Nation, causing all of us to reflect on the fact that inherently
evil acts of violence continue to exist in many forms. I am grateful to
have you here today to discuss how this horrific day shaped the
church's external engagement to enhance security and any insights you
have into how Congress can better support the safety and security of
religious institutions.
Almost a decade later, we are now dealing with a series of threats,
most of them targeted at the safety and well-being of predominantly
Black academic communities. The FBI reported that 57 historically Black
colleges and universities, or HBCUs, and houses of worship were
targeted with bomb threats from January 4 through February 16 this
year.
The FBI has dedicated more than 20 field offices to investigating
these threats, which they have categorized as hate crimes. While we are
thankful that no bombs have been discovered, these threats have
derailed educational and religious operations, while instilling fear in
the hearts of students, faculty, administrators, and worshippers.
I commend the Federal, State, and local law enforcement efforts to
bring the perpetrators of these crimes to justice.
While law enforcement officers work to apprehend those responsible,
Congress has a duty to ensure educational institutions and houses of
worship have access to and knowledge of every safety and security tool
in our Federal toolbox.
The Department of Homeland Security offers a variety of grants,
including Non-Profit Security Grants and Targeted Violence and
Terrorism Prevention Grants to non-profits and institutions of higher
education to establish or enhance security capabilities, mitigate
targeted violence, and prevent terrorism.
At the same time, the FBI offers security training, including
active-shooter training, to teach leaders at schools, houses of
worship, and other at-risk settings how to respond to threats and save
lives. It is vital that soft targets, such as our colleges and
churches, are aware of these resources and that we bolster their
relationship with law enforcement to prevent violence within our
communities.
I am excited to hear from our witnesses today about how they are
working to protect HBCUs and African American houses of worship. I am
looking forward to learning more about the unique threats their
institutions face, the partnerships they have fostered with law
enforcement, the capabilities they have to report and combat violence,
and how Congress can strengthen all these efforts.
Threats against historically Black institutions are attacks on the
core freedoms promised to all American citizens. Efforts to derail any
person's ability to seek higher education or pursue their religious
freedoms is an assault on their fundamental Constitutional rights and
the justice system must address it swiftly and severely. Thank you
again to our witnesses for being here today, and I look forward to our
conversation.
Chairman Thompson. The gentleman yields back. Other Members
of the committee are reminded that under committee rules
opening statements may be submitted for the record.
[The statement of Hons. Jackson Lee and Norman follow:]
Statement of Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee
March 17, 2022
Thank you, Chairman Thompson and Ranking Member Katko, for
convening today's hearing entitled, ``The Targeting of Black
Institutions: From Church Violence to University Bomb Threats.''
I look forward to hearing from today's witnesses:
Rev. Eric S.C. Manning, senior pastor, Mother Emanuel A.M.E.
Church, Charleston, South Carolina;
Thomas K. Hudson, J.D., president, Jackson State University,
Jackson, Mississippi; and
Janai S. Nelson, J.D., associate director-counsel, NAACP
Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc., Washington, DC.
There is no Minority witness.
The purpose of the hearing is to receive testimony about the
heightened threats and violence facing Black institutions, including
churches and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
These threats are not new, but in recent months HBCUs and other
Black institutions have faced a disturbing number of bomb threats.
This hearing will be an opportunity to highlight the importance of
the Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP), which plays a critical
role in helping at-risk nonprofit organizations and religious
communities bolster security.
Prior to September 11, 2001, the Federal Government had a wide
range of law enforcement, National security, and crime investigative
agencies that collected information, but jealously guarded this
information from other agencies.
More than 20 years after the 9/11 attacks, the terrorism landscape
is complex, diffused, and dynamic.
The 9/11 Commission Report allowed an in-depth assessment of the
failures that led to the horrific terrorist attacks against the United
States that cost the lives of nearly 3,000 people.
The House Committee on Homeland Security was created to implement
the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Report and ensure that
resources were provided to support the mission of homeland security.
The most significant task of the committee was guiding the
establishment of the Department of Homeland Security and making sure
that it had all that it would need to carry out its mission to keep all
Americans safe from the threat of terrorism.
I, along with other Members who have served on this committee since
its inception, made a commitment that a terrorist attack of the
magnitude that occurred on September 11, 2001, would never happen
again.
An essential component of our ability to keep this commitment was
the establishment of stronger ties among local, State, and Federal law
enforcement and building collaborations with private-sector partners.
Since the founding of DHS its mission remains the same--to defend
the homeland from terrorist attacks and to help victims recover from
disasters that are natural and man-made.
Although terrorist actors espousing violent Islamist ideologies
continue to pose a threat, the greatest terrorism threat to the
homeland today is posed by domestic violent extremists, particularly
from those who promote a violent White supremacy ideology.
Further complicating counter-terrorism efforts is the convergence
of violent ideologies where violent White supremacy (including anti-
Semitism) often combines with other violent ideologies to drive an
attack.
The face and threats posed by terrorism is now sourced from
domestic threats that have been present within this Nation for a very
long time but have found voice to reemerge in recent years.
This is the bind that connects the Civil Rights movement to the
Jewish Faith, which includes joining in marches, sit-ins, voter
registration drives in the deep south--none of which were safe things
to do--but they were the right things to do for the Nation.
An embodiment of this joint struggle were the deaths of Goodman,
Schwerner, and Chaney--names that will forever be linked.
In January 2022, the month prior to Black History month bomb
threats targeting Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)
started.
Just a few weeks ago we visited the issue of violence targeting
places of worship for persons of the Jewish faith and today we are
looking at threats of violence targeting HBCUs and Black churches.
Many HBCUs welcomed Jewish intellectuals fleeing Europe during the
rise of Nazism in the early 1930's.
During this period more than two-thirds of the faculty hired at
many HBCUs from 1933 to 1945 had come to the United States to escape
Nazi Germany.
HBCUs believed the Jewish professors were valuable faculty that
would help strengthen their institutions' credibility.
HBCUs had a firm belief in diversity and giving opportunity no
matter the race, religion, or country of origin.
HBCUs were open to Jews because of their ideas of equal learning
spaces, which demonstrated that an environment where all people felt
welcome to study, including women could prosper.
In this environment the leaders of the modern civil rights movement
were educated.
The history of the civil rights movement and HBCUs is inextricably
linked.
HBCUs are where early civil rights leaders and church leaders were
forged.
The list of prominent leaders and the HUBCs they attended:
Kamala Harris (Howard University)
Martin Luther King (Morehouse)
Rosa Parks (Alabama State)
Medgar Evers (Alcorn State University)
Thurgood Marshall (Lincoln University and Howard University)
Jesse Jackson (North Carolina A&T)
Ralph Albernathy (Alabama State University)
Lonnie Johnson (Tuskegee State University)
Langston Hughes (Lincoln University)
Harry and Harriette Moore (Bethune Cookman College)
Clementa Carlos Pinckney (Allen University)
Toni Morrison (Howard University)
Booker T. Washington (Hampton University)
Alice Walker (Spelman)
Kathern Johnson (West Virginia State University)
John Lewis (Fisk University)
W.E.B. Dubois (Fisk University)
Ida B. Wells (Fisk University).
On December 25, 1951, the first martyrs of the civil rights
movement Henry and Henrietta Moore, were murdered on the night of their
anniversary, for the battles they won for voting rights and equal pay
for Black residents in the State of Florida.
At the time of their murder Florida had the highest number of
registered Black voters of any Southern State.
Targeting African Americans for working for all Americans to have
equal access to housing, employment, and opportunities is best
illustrated by the history of Birmingham Alabama, which earned the
bloody name of ``Bombingham'' because of the number of bomb attacks in
that city between 1947 and 1965, the year the voting rights act passed.
On September 15, 1963, a well-known attack in Birmingham occurred
when the 16th Street Baptist Church was bombed before Sunday morning
services, killing 4 girls:
Addie Mae Collins (age 14, born April 18, 1949),
Carol Denise McNair (age 11, born November 17, 1951),
Carole Rosamond Robertson (age 14, born April 24, 1949), and
Cynthia Dionne Wesley (age 14, born April 30, 1949).
Maxine McNair, was the last living parent of any of the 4 Black
girls killed in the 16th Avenue Baptist Church bombing. She died on
Sunday, January 2, 2022, at the age of 93.
Outrage over the incident and the violent clash between protesters
and police that followed drew National attention to the hard-fought,
often-dangerous struggle for civil rights for African Americans.
The bombing of the 16th Avenue Baptist Church was not an isolated
incident it was part and parcel of the civil rights struggle in one of
the most dangerous places in the United States to be African American
and demanding equal rights.
The city of Birmingham, Alabama, was founded in 1871 and rapidly
became the State's most important industrial and commercial center.
By the late 1960's, Birmingham was well-known as one of the most
discriminatory and segregated cities in the United States.
Alabama Governor George Wallace was a leading foe of desegregation,
and Birmingham had one of the strongest and most violent chapters of
the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).
The city's police commissioner, Eugene ``Bull'' Connor, was
notorious for his brutality in combating radical demonstrators, union
members, and any Black citizens.
Political labels during this period were not what they are today.
Democrats were the pro-segregationist--evidenced by Alabama
Governor George Wallace and Police Chief Bull Connor and they are there
also the lead anti-segregationist President John F. Kennedy and
President Lyndon Banes Johnson.
It was a case of the classic house divided parable and by the
1970's Democrats emerged as a unified party committed to moving the
country forward as one Nation and not one divided against itself.
Today, Democrats and Republicans should be unified to make the
United States in word and deed live up to the words of the
Constitution, but we must be prepared to weather the storms caused by
those who want to drag the Nation back into a dark place in its
history.
Black people and institutions have continued to experience threats
and violence over the decades since the 1960's.
In the mid-1990s President Bill Clinton committed to having a
Federal Government that looked like the United States, which resulted
in the first African Americans appointed to serve as Secretaries of the
Department of Commerce and the Department of Agriculture, as well as
dozens of high-level appointments throughout the Federal Government.
Following these high-profile appointments along with policy
statements regarding equity and his administration there was a surge in
attacks on Black churches.
In 1995-96 alone, there were as many as 35 burnings of Black
churches.
While these attacks were mostly spread throughout the South, there
were also Black churches targeted in the Northeast, Midwest, and
Southwest.
In response to these attacks, Congress passed the Church Arson Act
of 1996, which created a Federal crime for damaging religious property
or obstructing any person's free exercise of religious beliefs where
the offense takes place.
Over the last 6 years, Black churches have been among the dozens of
religious institutions, including mosques and synagogues, that have
been threatened, burned, bombed, and hit with gunfire.
According to data from CSIS, Black churches were the targets of 15
attacks or plots from 2016 to April 2021.
Other forms of attacks have also targeted Black churches.
The attack at the Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church
is well-known, as a recent act of terrorism on a Black house of
worship. On June 17, 2015, Dylan Roof shot and killed 9 churchgoers
while shouting racial epithets.
After the attack, officials discovered a manifesto with racist
characterizations of Blacks, Jews, and others.
As prosecutors in his Federal murder trial noted, the perpetrator
of this crime is an example of the lone-wolf actor becoming radicalized
by a ``self-learning process'' on-line leading to the belief ``that
violent action is necessary to fight for White people and achieve White
supremacy.''
In the weeks following the attack at Mother Emanuel, several other
Black churches were burned, including God's Power Church of Christ in
Macon, Georgia and Battle Creek Baptist Church in Charlotte, North
Carolina.
God's Power Church was completed gutted, and Battle Creek Baptist
incurred more than $250,000 in damages, destroying the church's main
building.
In 2018, with cold precision several bombs detonated in the city of
Austin Texas plunged the city into fear.
The bombs were set by a 23-year-old Mark Anthony Conditt, a White
resident of Pflugerville, Texas who killed 2 people that included
Anthony House, the African American son of a local minister, and
African American Draylen Mason, 17, both were members of the Wesley
United Methodist Church.
The Wesley United Methodist Church in Austin, Texas, was founded in
1865, at the end of the American Civil War by newly-freed slaves from
the Austin area and has remained a predominantly African-American
congregation.
Anthony Conditt left an audio confession that has never been made
public and it should be heard by the Members of this committee to
properly put into context what his mindset was when he committed these
awful acts of terrorism.
The city of Austin experienced terror, and the lives lost were
those of African Americans.
Because of the real threat of violence faced by vulnerable groups
the DHS security grants program is a necessary and important tool that
must be available to assist places of worship in increasing security.
Members of this committee recognize that the terror landscape has
changed: Violent extremists today pick and choose individual elements
of violent ideologies that fit their world view.
Groups from ISIS to domestic White supremacist are united in their
violent anti-Semitism--leaving the American Jewish community
particularly vulnerable.
Nonprofits, including those within the American Jewish community,
have no choice but to invest in protection against the threat from
these violent ideologies, and rely on NSGP funding to do so.
Democrats recognize that we must support these at-risk nonprofits
and ensure that houses of worship have the resources they need to
bolster their security in the face of these terror threats.
I want to make it very clear--that this is not just a burden for
African American places of worship or HBCU's to carry--but the
responsibility of the United States to protect against terrorist
attacks no matter the target or the place attacked--it is vitally
important that all members of our Nation feel and know that they are
not alone when they face a threat.
An attack against one place of worship or school is an attack
against all places of worship and education settings.
Democrats have doubled funding for Nonprofit Security Grant Program
from $90 million in fiscal year 2020 to $180 million in fiscal year
2021, but it is still not enough to meet the real and pressing need.
As a Member of the House Budget Committee, I join other Members of
this committee in calling for significant increases to funding in
fiscal year 2022 appropriations bill and the ``Build Back Better Act''
would have added $100 million in additional funding.
In addition to more funding, the infrastructure of the Nonprofit
Security Grant Program both within FEMA and among the States needs to
mature to help ensure that eligible at-risk non-profits can easily
apply and access the resources they desperately need to ensure
community members can worship and congregate safely.
I look forward to today's testimony and the work of this committee
to continue in its efforts to strengthen and improve the Nonprofit
Security Grant Program.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Thank you.
______
Statement of Honorable Ralph Norman
The only concern students and staff should have while on campus
should be education. Safety and security should never be called into
question and that has sadly been compromised by the recent threats of
violence targeting HBCU campuses.
I am deeply disturbed by the recent events that have taken place
since January 1 at HBCUs across the Nation, causing a disruption in
learning and a heightened sense of fear. I am calling on our law
enforcement agencies and prosecutors to continue to work diligently to
identify those responsible and bring them to justice. They must face
the heavy hand of the law.
I am thankful to my colleagues in Congress for bringing this issue
forward and to the FBI for their on-going investigations. Perhaps most
importantly, I am thankful to Clinton College in Rock Hill South
Carolina for promoting a campus environment of faith, unity, and
positive moral. Campus safety is an utmost priority to every
educational institution, and should be second only to education itself.
Chairman Thompson. Members are also reminded that the
committee will operate according to the guidelines laid out by
the Chairman and Ranking Member in our February 3, 2021,
colloquy regarding remote procedures.
I now welcome our panel of witnesses. Our first witness,
Reverend Eric Manning, is a senior pastor at the Mother Emanuel
AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Prior to accepting
his appointment to Mother Emanuel in June 2016, Reverend
Manning led 4 other AME Churches in South Carolina over 12
years.
Our second witness, Mr. Thomas K. Hudson, JD, is president
of Jackson State University, located in Jackson, Mississippi.
He was named the university's president in November 2020, after
serving as acting president and in several key leadership roles
at the university, including chief operating officer and chief
diversity and EEO officer.
Our final witness is Ms. Janai S. Nelson, the newly-
appointed president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal
Defense and Education Fund. Prior to the role, Ms. Nelson
served as the associate director-counsel at the organization
where she has worked for the past 8 years.
Without objection, the witnesses' full statement will be
inserted in the record.
I now ask each witness to summarize their statement in 5
minutes, beginning with Reverend Manning.
STATEMENT OF REV. ERIC S.C. MANNING, SENIOR PASTOR, MOTHER
EMANUEL AME CHURCH
Rev. Manning. Chairman Thompson and Ranking Member Katko
and the Committee on Homeland Security, I thank you for this
opportunity to share some thoughts with you this morning. This
is the first time that I have ever had the privilege to appear
before a Congressional committee and please know how deeply
humbled I am for this opportunity to share with you today some
reflections on the pain that was experienced by a deliberate
and sinful act that is rooted in hate.
While there have been many attacks levied against the Black
church throughout history, for the purpose of this testimony
today I will only highlight two, the first being the 16th
Street Baptist Church, the site of one simple act that was
rooted in hate where, on Sunday, September 15, 1963, at 10:22
a.m., while worshipers were gathering for worship service and
church school was concluding, 4 church school attendees were
murdered: Addie May Collins, 14; Cynthia Wesley, 14; Carole
Robertson, 14; Carol Denise McNair, 11. While this sinful act
of hate took place over 57 years ago, this community still is
feeling the pain that was inflicted upon them.
The second sinful act of hate occurred here at Mother
Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church where on June 17,
2015, at the conclusion of Bible Study, a lone White supremist
entered and came into our Bible Study and murdered 9 members:
Reverend Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, 45; Cynthia May [sic]
Graham Hurd, 54; Susie J. Jackson, 87; Ethel Lee Lance, 70;
Reverend DePayne Middleton, 49; Honorable Reverend Clementa C.
Pinckney, 41; Tywanza Sanders, 26; Reverend Daniel L. Simmons,
Sr., 74; and Myra Thompson, 41--or 59, excuse me. There were
also 5 survivors: Felicia Sanders, Polly Sheppard, Jennifer
Pinckney, and 2 minor children.
The entire congregation was stunned and rendered speechless
by an unbelievable act of horror. It left an undeniable stain
on all of our hearts, our minds, and our memories. Our sacred
sanctuary had become a crime scene.
It is important to understand that both crimes rooted in
hate struck at the heart of the Black community, which is
indeed the church. In many communities the church is the place
where the community gathers for fellowship, comfort, discuss
community concerns, and, most importantly, share in the
liberating Gospel of Jesus Christ. When an act is levied
against the Black church, it has a lingering effect. I am not
sure how long it will truly take for these respective
communities to heal, especially, of course, when they have been
dealt such a major blow that is rooted in the sin of racism.
I have served as the pastor of Mother Emanuel now for
almost 6 years and I can truly say that every member is in a
different place when it comes to healing. Many continue to deal
with the lingering impact, knowing that their sacred place or
house of worship had been violated by the sin of racism. To
this day, there are still many members who have not yet
returned.
I would characterize the lingering effects of trauma as a
long-term opportunity, meaning that we must still seek
resources that will help the members to recover. In the short
term, immediately following the tragedy of the church, the
church was able to develop a security plan. This security plan
was implemented by the church and continues to be updated on a
regular basis.
To date the church has spent well over $50,000 when it
comes to church security. I would have hoped that by now that
we would have been able to throttle back with budgetary item.
However, it is still one that we utilize on a regular basis.
Tragically, we live in a world where sin and hate is so
strong that many houses of worship will need to develop
detailed security plans. I believe that we can all still come
together to find sustainable solutions that would protect all
houses of worship, understanding, though, that this would
require all of us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. I
want to believe that we could truly embrace what Abraham
Lincoln said, ``Let us discard all quibbling about this man or
the other man, this race or that race or the other race being
inferior. And let us discard these things and unite as one
people throughout this land until we shall once more stand up
declaring that all men are created equal.''
But until that time comes, let us continue to look for ways
to protect houses of worship as the Nonprofit Security Grant
Act of 2022, H.R. 6825, prayerfully will do.
Thank you again for this opportunity to share with you all
today.
[The prepared statement of Rev. Manning follows:]
Prepared Statement of Eric S.C. Manning
March 17, 2022
Chairman Thompson, Ranking Member Katko, thank you for the
opportunity to share some thoughts with you this morning.
This is the first time that I have ever appeared before a
Congressional committee. Please know how deeply humbled I am by this
opportunity to share with you today, my reflections on the pain that
was experienced by a deliberate and sinful act rooted in hate.
While there have been many attacks levied against the Black church
throughout history, for the purpose of this testimony today I will
discuss two. The first being the 16th Street Baptist Church, the site
of one sinful act rooted in hate. On Sunday September 15, 1963, at
10:22 am, when worshippers were gathering for worship service and
church school was concluding a bomb went off. Four young girls
attending Sunday School were murdered: Addie Mae Collins (14), Cynthia
Wesley (14), Carole Robertson (14), and Carol Denise McNair (11). While
this sinful act of hate took place over 57 years ago, the community is
still feeling the pain that was inflicted upon them.
The second sinful act rooted in hate occurred on Wednesday June 17,
2015, at the conclusion of Bible Study. This act occurred at Mother
Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church (AMEC) while the Bible Study
group closed the session in prayer. It was at that time a lone gunman,
who was welcomed by the group opened fire killing 9 members of the
church: Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton (45), Cynthia Marie Graham Hurd
(54), Susie J. Jackson (87), Ethel Lee Lance (70), Rev. DePayne
Middleton (49), Honorable Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney (41), Tywanza
Sanders (26), Rev. Daniel L. Simmons, Sr. (74), and Myra Singleton
Thompson (59). There were also 5 survivors: Felicia Sanders, Polly
Sheppard, Jennifer Pinckney, and 2 minor children.
The tragedy of June 17, 2015 shook all the foundations of Mother
Emanuel AMEC to their very core. Acts of Christian love were met by
forces of hate, racism, bigotry, and violence. A welcomed visitor ended
the weekly prayer meeting with actions the congregation had never
experienced in more than two centuries of worship.
As the worshippers bowed their heads in a closing prayer 9
members--including the young and visionary pastor--were murdered. Three
other members were terrorized--tortured by indescribable memories.
The entire congregation was shocked, stunned, and rendered
speechless by an unbelievable horror. It left an indelible stain on
their hearts, minds, and memories.
A sacred sanctuary became a crime scene.
The loving response of Charleston citizens, the protective response
of city, State, and National officials, the outpouring of condolences
and sympathy revealed that this tragedy of bigotry and hate no longer
represented the forces that opposed Mother Emanuel AMEC in its earlier
days.
Despite the welcomed support the indelible stain of tragedy was
uniquely felt by Mother Emanuel AMEC. With joined hands and humble
hearts the congregation had to look only to the Divine hills for help.
There they found comfort in the arms of a loving God. While this sinful
act of hate took place almost 7 years ago the community is still
feeling the lingering effects of this trauma.
It is important to understand that both crimes rooted in hate
struck at the heart of the Black community, which is the church. In
many communities the church is the place where the community gathers to
fellowship, comfort, discuss community concerns, and most importantly
share in the liberating Gospel of Jesus Christ. When an attack is
levied against the Black church it has lingering effects and I am not
sure how long it takes to truly heal from these acts of hate that are
rooted in the sin of racism.
I have served the congregation of Mother Emanuel AMEC as their
senior pastor for almost 6 years and can truly say that every member is
in a different place when it comes to healing. Many continue to deal
with the lingering impact of having their sacred place of worship being
violated by the sin of racism. To this day there are still many members
who have not returned to the church.
I would characterize the lingering effects of trauma as a long-term
opportunity (meaning that we still must seek resources that will help
members recover). In the short term (immediately following the tragedy)
the church developed a detailed security plan. This security plan was
implemented by the church and continues to be updated on a regular
basis.
To date the church has spent well over $50,000 in updating the
security cameras on-site, deploying biometric scanners, key fobs, and
employing off-duty police officers. This new budgetary item is one that
I thought would be reduced over time, unfortunately this has not become
a reality for Mother Emanuel AMEC.
Tragically, we live in a world where the sin of hate is so strong
that many houses of worship will need to develop detailed security
plans. I believe that we can all still come together to find
sustainable solutions that would protect all houses of worship,
understanding though that this would require all of us to love our
neighbor as we love ourselves. I would want to believe that we could
truly embrace what Abraham Lincoln said, ``let us discard all this
quibbling about this man and the other man--this race and that race and
the other race being inferior . . . Let us discard all these things,
and unite as one people throughout this land, until we shall once more
stand up declaring that all men are created equal''.
Thank you again for the opportunity to share with you all today.
Chairman Thompson. Thank you for your testimony, Reverend
Manning. I now recognize President Hudson to summarize his
statement for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF THOMAS K. HUDSON, PRESIDENT, JACKSON STATE
UNIVERSITY
Mr. Hudson. Good morning, Chairman Thompson and Members of
this committee. I would like to thank you for allowing me the
opportunity to speak with you today.
While I wish my presence before you was due to other
circumstances, I do believe this is a conversation of
necessity. The recent bomb threats against the institution I
lead, my alma mater, Jackson State University, and the almost
two dozen other HBCUs, make a mockery of how far we have come
as a Nation.
There is always a group of individuals who will attempt to
drag us back to a time when terrorizing our communities was
frequent occurrences, often without admonishment. The threat we
received on February 1, 2022, was an attempt once again to
incite mass anxiety and fear reminiscent of yesteryear. The
targeting of Black schools and sacred institutions has taken
place in our country since their inception. Then and now, these
threats are designed to intimidate and impede our sense of
safety and freedom in an environment where our students deserve
to feel protected at all times.
At JSU, we were fortunate that our local, State, and
Federal law enforcement agencies rallied behind us during this
time. We appreciate the efforts of the Jackson Police
Department, State of Mississippi Capitol Police, and the FBI,
who responded not just in words, but in action, helping to
provide the necessary resources to mitigate this threat. Of
course, we thank the JSU Department of Public Safety, who on
this day and every day work hard to protect our campus and our
students.
Collectively, it is our responsibility to create safe
environments for our campus community. They should be able to
receive a nurturing learning experience in a protected
environment free from distraction.
But what will it take for us to ensure the long-term
protection of not only our students, faculty, staff, and
stakeholders, but the historical assets that are HBCUs? It is
with this context that I would like to address the areas in
which this committee may assist us in this endeavor. We can do
this by ensuring that HBCUs receive equitable resources, close
the significant disparity between our security challenges and
our funding, and also counter those disparities thus ensuring
sustainability.
I think we all know the history of HBCUs, that our
institutions were founded to educate newly-freed Black people
who could not attend the already-established colleges and
universities. Today there are over 100 Historically Black
Colleges and Universities in this country. Together we have
educated millions, helping them realize the American Dream that
was elusive to their ancestors.
The intended disruption of HBCUs, like Jackson State
University, is an intentional assault on the economic drivers
of this country. It is a deliberate attempt to destroy these
cultural spaces where intellect and diverse thought thrives. We
cannot sit idly by and wait for something to happen to these
hallowed spaces. We cannot afford to be reactionary.
While we share similarities with other colleges and
universities, the truth is, unlike our counterparts, we have
been routinely underfunded for years, which has led to deferred
maintenance and deficiencies within our infrastructure. This is
a significant mismatch between our security challenges and
adequate funding levels to address this incongruity, which
often puts us in a reactionary position due to our historical
and persistent under-resourcing.
But there is a way forward. At JSU, we aim to be a part of
the solution by partnering with this body and others in
addressing these deep-rooted issues. Our close collaboration
with the Department of Homeland Security through their Office
of Academic Engagement offers an exceptional opportunity to
expand our capacity and access to these much-needed resources.
We seek the resources to develop and utilize data science
technology, so that we may better understand and motivate
resilience strategy while we build trust in the most vulnerable
communities.
We anticipate long-term investments to expand and sustain
our criminal justice and urban planning programs in order to
elevate and develop local and State-wide solutions to serve as
a National model and resources. Developing a tiered approach to
resolving HBCU security issues and concerns is a must. We must
also develop partnerships with our local school districts to
jointly pursue those initiatives for early intervention.
I would like to close by saying that we shall not be moved
or paralyzed by malevolent threats. I am calling on you to help
us bolster our arsenals because we all have the responsibility
of ensuring our students can develop in environments free of
violence, racism, and intolerance. We must protect our HBCUs,
so that transformational education can and will always prevail.
Thank you so much for your time.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Hudson follows:]
Prepared Statement of Thomas K. Hudson
Good morning.
Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak with you today.
I am Thomas Hudson, 12th president of Jackson State University.
While I wish my presence before you were due to other
circumstances, I believe this is a conversation or testimony of
necessity. The recent bomb threats against the institution I lead, my
alma mater, Jackson State University, and the almost 2 dozen other
HBCUs, make a mockery of how far we have come as a Nation.
There is always a group of individuals who will attempt to drag us
back to the time when terrorizing our communities were frequent
occurrences--often without admonishment.
The threat we received on Feb. 1, 2022, was an attempt once again
to incite mass anxiety and fear reminiscent of yesteryear. The
targeting of Black schools and sacred institutions has taken place in
this country since their inception. Then and now, these threats are
designed to intimidate and impede our sense of safety and freedom in an
environment where our students deserve to feel protected at all times
by all costs.
At JSU, we were fortunate that our local, State, and Federal law
enforcement agencies rallied behind us during this time. We appreciate
the efforts of the Jackson Police Department, State of Mississippi
Capitol Police and the FBI, who responded not just in words but in
action, helping to provide the necessary resources to mitigate this
threat. And of course, we thank the JSU Department of Public Safety,
who on this day and every day work hard to protect our campus and
students.
Collectively, it is our responsibility to create safe environments
for our campus community. They should be able to receive a nurturing
learning experience in a protected environment free from distraction.
But what will it take for us to ensure the long-term protection of
not only our students, faculty, staff, and stakeholders but the
historical assets that are HBCUs? And, it is with this context that I
would like to address the 3 key areas in which this committee may
assist us in meeting the moment. And we meet this moment by helping
HBCUs:
Receive equitable resources;
Close the significant disparity between security challenges
and funding; and
Counter those disparities thus ensuring sustainability.
I think we all know the history of HBCUs in America. That our
institutions were founded to educate newly-freed Black people who could
not attend the already-established colleges and universities. Today,
there are over 100 Historically Black Colleges and Universities in this
country, and together we have educated millions--helping them realize
the American Dream that was elusive to their ancestors.
Over the past 75 years, HBCUs have provided undergraduate training
for 75 percent of all Black Americans holding a doctorate degree, 75
percent of all Black officers in the armed forces; and 80 percent of
all Black Federal judges, according to the U.S. Department of
Education.
The intended disruption of HBCUs, like Jackson State University, is
an intentional assault on the economic drivers of this country. It is
also a deliberate attempt to destroy these cultural spaces where
intellect and diverse thought thrives. And now, in 2022, we cannot sit
idly by and simply wait for something to happen to these hallowed
places. We cannot afford to be reactionary.
While we share similarities with other colleges and universities--
indeed threats of violence may occur at any number of colleges--the
truth is, unlike our counterparts, we have been routinely underfunded
for years, which has led to deferred maintenance and deficiencies in
our infrastructure.
This long-term under-funding has consequences it limits our ability
to pivot in an emergency.
There is a significant mismatch between our security challenges and
adequate funding levels to address this incongruity. This frequently
puts HBCUs in a reactionary position due to our historical and
persistent under-resourcing.
While we do our best to manage risks, preparedness has to be the
priority in order to deal with relative threats and close security gaps
routinely experienced in HBCU environments.
In short, our institutions need capacity-building resources for
preparedness, mitigation, and prevention. Because it is true that many
of us sit in Urban locations with open campuses; JSU is located in the
heart of the capital city. While these settings contribute to the
vibrant culture found at HBCUs, they also make us especially vulnerable
to the very threats being discussed today.
In addition, the lack of resources, unfortunately, finds many of
our institutions with minimal staffing and sometimes limited on-the-
ground expertise, especially in cybersecurity. The long-term
infrastructure issues--some of which are finally being addressed thanks
to Members of this body--and the resulting years of deferred
maintenance further compromises the physical security on our campus.
But there is a way forward.
At JSU, we aim to be a part of the solution by partnering with this
body and others in addressing these deep-rooted issues. Our close
collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security through the
Office of Academic Engagement offers an exceptional opportunity to
expand our capacity and access to much-needed resources.
We seek the resources to develop and utilize Data Science
technologies. . . .so that we may better understand and motivate
resilience strategies while we build trust in the most vulnerable
communities. We do this as we search for meaningful solutions in
collaboration with local and regional partners.
We also anticipate long-term investments to expand and sustain our
criminal justice and urban planning programs in order to elevate and
develop local and State-wide solutions and to serve as a National model
and resource. These include:
Building our capacity to on-board and graduate talented
students--thus allowing us to deploy skilled criminal justice
talent and human capital Nation-wide through the establishment
of a Center for Excellence.
Collaborating with State, local, and Federal law enforcement
to identify emerging crime and security vulnerability trends.
Improve the translational value of relevant data for those
with decision-making authority.
We also need to acquire advanced security monitoring systems. Most
HBCUs possess security data capture systems (often with limited
distribution). However, these institutions often have low bandwidth and
limited human resources for continuous monitoring. Further, enough
server space may likely not be available for long-term data storage.
These constitute major security challenges.
Developing a tiered approach to resolving HBCU security issues and
concerns is a must. We must also develop partnerships with our public-
school districts to jointly pursue initiatives for early interventions,
conflict resolution training, and de-escalation protocols.
Last, we must ensure sustainability so we do not find ourselves
once again repeating the past. This means access to the critical
expertise necessary to conduct comprehensive security vulnerability
assessments. . . .assessments that will help to identify gaps and
challenges and ensure we appropriately address physical, logistical,
and digital resilience campus-wide.
As HBCUs are major employers and economic drivers in our respective
communities, it is vital that our institutions develop a community of
practice principally focused on securing and strengthening the HBCU
ecosystem for continued training, education, research, and economic
development.
I would like to close by saying we shall not be moved or paralyzed
by malevolent threats. I am calling on you to help us bolster our
arsenals because we all have the responsibility of ensuring our
students can develop in environments free of violence, racism, and
intolerance. We must protect our HBCUs, so that transformational
education can and will always prevail.
Thank you so much for your time.
Chairman Thompson. Thank you, Dr. Hudson, for your
testimony. I now recognize Attorney Nelson to summarize her
statement for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF JANAI NELSON, PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR-COUNSEL,
NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE FUND
Ms. Nelson. Thank you and good morning, Chairman Thompson,
Ranking Member Katko, and Member of the committee. My name is
Janai Nelson and I am the president and director-counsel of the
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Thank you for the
opportunity to testify about the escalating threat of violence
against Black institutions and for your example of bipartisan
partnership and leadership in introducing H.R. 6825.
The Legal Defense Fund is a Black legacy institution
founded in 1940 under the leadership of Thurgood Marshall, a
graduate of two Historically Black Universities, Lincoln
University and Howard University School of Law. LDF was
launched at a time of wide-spread, State-sponsored violence and
inequality. As the organization that litigated Brown v. Board
of Education, which ended legal apartheid in the United States,
LDF has long led the struggle for education equity and that
struggle is on-going.
On January 4, 2022, at least 8 HBCUs received what would be
the first of an escalating number of bomb threats in just the
first 3 months of this year. Following this initial rash of
bomb threats, the FBI released a statement that they were being
``investigated'' as racially- or ethnically-motivated violence
extremism and hate crimes.
As Chairman Thompson mentioned, this is a National security
threat. The attacks did not stop. During the month of February,
Black History Month, there was not a single week in which the
safety and security of an HBCU and its predominantly Black
student populations were not threatened with terrorist
violence. An estimated 57 HBCUs and churches have received bomb
threats this year alone.
To understand why HBCUs are the target of such vitriol, we
must understand their history. HBCUs were established in the
early 19th century in direct resistance to State-sponsored
denial of education for Black people. HBCUs were created to be
safe havens for people for whom education was previously
illegal or out of reach. They provided and continue to provide
to this day the opportunity for predominantly Black student
populations to receive equality, post-secondary education in a
nurturing environment that lays bare the myths of White
supremacy and Black inferiority.
Although HBCUs make up only 3 percent of the country's
colleges and universities, they enroll 10 percent of all Black
students and product almost 20 percent of all Black graduates,
including Howard University alumna Kamala Harris, the first
Black woman Vice President of the United States.
There is a long and ignominious history of bomb threats
made and realized upon other Black institutions in the United
States. As Reverend Manning mentioned, in 1963, the KKK
infamously bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church, killing 4
young girls and terrorizing more than 400 congregants. Black
churches have remained a target of White extremist hate and
violence as evidenced by the horrific mass killing at Mother
Emanuel in 2015.
This Nation also has a shameful history of using the powers
of the State and private acts of violence to prevent Black
people from receiving an education. HBCUs sit at the
intersection of these painful histories of violence against
Black people, Black legacy institutions, Black advancement, and
Black education.
Although White extremist activity and violence are not new,
there has been a disturbing increase in recruitment,
propaganda, and visibility of such groups in recent years. In
2021, the FBI warned this very committee that the top threat we
face from domestic violent extremists stems from those we
identify as racially, ethnically motivated violent extremists.
Indeed, racism is our greatest threat to National security.
The bomb threats made to HBCUs are evidence of increased
violence across the country.
To reverse this harmful trend, in addition to the on-going
investigation by the FBI, this committee must conduct a
parallel investigation to ascertain the specific animus of
these attacks, to determine how future occurrences can be
prevented, and to issue findings and solutions to prevent this
on-going threat. Congress must also ensure that HBCUs and other
legacy institutions have the necessary funding to protect
themselves from future attacks.
To that end, Congress should pass H.R. 6825, the Nonprofit
Security Grant Program Improvement Act, which would expand and
strengthen the Nonprofit Security Grant Program. Despite these
threats of terrors, HBCUs have remained resilient in their
mission and Black religious organizations continue to serve as
a central institution in Black communities across the Nation.
But the continuing threat of racialized violence and the
targeting of Black institutions is a scenario that no student,
faculty, or staff member, religious leader, devotee, or
institution should have to endure in 2022. We call on Congress
to bring the full power and resources of the Federal Government
to protect these hallowed institutions that strengthen and
enrich our society, and to ensure the safety and security of
every resident of this country regardless of race or ethnicity,
especially those who are targets of domestic racial terror.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Nelson follows:]
Prepared Statement of Janai Nelson
March 17, 2022
Good morning Chairman Thompson, Ranking Member Katko, and Members
of the committee. My name is Janai Nelson, and I am the president and
director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc
(``LDF''). Thank you for the opportunity to testify regarding the
targeting of Black institutions.
LDF is the country's first and foremost civil rights law
organization.\1\ Founded in 1940 under the leadership of Thurgood
Marshall--a graduate of a Historically Black College and University
(``HBCU'')--LDF was launched at a time when the Nation's aspirations
for equality and due process of law were stifled by wide-spread State-
sponsored racial inequality. From that era to the present, LDF's
mission has been transformative--to achieve racial justice, equality,
and an inclusive society, using the power of law, narrative, research,
and people to defend and advance the full dignity and citizenship of
Black people in America.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ LDF has been an entirely separate organization from the NAACP
since 1957.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LDF's litigation, policy advocacy, organizing, and public education
programs seek to ensure the fundamental rights of all people to quality
education, economic opportunity, the right to vote and fully
participate in democracy, and the right to a fair and just judicial
system. As the organization that litigated Brown v. Board of
Education,\2\ the landmark Supreme Court case that struck down
segregation in public schools, LDF has long led the struggle for equal
education in the United States. That struggle continues today, in our
commitment to building K-12 and higher education learning institutions
that foster diversity and advance racial justice.
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\2\ 347 U.S. 483 (1954).
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overview and severity of the attacks on hbcu s
On January 4, 2022, at least eight HBCUs received bomb threats:
Howard University, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Prairie
View A&M University, North Carolina Central University, Florida
Memorial University, Norfolk State University, Spelman College, and
Xavier University of Louisiana.\3\ The threats generally arrived during
the afternoon or evening via an anonymous caller. In response, schools
were forced to order evacuations or lockdowns, and to work with local
law enforcement to secure their campuses. Although no bombs were found
on any campus, students reported feeling distressed after the anonymous
threats were called in. One Spelman student noted the similarities
between these threats and past violence on HBCU campuses, stating
``Black people are still facing discrimination and acts of violence . .
. [t]he same way our ancestors faced during the civil rights movement
and prior.''\4\ Another student remarked, ``I've never felt completely
safe in this country as a Black woman and as a queer person. But this?
This was a very tangible threat to not only my safety but the safety of
my community, not just at Howard but across the country. HBCUs are very
visible Black spaces. And that makes them very visible targets for
White supremacists.''\5\
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\3\ Andrew Jeong and Susan Svrluga, Howard University and at least
7 other HBCUs receive bomb threats, triggering evacuations and
lockdowns, Washington Post (Jan. 5, 2022), https://
www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/01/05/hbcu-bomb-threats-howard-
university/.
\4\ Petula Dvorak, Bomb threats damage us, even when nothing
explodes, Washington Post (Feb. 10, 2022), https://
www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/02/10/hbcu-bomb-threats-racial-
violence/.
\5\ Esther Schrader, HBCU students and leaders `lean into history'
amid bomb threats, Southern Poverty Law Center (Feb. 9, 2022), https://
www.splcenter.org/news/2022/02/09/hbcu-presidents-students-react-bomb-
threats.
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On January 31, 2022, we saw another series of bomb threats
targeting at least 6 HBCUs: Southern University and A&M College, Howard
University, Bethune-Cookman University, Albany State University, Bowie
State University, and Delaware State University.\6\ After these attacks
the Federal Bureau of Investigation (``FBI'') stated it was ``aware of
the series of bomb threats around the country'' and was ``working with
our law enforcement partners to address any potential threats.''\7\
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\6\ Paulina Firozi, At least six historically Black colleges and
universities receive bomb threats, Washington Post (Jan. 31, 2022),
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/01/31/university-bomb-
threats-hbcu/.
\7\ Id.
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The next day, on February 1, 2022, the first day of Black History
Month, another round of bomb threats were received at 16 HBCUs: Rust
College, Tougaloo College, Jackson State University, Alcorn State
University, Mississippi Valley State University, Fort Valley State
University, Spelman College, Morgan State University, Coppin State
University, Harris-Stowe State University, Kentucky State University,
Xavier University of Louisiana, Philander Smith College, Edward Waters
University, Howard University, and the University of the District of
Columbia.\8\ Immediately following the February 1 attacks, the FBI
released a statement that the threats were being ``investigated as
racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism and hate
crimes.''\9\ However, the attacks did not stop. During the month of
February, Black History month, there was not a week without a bomb
threat made to HBCUs.\10\
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\8\ Lauren Lumpkin and Susan Svrluga, Fear, anxiety follow third
wave of bomb threats targeting HBCUs, Washington Post (Feb. 1, 2022),
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/02/01/hbcu-bomb-threats-
campus-reactions/.
\9\ FBI Statement on Investigation into Bomb Threats to
Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Houses of Worship,
(Feb. 2, 2022), https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/fbi-
statement-on-investigation-into-bomb-threats-to-historically-black-
colleges-and-universities-and-houses-of-worship.
\10\ On February 8, 2022, Spelman College received a bomb threat.
On February 14, 2022, both Howard University and Fisk University
received bomb threats. On February 16, 2022, 3 institutions received
bomb threats: Fayetteville State University, Claflin University, and
Winston-Salem State University. On February 23, 2022, Hampton
University received a bomb threat.\10\[sic] On February 25, 2022, at
least 3 institutions received a bomb threat: Norfolk State University,
Elizabeth City State University, and Dillard University. Testimony of
Dr. Walter M. Kimbrough President, Dillard University Chairman, Council
of Presidents, United Negro College Fund (UNCF) Before the U.S. Senate
Committee on the Judiciary (March 8, 2022), https://
www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Kimbrough%20testimony1.pdf.
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importance of hbcu s and the effects of violent threats
HBCU's were established in the early 19th Century to provide
undergraduate- and graduate-level educational opportunities for people
of African descent. Many of the 101-accredited HBCUs were founded
toward the end of the Civil War when it was still dangerous to educate
freed slaves or their progeny. HBCUs were created in direct resistance
to the limitations placed on education for Black people.\11\ They were
created to be safe havens, primarily for people for whom education was
previously illegal or out of reach but provided the opportunity to
receive an education to everyone who applied--regardless of race or
ethnicity.
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\11\ Historically Black Colleges and Universities, National Center
for Education Statistics (last visited Mar. 12, 2022), https://
nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=667.
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Today, HBCUs continue that legacy. They provide students with a
safe space to earn a quality education. Though HBCUs make up only 3% of
the country's colleges and universities, they enroll 10% of all African
American students and produce almost 20% of all African American
graduates.\12\ In science, technology, engineering, and mathematics or
``STEM'' fields, HBCUs produce 24% of all bachelor's degrees received
by African Americans.\13\ Concentrated in 19 States, the District of
Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, HBCUs enroll nearly 300,000
students, approximately 80% of whom are African American.\14\ HBCUs
have historically produced some of the most accomplished and
trailblazing individuals in this country.\15\
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\12\ HBCUs Make America Strong: The Positive Economic Impact of
Historically Black Colleges and Universities, United Negro College
Fund: Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute (last visited Mar. 15,
2022), https://cdn.uncf.org/wp-content/uploads/HBCU_Consumer_Bro-
chure_FINAL_APPROVED.pdf?_ga=2.249529666.474259404.1647352517585719881.1
64- 6852182.
\13\ K.M. Saunders and B.T. Nagle, HBCUs Punching Above Their
Weight: A State-Level Analysis of Historically Black College and
University Enrollment Graduation, UNCF Frederick D. Patterson Research
Institute (2018). Available at https://cdn.uncf.org/wp-content/uploads/
PATW_Report_FINAL0919.pdf?_ga=2.87072989.474259404.1647352517-
585719881.164- 6852182.
\14\ U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education
Statistics. (2020). Digest of education statistics 2019 [Table 313.20].
Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d19/tables/
dt19313.20.asp.
\15\ Thurgood Marshall, a civil rights lawyer, the first Black
Supreme Court Justice, and the founder of LDF, graduated Lincoln
University in Pennsylvania. Who Was Thurgood Marshall, NAACP Legal
Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (last visited Mar. 14, 2022),
https://www.naacpldf.org/about-us/history/thurgood-marshall/; Scholar
and civil rights activist, W.E.B. Dubois, attended Fisk University in
Nashville, Tennessee before becoming the first African American to
receive a doctorate from Harvard College. W.E.B. Du Bois, Hutchins
Center for African & African American Research, Harvard University
(last visited Mar. 14, 2022), https://hutchinscenter.fas.harvard.edu/
web-dubois; Toni Morrison graduated from Howard University, in
Washington, DC before going on to become the first African American
woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Toni Morrison, National
Women's History Museum (last visited Mar. 14, 2022), https://
www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/toni-morrison;
George Edward Alcorn, pioneering physicist and engineer noted for his
aerospace and semiconductor inventions, graduated from Howard
University. George Edward Alcorn X-Ray Spectrometer, National Inventors
Hall of Fame (last visited Mar. 14, 2022), https://www.invent.org/
inductees/george-edward-alcorn; Former chair of Microsoft Corporation
and lead independent director of the Microsoft Board of Directors, John
W. Thompson, is a graduate of Florida A&M University. Executive
Officers, Microsoft (last visited Mar. 14, 2022), https://
news.microsoft.com/exec/john-w-thompson/. Media mogul, journalist,
celebrity, philanthropist, and entrepreneur, Oprah Winfrey graduated
from Tennessee State University. Oprah Winfrey, Britannica (last
visited Mar. 14, 2022), https://www.britannica.com/biography/Oprah-
Winfrey; See generally, DeNeen L. Brown, How crucial are historically
black colleges? Just look at who's graduated from them, Washington Post
(May 10, 2017), https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/
05/08/from-mlk-to-oprah-winfrey-historically-black-colleges-educate-
african-american-pioneers/.
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These bomb threats disrupt college routines for students, interrupt
teaching for faculty, and disrupt the work of administrative staff of
HBCUs. The threats have prompted colleges and universities to
temporarily cancel in-person classes, lock down buildings and ask
people to shelter in place in order to ensure the safety of everyone on
campus. Most notably, these attacks terrorize students, professors, and
staff. The constant threat of violence reminds everyone on these
campuses that they are not safe at school. Indeed, the FBI's
investigation of these threats of violence indicate they are intended
to intimidate students and to stoke fear among campuses specifically
because HBCUs are known to predominately serve Black students.\16\
Recently, the FBI reported that the people calling in these bomb
threats claim to be affiliated with Neo-Nazi group the Atomwaffen
Division (``AWD'').\17\ The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated
AWD as a hate group.\18\ AWD believes that its mission--a fascist
political order--can only be achieved through acts of violence aimed at
the state, Jewish people, Black people, and people of color, liberals,
and those who stand in solidarity with such communities. Indeed,
members of AWD call themselves ``accelerationists'' because they
embrace violence as an essential part of their political
revolution.\19\
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\16\ FBI Statement on Investigation into Bomb Threats to
Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Houses of Worship,
(Feb. 2, 2022), https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/fbi-
statement-on-investigation-into-bomb-threats-to-historically-black-
colleges-and-universities-and-houses-of-worship; Michael Levenson,
Katie Benner and Giulia Heyward, Six Juveniles Are Persons of Interest
in Threats to Historically Black Colleges, New York Times (Feb. 2,
2022), https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/02/us/hbcu-bomb-threats.html.
\17\ Jeff Martin and Michael Balsamo, HBCU bomb threat caller
described elaborate plot: police, Associated Press (Feb. 2, 2022),
https://apnews.com/article/education-florida-race-and-ethnicity-bomb-
threats-daytona-beach-1643a14133f9a395502ea336892ec8f3.
\18\ Atomwaffen Division, Southern Poverty Law Center (last visited
Mar. 12, 2022), https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-
files/group/atomwaffen-division.
\19\ Id.
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The visibility of HBCUs has increased in recent years, particularly
following the election of Howard University alumna Kamala Harris as the
first Black woman Vice President of the United States. As HBCUs have
become more visible, they have also become more apparent targets for
those who would sow hate. HBCUs are targeted specifically because they
represent the independence, resilience, and unbounded intellectual
capacity of Black Americans, which is a threat to White supremacist
ideology.
Additionally, these threats create significant, unexpected
financial costs for institutions that have been systematically
underfunded by State legislatures and the Federal Government for
decades.\20\ Many HBCUs are land-grant institutions, or schools founded
by State legislatures to foster agricultural research and instruction
and receive much of their funding through State legislatures. Compared
to their White counterparts, Black land-grant universities have been
underfunded by at least $12.8 billion over the last 3 decades.\21\
Funding for land-grant institutions is distributed at the discretion of
the State legislature and in many cases, State legislatures choose to
overfund White land-grant institutions while barely meeting the
required funding for Black land-grant institutions. For example, in
2020, the Tennessee General Assembly provided $69.4 million in land-
grant dollars, or $2,460 per student, to the University of Tennessee.
That is more than 4 times its required match of funding.\22\ Notably,
77% of the University of Tennessee's student population is White. By
contrast, the Tennessee General Assembly provided Tennessee State
University, an HBCU, $8.7 million or $1,318 per student--12% above its
required match. Moreover, reports suggest that the Tennessee General
Assembly only started meeting its matching requirement for Tennessee
State University in 2017.
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\20\ Susan Adams and Hank Tucker, For HBCUs Cheated Out Of
Billions, Bomb Threats Are The Latest Indignity, Forbes (February/March
2022), https://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2022/02/01/for-hbcus-
cheated-out-of-billions-bomb-threats-are-latest-indignity/
?sh=7cf01fd3640c.
\21\ Id.
\22\ Id.
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At least in part because of funding disparities, HBCUS are more
tuition-dependent than other colleges and universities. Without
redress, these bomb threats could serve to reduce enrollment at HBCUs
and therefore have a long-term impact on revenue and viability. The
bomb threats also impose immediate costs for security measures and
other actions that HBCUs may be forced to undertake in order to
maintain the safety of their campuses and the mental health and
physical safety of their students. In a letter to all students, Howard
University Chief of Police Marcus Lyles noted that, although the bomb
threats against the university had not been credible, they were ``a
drain on institutional and municipal resources.''\23\ To increase
security personnel, augment surveillance equipment, install physical
barriers, or integrate safety procedures more closely with local police
departments could prove to be a significant financial burden for HBCUs.
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\23\ A Message from Chief Lyles on Bomb Threat Safety, Howard
University (Jan. 31, 2022), https://howard.edu/node/841.
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historical significance of bomb threats to black institutions
There is a long and horrific history of bomb threats made and
realized upon Black institutions in the United States. Infamously, in
1963 members of the Ku Klux Klan (``KKK'') planted bombs in the 16th
Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, terrorizing the more than
400 congregants, injuring more than 20 people, and killing 4 young
girls.\24\ African American churches such as the 16th Street Baptist
Church were fundamental in the organization of protest activity
throughout the Civil Rights Movement. As hubs of power, imagination,
and community, Black churches were often targeted with violence and
terror.\25\ Indeed, in an effort to intimidate demonstrators, members
of the KKK would routinely telephone churches with bomb threats
intended to disrupt meetings of organizers and protestors as well as
regular church services.\26\ The attack on the 16th Street Baptist
Church exemplifies the tragic outcomes when threats become reality.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\24\ Four Black Girls Killed in Church Bombing in Birmingham,
Alabama, Equal Justice Initiative (last visited March 11, 2022),
https://calendar.eji.org/racial-injustice/sep/15.
\25\ Sarah Kaplan and Justin Wm. Moyer, Why racists target black
churches, Washington Post (Jul. 1, 2015), https://
www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/07/01/why-racists-burn-
black-churches/; Matthew Cressler, Why White Terrorists Attack Black
Churches, Slate (June 19, 2015), https://slate.com/news-and-politics/
2015/06/charleston-ame-church-shooting-dylann-roof-is-the-latest-in-a-
long-line-of-white-terrorists-terrified-by-the-political-power-of-
black-churches.html; Michael Eric Dyson, Love and Terror in the Black
Church, New York Times (June 20, 2015), https://www.nytimes.com/2015/
06/21/opinion/michael-eric-dyson-love-and-terror-in-the-black-
church.html.
\26\ Id.
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Black churches remained a target of White supremacist hate and
violence through the 1990's and to the present. From 1994 to 1996 Black
churches across the southeast were fire-bombed, prompting Congressional
hearings to address the violence.\27\ In 2015, a White supremacist
walked into Bible study at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal
Church in Charleston, South Carolina--often referred to as Mother
Emanuel--and opened fire. The perpetrator murdered 9 people who
welcomed him into their sacred space to discuss scripture, specifically
because they were Black.\28\ Mother Emanuel had long been a target of
racialized violence. In 1822, it was burned as a result of its
association with Denmark Vesey, a formerly enslaved Black man who tried
to organize a slave revolt.\29\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\27\ Conor Friedersdorf, Thugs and Terrorists Have Attacked Black
Churches for Generations, the Atlantic (June 18, 2015), https://
www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/06/thugs-and-terrorists-have-
plagued-black-churches-for-generations/396212/.
\28\ Yamiche Alcindor and Doug Stanglin, Affidavits spell out
chilling case against Dylann Roof, USA Today (June 19, 2015), https://
www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/19/dylann-roof-charleston-
police-charged-murder-black-church/28975573/.
\29\ Kat Chow, Denmark Vesey And The History Of Charleston's
`Mother Emanuel' Church, National Public Radio (June 18, 2015), https:/
/www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/06/18/415465656/denmark-vesey-
and-the-history-of-charleston-s-mother-emanuel-church.
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This Nation also has a shameful history of using the powers of the
State and private acts of violence to prevent Black people from
receiving an education. Before and during the Civil War, States
instituted laws forbidding enslaved people from learning to read or
write.\30\ Between 1740 and 1834, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana,
Mississippi, North and South Carolina, and Virginia all passed anti-
literacy laws.\31\ Many of these laws made teaching enslaved people to
read or write punishable by fines, imprisonment, and physical
punishments.
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\30\ See South Carolina Act of 1740; Virginia Revised Code of 1819.
\31\ Peri Stone-Palmquist, Still Not Free: Connecting The Dots Of
Education Injustice, Dignity in Schools (Feb. 13, 2020), https://
dignityinschools.org/still-not-free-connecting-the-dots-of-education-
injustice/
#:?:text=Between%201740%20and%201834%2C%20Alabama,fines%2C%20-
imprisonment%20and%20physical%20punishments.
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Efforts to prevent Black people from earning an education continued
even after the end of the Civil War. In 1865, an arsonist set fire to
Wilberforce University, in Ohio, the first college owned and operated
by Black people.\32\ In 1866, LeMoyne-Owen College, a private HBCU in
Tennessee, was destroyed in a fire during a race massacre that summoned
Federal troops to the area.\33\ In 1876, a suspicious fire destroyed an
administrative building at Claflin University, a private HBCU in South
Carolina and in 1905 a fire destroyed Roger Williams University, an
HBCU in Nashville, Tennessee.\34\
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\32\ Charlie Tyson, For Storied Institution, a Historic Low, Inside
Higher Ed (June 30, 2020), https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/06/
30/wilberforce-university-countrys-oldest-private-historically-black-
institution-could#:?:text=In%201865%2C%20on%20the%20night,the%20-
latter%20'seems%20more%20likely).
\33\ LeMoyne-Owen College, Our History, (last visited Mar. 3,
2022), https://www.loc.edu/about-us/our-history/.
\34\ Testimony of Dr. Walter M. Kimbrough President, Dillard
University Chairman, Council of Presidents, United Negro College Fund
(UNCF) Before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary (March 8,
2022), https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Kimbrough%20-
testimony1.pdf.
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Educational institutions, houses of worship, and other community
institutions have historically been regarded as safe spaces for all
people--sanctuaries for communities to gather, share, learn,
fellowship, and build relationships. This is particularly true for
communities of color.
The bomb threats against more than one-third of all HBCUs have
shaken this sense of safety and security. Though White supremacist
activity and violence is not new, there has been a disturbing increase
in recruitment, propaganda, and visibility of such groups in recent
years. According to data from the Anti-Defamation League, White
supremacist propaganda distribution on college campuses steadily
increased from 2016 to 2019.\35\ On college and university campuses,
propaganda messages have both subtly and explicitly attacked minority
groups, including Jews, Blacks, Muslims, non-White immigrants and the
LGBTQ community.\36\ In addition to increased recruitment on college
campuses, the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University
identified on-line video-games and streaming platforms as another space
that is ripe with White supremacist recruitment efforts.\37\ Internet-
based platforms, websites, and social spaces have also been levied by
such groups to increase fundraising, communicate and organize members
between different countries, and to amplify messages of hate. Notably,
the FBI reported more than 8,000 hate crimes in 2020, the highest total
in more than a decade.\38\
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\35\ White Supremacists Continue to Spread Hate on American
Campuses, Anti-Defamation League (June 27, 2019), https://www.adl.org/
blog/white-supremacists-continue-to-spread-hate-on-american-campuses.
\36\ Mallory Simon and Sara Sidner, White supremacists increase
recruiting efforts at colleges, ADL says, CNN (June 28, 2019), https://
www.cnn.com/2019/06/27/us/white-supremacist-recruiting-efforts-at-
colleges-soh/index.html.
\37\ A National Policy Blueprint To End White Supremacist Violence,
Center for American Progress (Apr. 21, 2021), https://
www.americanprogress.org/article/national-policy-blueprint-end-white-
supremacist-violence/; David Gambacorta, Hate crimes are soaring. White
supremacists have a new recruitment tool: Video games, Philadelphia
Inquirer (Jan. 3, 2022), https://www.inquirer.com/news/pennsylvania-
researchers-combat-white-supremacists-extremism-philadelphia-
20220103.html.
\38\ FBI Releases Updated 2020 Hate Crime Statistics, Federal
Bureau of Investigations (Oct. 25, 2021), https://www.fbi.gov/news/
pressrel/press-releases/fbi-releases-updated-2020-hate-crime-
statistics.
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The bomb threats made to HBCUs must be considered as part of the
evidenced increase in activity of White supremacist violence across the
country. Congress cannot avoid confronting this particular scourge of
violence as a form of domestic terrorism and addressing it as a matter
of National security. Indeed, just last year, the FBI testified before
this committee that ``the top threat we face from domestic violent
extremists stems from those we identify as racially/ethnically
motivated violent extremists.''\39\ As instances of White supremacist
violence continue to increase throughout the country, and as White
supremacist groups continue to increase recruitment efforts on-line and
on college campuses, Congress must take seriously the threat of
violence in Black and minority communities especially as it relates to
National security.
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\39\ Christopher Wray, Worldwide Threats to the Homeland, Statement
Before the House Homeland Security Committee, Federal Bureau of
Investigations (Sep. 17, 2020), https://www.fbi.gov/news/testimony/
worldwide-threats-to-the-homeland-091720.
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the urgent need for congressional action
Recently, both chambers of Congress passed Resolutions condemning
the string of bomb threats made to HBCUs.\40\ However, more must be
done to ensure the safety of students, faculty, and administrators at
HBCUs. The egregious nature of these crimes, their scope and scale, and
the racist motivations behind them deserve specific and immediate
attention. The bomb threats, like increased violence and defacement
against synagogues,\41\ demonstrate an increased and brazen willingness
to attack institutions of minority communities. Such communities have
faced discrimination and attack for years and deserve the support and
protection of the Federal Government.
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\40\ H.Con. Res. 70: Condemning threats of violence against
historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and reaffirming
support for HBCUs and their students, 117th Congress (2021-2022).
Available at https://www.Congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-
concurrent-resolution/70; S.Res. 534--A resolution condemning threats
of violence against historically Black colleges and universities and
reaffirming support for the students of historically Black colleges and
universities, 117th Congress (2021-2022). Available at https://
www.Congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-resolution/534.
\41\ Six Facts About Threats to The Jewish Community, Anti-
Defamation League (Jan. 16, 2022), https://www.adl.org/blog/six-facts-
about-threats-to-the-jewish-community.
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Congress must act to ensure everyone can pursue the education of
their choice, free from threat, terror, or hate. In addition to
ensuring that the FBI completes a thorough investigation of these
attacks, this committee must conduct a parallel investigation to
ascertain the specific underlying animus, determine how to prevent
future occurrences, and issue findings and solutions to prevent this
on-going threat.
Congress must also ensure HBCUs have the funding necessary to
protect themselves from these attacks. HBCUs should be encouraged--and
given the financial support--to preemptively work with local law
enforcement to assess campus readiness and communicate to students and
faculty the appropriate steps to take if the university comes under
threat. Ensuring that HBCUs and other Black institutions have the
necessary resources for safety, including the implementation of
preventative protocols or systems, must be a priority of this committee
and Congress. The American Rescue Plan provided a record-breaking $2.7
billion in HBCUs to be used as direct financial relief to students and
to assist in the maintenance of quality education throughout the COVID-
19 pandemic.\42\ This investment should expand to include emerging
safety concerns at HBCUs which, if left unaddressed, could undermine
the commitment Congress and this administration has made to the
vitality of these institutions. Additionally, Congress should look to
the White House's Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity,
Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Black Americans
(``Initiative'') for policy recommendations from those most impacted by
these threats of violence. The Initiative provides youth and other
impacted people with the opportunity to share effective programs, best
practices, and policy recommendations designed to ensure all students
feel and are safe and supported throughout their education.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\42\ FACT SHEET: State-by-State Analysis of Record $2.7 Billion
American Rescue Plan Investment in Historically Black Colleges and
Universities, White House Statements and Releases (March 7, 2022),
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/03/
07/fact-sheet-state-by-state-analysis-of-record-2-7-billion-american-
rescue-plan-investment-in-historically black-colleges-and-
universities/.
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Finally, Congress should pass H.R. 6825 the Nonprofit Security
Grant Program Improvement Act which would expand and strengthen the
Nonprofit Security Grant Program (``NSGP''). Although the NSGP was
appropriated at $180 million during fiscal year 2021--doubling funding
from the previous year--the rate of applications to NSGP and the recent
threats made to HBCUs warrants additional expansion of the grant
program.\43\ The Nonprofit Security Grant Program Improvement Act would
address this increased need by increasing funding to $500,000,000 for
each fiscal year 2023 through 2028.\44\ It would also establish an
office within the Federal Emergency Management Agency to exclusively
handle grant requests, process applications, and provide outreach,
engagement, and public education support. Funding for public awareness
campaigns and community outreach is critical in this moment as White
supremacists target HBCUs, Black churches, synagogues, mosques and
other institutions with increased frequency and random selection. The
bill been endorsed by the Jewish Federations of North America, the
Anti-Defamation League, the Sikh Coalition, the Secure Community
Network, and the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America,
National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc. and has broad bipartisan
support.\45\ It's passage is critical in ensuring that HBCUs and other
institutions have the funding necessary to continue to operate and
ensure the security of their members.
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\43\ In fiscal year 2021, there were a total of 3,361 NSGP
applicants requesting approximately $400 million reflecting more than a
$200 million delta between requests and funding. Fiscal Year 2021
Nonprofit Security Grant Program Fact Sheet, DEPT. OF HOMELAND
SECURITY, https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/documents/
fema_fy2021-nsgp-nofo_3-2-2021.pdf (accessed Jan. 25, 2022).
\44\ H.R. 6825 Nonprofit Security Grant Program Improvement Act of
2022, 117th Cong. Available at https://www.Congress.gov/bill/117th-
congress/house-bill/6825/all-info.
\45\ Thompson, Katko Introduce Legislation to Expand Grant Program
to Protect Nonprofits and Houses of Worship, Committee on Homeland
Security (Feb. 28, 2022), https://homeland.house.gov/news/legislation/
thompson-katko-introduce-legislation-to-expand-grant-program-to-
protect-nonprofits-and-houses-of-worship.
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conclusion
HBCUs continue to provide high-quality education to their students,
and safe work environments to their faculty and staff in the face of
alarming and disruptive threats of violence. The perpetrators of the
most recent racist threats to HBCUs has yet to be found, and the
specter of violence continues to loom. Though the sense of terror on
campuses has not dissipated, HBCUs have remained resilient in their
mission and HBCU students, faculty, and administrators have not been
silenced, nor have they been deterred from their goals. Nevertheless,
the continuing threat of racialized violence and targeting of HBCs is a
scenario no student, faculty, or staff member, or institution should
have to endure. We call on Congress provide the necessary resources to
protect HBCUs, which continue to strengthen our society as a whole and
to ensure the safety and security of students, faculty, and
administrators on HBCU campuses.
Chairman Thompson. Thank you very much. I appreciate the
witnesses for their excellent testimony.
At this point, I will ask some questions and then refer to
the Ranking Member for his.
President Hudson, normally when people send their children
to a college or university, there are some assumptions about
safety and security. Can you share with the committee what
impact those threats have with both student, faculty, and the
parents of those young people attending Jackson State
University?
Mr. Hudson. Yes, Mr. Chairman. First of all, it brings a
sense of anxiety and fear, introduces that to the learning
process, which should never be a part of the learning process.
The hardest part about being a student should come in the
classroom and not outside the classroom. What this does, it has
introduced a level of anxiety.
It also, with respect to our parents, who, again, want to
ensure their student's safety, it causes them to look at the
university and look to us for what additional steps we may be
able to take to ensure that these things don't happen again. As
you are aware, most HBCUs, like JSU, sit in urban centers.
While these add to the culture of the university, they do make
us more vulnerable.
For JSU, we are having to take steps around the
infrastructure of the campus to really work toward ensuring and
give those ensures to the parents that we do have the ability
to make their children safe. It is an on-going effort. It does
impact learning, but we are determined to mitigate that as much
as possible.
Chairman Thompson. Thank you very much. I assume with that
comes a price tag.
Mr. Hudson. Yes, sir, it does. It does. Also, I might add,
you know, security data systems, which is a primary weakness
for a lot of HBCUs, just the ability to store that level of
data that allows us to better monitor the campus and the areas
around campus, all of those things come with a price tag.
Again, the underfunding that I discussed earlier does play a
role in kind-of keeping up behind in that effort.
Chairman Thompson. Thank you very much. Reverend Manning,
again, the assumption is that when people come to church there
is an expectation that as a house of worship you are safe. The
experience at Mother Emanuel is quite the opposite. Can you
tell us in the wake of what occurred what you as a church have
put together to secure the safety and security of those persons
worshiping there?
Rev. Manning. Well, Chairman Thompson, I would say,
initially, of course, what we did and part of my testimony was
the short-term, which was developing a security plan, then, of
course, rolling out multiple cameras across the entire campus.
Now, of course, pre-COVID, when we would gather for worship or
even Bible Study or meetings of the church we would have off-
duty police officers to continue to provide at least a form of
comfort for all the parishioners that are coming in.
We also have a security detail within Mother Emanuel, as
well, who are premilitary and also have experience in the law
enforcement area. So, we have done our very best to ensure that
the members are safe when they come into the worship service.
One of the things that we have been kind-of slow to do is
to work through an active-shooter scenario, just by virtue of
the fact that this is still a crime scene. Many members are
still traumatized even when they see yellow signs that are on
the outside of the church.
So, we have tried to gently as we possibly could, being
trauma-informed, to do our very best to ensure that all the
members are safe when they do come in, as I said before, by
hiring off-duty police officers, deploying cameras, having key
fobs, and also various other security measures.
Chairman Thompson. Thank you very much. Given what you have
heard, Ms. Nelson, and your experience with your organization,
do you see the value of a Nonprofit Security Grant in helping
these institutions in order to secure themselves? If you have
some recommendations as to other things we could do as a
Congress, I would love to hear from you at this point.
Ms. Nelson. Yes. Thank you, Chairman. I absolutely think
that the expansion of funding for HBCUs for other nonprofit
institutions and places of worship is essential as a preventive
measure for additional violence. The threat against Black
institutions continues to loom large. It continues to impact
the psyches of students and parishioners who attend religious
institutions. It also has a significant financial impact.
These institutions are now required to provide security in
a way that many other institutions don't have to worry about
simply because of the racial or religious make-up of their
constituencies. This requires not just additional physical
infrastructure, but technological support. It also, for HBCUs
in particular, may require additional resources around mental
health services. Students have been traumatized by these
threats of violence that disrupt their learning environment and
that subject them to a constant threat of potential violence in
a space that is meant to be a safe haven for their education.
So those resources can serve to improve the campus
environment and improve the safety and protect those
populations both on campuses and at religious institutions
across the country.
Chairman Thompson. The Chair recognizes the Ranking Member.
Mr. Katko. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Reverend Manning, when
I was listening to your testimony, I was recalling the carnage
that your congregation experienced and it is just--it is
unfathomable to me as a father and as a husband and a former
prosecutor. It really--I remember that day and my only regret
is that I wasn't able to leave this job and prosecute that
individual myself.
But going forward, I heard from you, you mentioned the
security plan and the Chairman asked about it, and I want to
talk to you a little bit more about that. But I wanted to know
what President Hudson said, as well, is that you said words to
the effect that we shouldn't be intimidated by these threats,
and I couldn't agree more. But you also mentioned the anxiety
and fear that students--and I think the Reverend talked about
the anxiety and the fear that people are experiencing because
of these threats and because of these horrific acts.
To some extent, based on my experience with some of the
other religious institutions that have been subject to attacks
like these, that fear can be ameliorated by a really good
security plan. That is really what I want to talk about.
Reverend, when I heard you talk about the security plan and
it cost you more than $50,000, I started doing the math in my
head. Even though I stink at math, it doesn't take a genius to
figure out that before too long the numbers get real as to the
numbers we need to help you with these grants.
So, Reverend Manning, when you talk about--I think you said
the security plan you had cost more than $50,000. What time
period are you talking about for that?
Rev. Manning. Thank you, Ranking Member Katko. Well, I
think--not I think, that plan actually--or that cost has been
since 2015 up to present day.
Mr. Katko. OK, thank you very much.
Rev. Manning. So----
Mr. Katko. That is helpful. You know, there are a lot of
churches, right? Now we have this threat to universities.
President Hudson, have you ever tried to put a dollar figure on
what it would cost to make your campus more secure and what
would that entail?
Mr. Hudson. Yes. Before I cite the specific number, I must
add that holistically you are looking at more training for your
campus security, campus police. You are looking at better data
science capabilities, increasing your bandwidth, increasing
your ability to store the type of data you need so you can do
your threat assessments and go back and provide that historical
analysis.
You are talking about the overall infrastructure of campus.
As I mentioned before, most of our HBCUs and a lot of
universities in general sit in those urban areas with open
access. It does make us more vulnerable to attack. So, how do
you fix the infrastructure around campus to make your campus--
while you still want to be accessible to the community, it does
provide a few more checkpoints and does help with that overall
safety?
From a price tag standpoint, the infrastructural
improvements alone, the physical improvements cost around $10
million is our price tag. When you get into data----
Mr. Katko. One university?
Mr. Hudson. Yes, one university, correct. When you get into
data access, data security, access to data, increasing your
bandwidth, you can tack on a couple of more million just for
that. But, again, that is going to be an on-going cost. Those
are monthly things that you have to continue to monitor. So,
those are just some of them.
Certainly, the grants, the $50,000 grant, will help in some
of the training efforts that you need to really help get you
started and also in helping you develop those holistic plans,
which themselves have a price tag before you even get to the
real work.
So, it is going to be an on-going effort. This is something
we will forever deal with. Threats can come at any time. You
always have to take those steps to mitigate those risks and
those threats. Again, appreciate this committee for working
with us and really being partners with us in how do we become--
provide solutions not only for JSU, but other HBCUs and
universities across the Nation.
Mr. Katko. Thank you very much. You know, I think about the
very first bill I had passed in Congress was to honor Gerardo
Hernandez, a TSA officer who was shot and killed at an airport
just by doing his job in an airport in Los Angeles. That bill
mandated training, like active-shooter training situations and
trying to get people to think actively about what to do if the
situation arises. That is something I think we need to think
about going forward. I would strongly encourage however many
dollars we can get you that that be a high priority because
active-shooter training really does work and really does help
save lives. So, I would just respectfully offer that, as well.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my
time.
Chairman Thompson. Thank you very much. You are absolutely
correct.
The other thing we are trying to put together is a packet
of resources that we can offer colleges, universities, houses
of worship from the training and coordination standpoint.
Because when these things happen, it is not just the security
apparatus of that institution involved, it is all the other
people who come, so.
Mr. Katko. Yes, it is clearly a holistic effort and that is
the essence of what homeland security is about, so I agree with
you totally.
Chairman Thompson. That is right. The Chair recognizes the
gentleman from Rhode Island, Mr. Langevin, for 5 minutes.
Mr. Langevin. Thank you, Chairman. Can you hear me OK?
Chairman Thompson. Yes, we can.
Mr. Langevin. Very good. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to
say good morning to our witnesses. Thank you for your very
poignant, very insightful, and important testimony today.
It really seems reasonable to me that we should expect
HBCUs to handle addressing these increasing threats of violence
alone. I am glad that we're having this hearing today. The same
goes for other Black institutions, like houses of worship, as
illustrated by Reverend Manning's poignant testimony this
morning.
I just want to begin by commending my friend Chairman
Thompson for his efforts to invigorate the Nonprofit Security
Grant Program to address this issue. Increasing the funding for
this program, as this Congress did last week, and as the
Nonprofit Security Grant Improvement Act will do even further,
I believe is a critical step. I also think it is critical to
raise awareness of the security resources that are available
for Black institutions at this time of increased racially-
motivated violence.
If I could start with President Hudson and Ms. Nelson, in
your testimony you spoke of the funding challenges that face
HBCUs, like Jackson State University, but also of how the
increase in bomb threats at HBCUs is creating new costs for
these universities as they move to invest not only in the
security of the campuses, but also in the physical and mental
health of their students. So, I wondered can you speak in more
detail of how these new costs could impact the resources that
HBCUs are able to put toward academics or toward other programs
that are essential to student life?
Mr. Hudson. Yes, and thank you so much for that question.
What this does and what these threats do is really expose some
of the underlying issues that have been caused by the
historical underfunding. So when you look at these issues, they
expose the gaps that we have had in our security. They expose
gaps we have had in our infrastructure, which does, you know,
again, make our campuses more vulnerable. Even gaps we might
have in our ability to offer those mental health services to
our students.
There is only a finite pool of resources that are available
to us. We obviously are going to prioritize our core mission,
which is the education, the teaching, and learning of our
students. But those things that affect teaching and learning,
when you have a bomb threat, the ability to offer extra
security, the ability to upgrade your data systems, those cost
additional resources that are just often not available.
So, for HBCUs, what you are really looking at is the result
of that historical underfunding showing some of the
vulnerabilities that come about when you have such a public
issue, such as HBCU bomb threats and other potential acts of
violence.
So, again, you know, we have to remain vigilant. We are
going to do what is necessary to make sure we always protect
our students. But those funding sources have to come from
somewhere and often they will be at the expense of our
educational endeavors.
Mr. Langevin. Thank you.
Ms. Nelson. Thank you for the question. I will add that
HBCUs have been systematically underfunded, not only not only
by State legislatures, but also by the Federal Government. Many
HBCUs are land grant institutions. These are schools that were
founded by State--that are funded by State legislatures to
foster agricultural research and instruction. Often that
funding that they receive from State legislatures is
inadequate.
Compared to their White counterparts, Black land grant
universities have been underfunded by at least $12.8 billion
over the last 3 decades. Funding for land grant institutions is
distributed at the discretion of the State legislature. In many
cases, these State legislatures choose to overfund White land
grant institutions while barely meeting the required funding
for Black land grant institutions.
There are specific examples that we cite in our written
testimony about the University of Tennessee and the Tennessee
General Assembly awarding land grant dollars in a way that is
quite disparate, more than 4 times the required match of
funding that the university should have received.
So, if you think about the underfunding compounded by the
fact that there are unexpected costs imposed by these threats
of domestic terror, the financial hit to HBCUs is quite
significant.
I will add that many HBCUs, because of the underfunding,
are more tuition-dependent than other institutions. The threat
of violence on these campuses has the potential to reduce
enrollment, has the potential to cast a chilling effect on the
desire of students to attend these institutions that are
targeted by violence. That has the potential to impact not only
immediate revenue, but also long-term viability.
Mr. Langevin. Thank you. I know my time is expired. Thank
you for your answers. We are determined that you are not going
to have to go it alone and we are going to do everything we can
to provide the right resources to back you up. So, thank you,
Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
Chairman Thompson. Thank you. The gentleman's time has
expired. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from North
Carolina, Mr. Bishop.
Mr. Bishop. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to begin
by saying that Pastor Manning's message is worthy of an
audience in this Congress every day. The rash of bomb threats
against the HBCUs is of great concern. They occurred--it
started on January 31 and continued through February and into
March.
I would certainly love to see, I don't know what the law
permits, but I understand that there are 6 persons of interest
identified by the FBI who are perhaps juveniles. I think the
Nation needs for those persons' identities to be disclosed. So,
I take note of all that.
I take note that the gist of the testimony is a plea for
resources. I wanted to address a related issue.
Ms. Nelson, I have a tweet here from your Twitter account
from March 8, 2021, that retweets an article from The Guardian
titled ``These U.S. Cities Defunded Police: `We're transferring
money to the community.' '' Your tweet text was, ``The
reimagination of public safety includes the reallocation of
funds to agencies, services, and community-based nonprofits
that are better equipped to protect and serve.''
Do you continue today to support defunding police as
expressed in that tweet?
Ms. Nelson. I continue to wholeheartedly support the
reimagination of public safety, which means a rethinking of how
we allocate resources in ways that better serve all of our
communities. We have been talking about a number of mental
health issues that pervades society following--not following,
we are still in the midst of a pandemic. We also know that
police are often stretched and required to respond to matters
that are well beyond their professional capacity.
Crime solving, investigation of threats of domestic terror
like the ones we are discussing today are an appropriate use of
funding for law enforcement.
Mr. Bishop. Thank you, ma'am. I would ask for unanimous
consent to submit for the record the tweet and the Guardian
article I just referenced.
Chairman Thompson. Without objection.
[The information follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Bishop. You know, it is interesting how we end up
prioritizing things here in Congress and our time and our
resources. I have an article here from The Washington Post,
actually written--originated with Bloomberg on February 23,
2022, that notes that in 2020, we saw a 30 percent increase in
homicides across the country, an additional 5,000 deaths across
the country, going from 16,425 to 21,570. If we examine that
data with an examination from the perspective of race, it is
perhaps even worse. African Americans, it says, make up 13.5
percent of the U.S. population, but they make up 55.6 percent
of homicide victims and 65.6 percent of the increase in
homicides relative to 2019.
I wonder if perhaps we are not missing a bigger issue than
even this disturbing information about a state of bomb threats
against HBCUs. I mean, we are talking about, as the article
goes on to say, Black Americans in 2020 represented 13,654 of
those homicides across the country, an increase of 3,300.
Mr. Chairman, I would ask unanimous consent to submit this
article for the record.
Chairman Thompson. Without objection.
[The information follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Bishop. In the Judiciary Committee yesterday we had a
hearing that focused on domestic terrorism with an emphasis on
White supremacy. These matters here are certainly animus race--
animus-based crimes. The HBCU attacks, there is a hearing in
the OGR today on the same thing.
But I looked back, there has not been a hearing in
Congress, in this Congress, about that increase in homicides
and the share of those homicides that are borne by Black
Americans.
Ms. Nelson, do you believe that the emphasis on reimagining
the police as you put it, or defunding police as others put it,
has been responsible for any share of the increase in homicides
that Black Americans have suffered?
Ms. Nelson. No, I don't believe that there is any data, any
credible research that links any of the calls to reform our
public safety system and any increase in crime. We all know
that we are living in the midst of a pandemic that has not only
increased economic burdens across society, mental health
burdens across society, but there are other ways in which our
law enforcement resources are not operating as efficiently as
possible.
If we look at the crime-solving success of law enforcement,
it pales in comparison to the resources that are invested in
law enforcement. I think that is an area worthy of
interrogation.
Mr. Bishop. Would you say that issue deserves careful
examination by Congress, the increase in homicides across the
country and particularly that share borne by Black Americans?
Ms. Nelson. I think that we should be examining crime and
what the underlying causes are and looking at the social ills
that produce those crimes and addressing those with social
policy.
Mr. Bishop. Thank you, ma'am. My time has expired, Mr.
Chairman.
Chairman Thompson. The gentleman's time has expired. The
Chair recognizes the gentlelady from Texas, Ms. Jackson Lee.
Ms. Jackson Lee. Mr. Chairman, thank you so very much for
this most crucial and timely hearing. I am glad and I am so
glad Mr. Bishop is here, thank him for his concern along with
our colleagues. I am enormously gratified that with the
leadership of Joseph Biden, the President, and Vice President
Kamala Harris and the Congress, we have Chairman Thompson,
Chairman Nadler, Chairwoman Jackson Lee over the Crime,
Terrorism, and Homeland Security Committee that had a similar
hearing just a few weeks ago, now in Oversight.
What a difference, finally, the death or the potential
death of Black people have risen to a level of respect that it
should be. For too long, of course, in the sag of the civil
rights movement, bodies were strewn across the South and no one
cared. We found the remnants of people who had been killed on
dark nights and dark streets because they were Black.
We saw the civil rights soldiers, including Viola Liuzzo
and others who were of the majority community, killed
violently. The 3 boys in Mississippi whose families still
mourn.
So, this is a preventative hearing, a recognition hearing.
I would offer to say to my friends justice and holding police
accountable is not mutually exclusive. Giving police more
resources to, in essence, shed those resources to mental health
needs and to training needs and to understanding de-escalation,
and to understand issues dealing with excessive force, there is
no crime in that.
I would also commend my good friend to work with me on H.R.
40, a commission to study slavery and develop Reparation
proposals as it determines the impact on the lives of African
Americans today.
I wonder whether or not--whether it is a youth or whoever
it might be, all of that falls into where we are as people of
color in the United States today. Are we the most easily
attackable? Are we the most easily vulnerable? Are we the
greatest target? This hearing today, in the short time that I
have, says that.
I would like to ask the Chairman to submit into the record
a letter from Texas Southern University that wrote and said the
impact of those attacks, those threats on them. I ask unanimous
consent.
Chairman Thompson. Without objection.
[The information follows:]
Letter From Texas Southern University
Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee,
United State Congress, 2079 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington,
DC 20515.
Dear Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee: We write you in your
capacity as a Member of the House Committee on Homeland Security to
share the perspective and experience of Texas Southern University
faculty and students during the domestic bombing threat that occurred
in January 2022. At Texas Southern University, the health, safety, and
well-being of our students, faculty, and staff is always top priority.
TSU condemns any threats or acts of violence, especially those that are
targeted to specific groups of people based on race or ethnicity.
TSU, which was born in the midst of segregation, has worked
tirelessly to build bridges and help its students overcome all odds in
the face of discrimination and bigotry. As we continue to do this work
in the face of increased threats, we believe a threat to one HBCU is a
threat to all HBCUs.
Since the threat happened on campus, the chief of our campus
department of public safety has represented all HBCUs as a liaison
between the HBCU community and the FBI. We were fortunate that the
threat here was during a time when the University was not in session.
That has not been the case for our peer institutions.
We are thankful for the progress the FBI has made in identifying
persons of interest. We also remain concerned that there may be other
people who would act nefariously toward our institutions. We also
acknowledge that these threats have heightened the urgency of the
message that HBCUs need more resources to handle these types of
investigations, and the need for a coordinated response. Thank you to
our elected representatives for their care and concern for our campus
during these challenging days, as demonstrated by their tireless effort
to ensure a proper Federal response.
Parents, students, staff, and alumni were concerned for our campus.
We assure our campus is strong. It is united. And it is safe. We stand
with all HBCUs demanding an end to these cowardly acts of terror. We
have come too far to look the other way.
Ms. Jackson Lee. They indicate they were born in the midst
of segregation, worked tirelessly to build bridges, but they
write to indicate that at Texas Southern ``the health, safety,
and well-being of our students, faculty, and staff is a top
priority.''
They indicated that since the threat happened on the
campus, ``The chief of our campus Department of Public Safety
has represented all HBCUs,'' but they realize that this has
been a devastating impact on their campus. The last sentence
says, ``We have come too far to look the other way.''
May I ask the president of Jackson State and if you can
state for me, Mr. President, the deep emotional impact on your
students and faculty based upon their connection to the
movement of civil rights, but the history of their families,
and how a bomb threat even is deeper in those students.
Then I would appreciate if Pastor Manning, I came to
Charleston. We have been fighting for the Charleston loophole
through our great leader, Mr. Clyburn. If you would tell me the
impact on your parishioners ever today. President Hudson.
Mr. Hudson. Yes, thank you so much, Congresswoman Jackson
Lee. You are correct in terms of that impact, the emotional
impact on our students, our faculty, and staff, and really the
entire JSU family. You know, those threats, as I remind people,
you know, I live on the campus, and those threats affect me and
my family, as well. What it does is it is meant to disrupt that
learning process. It is meant to disrupt the progress HBCUs
have made over the years.
You know, it is no secret that these threats coincided not
only with the start of Black History Month, but they also
coincided with the fact that HBCUs have had somewhat of a
reawakening in the eyes of many in terms of our importance, in
terms of the value that we bring to this great Nation. These
threats were meant to deter that. They were meant to diminish
those accomplishments.
At Jackson State University we are always going to be
mindful of that direct lineage between some of the incidents of
the past, Congressman Thompson referenced the 1970 shootings,
which we still acknowledge on a yearly basis, all the way up to
today with these current persistent threats. It shows us why we
must always remain vigilant, we must always be prepared, we
must be proactive in addressing these issues so that we are
ready when these inevitable situations come about.
So, our goal at Jackson State is to always be ready on-call
to deal with these issues while also making sure that our
students, their mental health, and the overall emotional impact
is accounted for, as well.
Ms. Jackson Lee. Mr. Pastor. Pastor.
Rev. Manning. Can you hear me?
Ms. Jackson Lee. Yes, can hear you now.
Rev. Manning. OK, thank you. So, the attacks, of course,
that we still see even today impact the congregation in many
ways. It takes us right back to the horrific act that we
suffered here on June 17, 2015, and it continues to rob the
members of the congregation with the safety that is needed when
they come to worship. So, from that particular perspective, as
I believe I did say in testimony, that there are still several
members who still have not been able to return even to this
day. That continues to rob many members of their right to just
worship God in spirit and in truth and in freedom.
Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield.
Chairman Thompson. Thank you. The gentlelady's time has
expired. The Chair recognized the gentleman from Louisiana, Mr.
Higgins.
Mr. Higgins. I thank the Chairman and the Ranking Member
for holding this hearing today.
Mr. Chairman, as a police officer, I have personally
responded to many bomb threats. I say many, probably 8 or 10
during the course of my career. It is always, you know, a
mischievous, young, disturbed man or girl that is calling these
threats in. You know, you generally get past the clearing of
the building and order is restored and the institution's
business continues. It is usually a school. But the lingering
fear and the impact of that criminal action is a particular
concern.
I appreciate the hearing held today. I just left a
Oversight hearing that focused on the same issue. Same issue.
Because it deserves attention and must put this in perspective
as a Nation historically, especially regarding our Historically
Black Universities and churches because there is just no place
for fear to exist as a common factor for our citizenry. It
should not be a consideration that any American has to deal
with on a regular basis. It should be rare and then it should
be aggressively investigated.
In south Louisiana very recently, a couple of years ago, we
had 3 historically Black churches burned to the ground in a
very short period of time. Many of you maybe recall that. It
was a tremendous amount of media about it. Because any
reasonable man looking at those burnings would presume this is
likely a hate crime racially motivated.
Well, the investigation moved forward very effectively by
local and State law enforcement. They were closing in on
identifying a subject. When the father of the suspect figured
out it was his son, the father was professional law enforcement
and he turned his son in, brought his son in. The investigation
revealed that it was not a racially motivated hate crime. It
was a religiously motivated hate crime. This young man had been
indoctrinated into some kind of a bizarre satanic belief system
and wanted to videotape the falling of its steeple into flame.
So, of course, the media went away because it didn't quite
fit the narrative. But the impact has been long-lasting. Our
law enforcement agencies have a specific duty to respond
aggressively to these threats and actions.
Reverend Manning, if you are with us, sir, I would like to
ask you specifically your church and your congregation of
Children of God have been impacted specifically. I would like
to know as a result of the attack recently can you share with
this committee, and I will give you the balance of my time,
best practices and security measures that your congregation has
to now deal with? What would you recommend to your fellow
churches across the Nation reflective of your own experienced,
Reverend?
Rev. Manning. Well, again, thank you. So, the best
practices that I would say is plan. We did talk about that
briefly in our testimony, to develop detailed security plans.
Unfortunately, this is the world that we are in right now,
always being aware of your surroundings, making sure that you
have enough cameras on the place that would be able to record
the various activities that are coming around your places and
your houses of worship. It is a sad state.
Unfortunately, as I said before, it is something that we
deal with here on a daily basis. When mail comes, sometimes as
I look over my left side of my desk, there is what I call love
mail. Of course, that is not really love, it is hate mail that
I get from various people throughout the country. That we are
never really prepared for, so we just have to continue to do
what we--to do the best thing that we possibly can, which is to
be mindful of our surroundings, have the wherewithal to make
sure that we have a security plan, and as well, as we have
already articulated, making sure that there are enough
financial resources that are able to undergird those churches
in the rural community.
Mr. Higgins. Thank you, Reverend. My time has expired. Mr.
Chairman, I yield.
Chairman Thompson. The gentleman yields. The Chair
recognizes the gentleman from New Jersey, Mr. Payne, for 5
minutes.
Mr. Payne. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ms. Nelson, as you have
been made aware, threats the Black institutions face today are
not new. Black churches, for example, have been terrorized long
before we were ever using the term ``domestic violent
extremists.''
You discussed this in your testimony, but can you elaborate
on how threats to Black institutions have evolved over time?
Ms. Nelson. Certainly. Thank you for the question. Black
institutions have been threatened since their inception. If we
think about Black institutions in a very broad sense we can go
as far back as thinking about the burning of Tulsa, we can
think about the burning of Greenwood, we can think about the
deconstruction of any signs of Black progress, any
establishments that reject the notion of White supremacy and
Black inferiority.
Our Black churches are an exemplar of Black resilience and
stand at the center of Black communities throughout our Nation.
Our Black HBCUs are also an exemplar of Black excellence and
the ability of Black people to learn together in a safe and
nurturing environment, independent and resilient.
It is those institutions that are the targets and have been
the targets over time of White extremist violence. We are
seeing an uptick in hate crimes, an uptick in the creation of
White extremist groups, and these institutions are a ready-made
target for those individuals and entities. It is essential,
therefore, that these entities have the ability to protect
themselves and to build the necessary infrastructure to secure
the populations that attend these institutions. But it is also
not only for those individuals, this is an investment that this
country should make because these institutions are essential to
its historical identity and to its present diversity.
So, that is why we are calling upon Congress to invest as
many resources as possible to ensure that these institutions
are viable, that they are safe, and that they continue to
contribute to the fabric of our broader American society.
Mr. Payne. In what ways would you connect the attacks on
Black institutions to the larger universe of threats posed by
White supremacy and extreme right-wing ideology?
Ms. Nelson. Well, I connect them directly because right now
we are in the midst of an assault on truth, we are in the midst
of an attempt to erase the lived experiences of Black Americans
and people of color. It is not only Black people who are under
severe attack. As we see, there have been many instances of
violence against Asian American and Pacific Islander persons in
this country, against people from various religious
backgrounds, synagogues, mosques, places of learning and
worship have been targeted.
But we do know that Black institutions have endured this
unfortunate legacy of violence for their entire existence and
it is now escalating at a time when we should have evolved as a
society toward a more peaceful and respectful coexistence. That
is the reason that we demand that Congress address this issue
before we find ourselves in a more retrogressive state.
Mr. Payne. Thank you very much. Mr. Chairman, we have to
continue to explore these incidents and continue to bolster the
support that this committee gives to the homeland and
institutions here in this country, and try to understand why
since their inception these Black institutions have not been
given the opportunity to ever thrive as other groups have in
this Nation.
With that, I will yield back.
Chairman Thompson. The gentleman yields back. The Chair
recognizes the gentlelady from Iowa, Mrs. Miller-Meeks, for 5
minutes.
Mrs. Miller-Meeks. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you,
Ranking Member Katko and our witnesses who are here.
I like many others were horrified at what began to
transpire at the beginning of this year, but, as has been
indicated, is not the first time. None of us want our children,
our young adults to, you know, attend college and fear for
their safety, or a synagogue or a church or even walking to
their elementary school. So, we were horrified at that and we
are pleased that you are here to offer your testimony to us.
Secretary Mayorkas, along with Education Secretary Cardona,
met with HBCUs on January 24, 2022, to discuss grant programs,
training resources, research opportunities, and other tools
available to increase campus safety and security. In fact, they
heavily prioritized campus safety and they offer a cadre of
tools that are available.
Were you or a representative, Mr. Hudson--Dr. Hudson, of
Jackson State present at that meeting? If so, what DHS grants,
programs, and trainings did Secretary Mayorkas discuss with you
that may be helpful?
Mr. Hudson. Yes, we were. We did have a representative
present at that meeting. There were a multitude of
opportunities, the Nonprofit Grant Program that, you know,
allows for us to make those security enhancements, those campus
upgrades, particularly with respect to data sciences I
mentioned. Being able to upgrade our ability to monitor, to
store the type of historical data we need to make those
continuous assessments on our campus is necessary.
You know, as I said from the outset, we are thankful to law
enforcement for their response, but it was just that, it was
response. Being proactive means doing those types of things,
doing the type of infrastructural improvements, cybersecurity
data science improvements necessary to be proactive and
necessary to help us mitigate those risks before they happen.
That is the space that we want to move in. That is where
historical underfunding really makes an impact, on your ability
to be proactive.
So, those programs mentioned by Secretary Mayorkas and
Secretary Cardona were necessary. We at Jackson State are in
the process of applying for several of those in order to
enhance our ability to, again, proactively mitigate some of
those issues before we get into a response mode.
Mrs. Miller-Meeks. So, I was unclear if you had developed
or utilized the on-line trainings that were offered.
Mr. Hudson. Yes.
Mrs. Miller-Meeks. But in one of your comments Tougaloo
College, one of the victims of this year's slew of bomb
threats, is a recipient of FEMA's Nonprofit Security Grant
Program funds, having received $150,000 for safety and security
in fiscal year 2021. Are you aware of the 501(c)(3) Jackson
State and other nonprofit HBCUs that are eligible for this type
of funding and did you apply?
Mr. Hudson. We are aware of that type of funding and we are
applying for those funds. Yes, ma'am.
Mrs. Miller-Meeks. Great. Then how can Congress support
HBCUs applying for security grant funding to ensure
applications are successful?
Mr. Hudson. Well, and that is the most important part
because there are a multitude of programs out there, grant
opportunities out there. But in terms of capacity, you know,
there is a human capital that is needed in order to make a
successful application. So, workshops such as the ones you
mentioned are very important. Us participating in those on-
going efforts, the program support that those funding agencies
offer, are very critical in helping guide our institutions in
terms of making a successful application.
So, I am glad you brought that up because that is the next
step. Once those funding opportunities are out there, how can
we work with HBCUs and other institutions to improve their
ability to successfully navigate the actual process in order to
successfully obtain those funds that are so very needed?
At Jackson State we try to take advantage of every
opportunity, you know, whether it is any type of learning
opportunity, any type of webinar, that helps us successfully
navigate those processes, and we will continue to do so.
So, to the extent they do offer those, we do take advantage
of those.
Mrs. Miller-Meeks. Yes. As a former director of public
health, we certainly offer them when it comes to health-related
programs, so that there is training to increase your capacity
to apply for grant programs. So, thank you for that, I
appreciate it.
Mr. Chair, I yield back my time.
Chairman Thompson. Thank you. The gentlelady yields back.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California for 5
minutes, Mr. Correa.
Mr. Correa. I want to thank the Chairman and the Ranking
Member for this most important hearing. I want to thank our
witnesses here today for your testimony.
Mr. Chairman, you talked a little bit about sanctuaries. It
is interesting today to think about a safe place in our
society. It is not our home anymore, not a church. It is not a
school or a university.
Just last Friday, I was at home and got alerted to a bomb
threat, Santa Ana High School, 3,300 students, a bomb threat.
The school locked down. For those moments, I can tell you
everybody in my community was praying for a good outcome. We
did have a good outcome, but to think of those moments that it
took for the police to get to the school, even though we have
police at the school, it wasn't enough. In those sheer moments,
we realized we had holes in the system. Those few precious
minutes make a difference between saving lives and not.
I do believe, I agree with both of our witnesses, that this
investment is an investment well-made. The tragedy of something
horrible happening, the toll, the human cost, and, of course,
the psychological cost of knowing that you always got to look
behind you and you always got to try to figure out if you are
safe, that is not American. But we have to change it back to
what America was.
This funding goes a long way. My specific question to our
witnesses here today is how well do you work with the local
public agencies? We have these things called fusion centers
with local public police, FBI, other groups work together. Do
you feel like you have communication with these groups? Do you
feel like there is a two-way conversation here to make sure
that we prevent the unspeakable from happening? Thank you.
Mr. Hudson. Yes, we do. We have developed wonderful
relationships with our local, our State, and our Federal law
enforcement agencies.
You know, in terms of response, as I said before, they were
very much involved in helping us get through what was a pretty
scary time when you have a bomb threat at that time. You know,
4 in the morning is when it happened to us. But, again, the
need to be proactive, the need to continue those conversations,
the need to engage in those opportunities to build our capacity
and utilizing their expertise and helping us do so is the next
step that we do have to take in terms of those relationships.
Mr. Correa. Mr. Hudson, I believe you don't leave any stone
unturned when it comes to being proactive, would have, could
have, should have, no second chances to look back. What is it
that you need? What is it that you think we need to do to make
sure that we cover the most obvious bases when it comes to the
safety of our children and our community?
Mr. Hudson. Well, the first thing we need when we talk
about funding it has to start with a plan. We are working with
our local law enforcement and with the Federal agencies, with
the State agencies. What is the plan for Jackson State if and
when a situation such as this occurs?
Obviously, we have safety protocols and measures in place,
but the plan has to be inclusive of that tiered approach that I
discussed earlier. Campus infrastructure, how do we make our
campus as a whole, the actual property more secure? How do we
work in terms of training, making sure that our officers are
trained in such a way that their response, you know, is
appropriate for the actual situation? Again, how do we work on
the after effects? You know, what are some of the steps we take
to mitigate the damage that is done as it relates to our
students?
Mr. Correa. Ms. Nelson, I will let you take your drink.
Ms. Nelson. Go ahead. Thank you.
Mr. Correa. Any thoughts?
Ms. Nelson. Yes. I am glad that you mentioned the need to
protect schools, as you suggested. One of the things that I
don't think we have emphasized enough in this conversation is
the need to prosecute these crimes as hate crimes and to
recognize them as the vehicles for racial animus that they are.
That is also a potential deterrent. We certainly don't want
these crimes to occur, but it is important that we send a
message immediately when they do or even when they are simply
threatened because that is a form of domestic terror and that
is an opportunity to send a broader message that these types of
crimes and these threats of violence will not be tolerated.
Mr. Correa. Thank you very much. Mr. Chairman, out of time.
Thank you very much.
Chairman Thompson. Thank you very much. The Chair
recognizes the gentleman from Mississippi for 5 minutes, Mr.
Guest.
Mr. Guest. Good afternoon. I want to thank you all for
visiting with us and thank you for some of the things that you
all are doing along with some of the other universities in
Mississippi. You make myself and Congressman Thompson extremely
proud to represent our great State.
Congratulations on a great football season. I wish you
would have brought Coach Prime with you, but maybe next time
that you are here he can join you.
I just want to ask you a little bit. Tell us a little bit,
and just let me know, these recent threats that you all
received, the impact, No. 1, that it had on the university, the
faculty, the students; and then also, talk to me a little bit
about the law enforcement response and the things that they did
after this was reported. So if you could just share those with
me for a few minutes, I would greatly appreciate that.
Mr. Hudson. OK. Thank you so much and I certainly thank you
for your well wishes.
You know, in terms of the impact, I think it is important
to remember that once, you know, when you do the sweep, you
determine that the immediate threat is not there as it relates
to the bomb, the impact remains, the impact of the thought that
this can happen to your campus, this can happen on your campus.
There are enough examples in history of these things having
been executed successfully. Acts of terrorism have been
executed successfully for us to always remain vigilant no
matter what was the outcome of that specific situation on that
day.
For Jackson State University, February 1 was a day that
reminded us that we are always under threat. There is always a
threat of attack and we always have to remain vigilant for what
could happen.
With respect to our Federal, State, and local law
enforcement, I couldn't be happier and more thankful to them
for the way they responded, again, not only in words, but in
action. Specifically, the FBI Special Agent in Charge Jermicha
Fomby, I was able to call him and talk to him personally and
get his personal assurances that the FBI was on top of it, they
were aware of everything that was happening, and really get his
personal assurance that we had his full support.
With the State of Mississippi Capitol Police, you know, I
was able to talk to the associate commissioner, Keith Davis,
who actually sent a couple of units to campus to help assist
our patrols and to supplement our police efforts. The city of
Jackson did the actual sweep and was able to do so in a way
that allowed us to reopen that same day. Obviously, there was
some disruption, there was some lingering anxiety and concern,
but they did their jobs in such a professional way that we were
able to somewhat mitigate the disruption to the learning
process. Of course, again, our own, you know, campus police, as
they do every day, made sure that they swept the campus and
made sure that we are safe.
Moving forward, when we look at solutions, I can't talk
enough about infrastructure. You will hear me say that often,
but the campus itself has to be designed in a way that
encourages safety and encourages the security of our students.
That means because we sit in an urban area, which, again, adds
to the culture of the campus and we are very proud to sit in
the heart of Jackson, Mississippi, but because we sit in that
area, we do have to take additional steps to decrease the
vulnerability that that brings with it: The open access; some
of the various ways, the thoroughfares through campus. That is
really the next step for Jackson State to take.
Again, I also can't emphasize enough the ability to provide
training for our officers, the ability to provide the type of
training for our faculty, staff, and students, what do you do
when these situations occur?
I will end where I started, that there have been enough
successful examples of these type of threats being executed for
us to always remain vigilant of the threat, even though, again,
these individuals were apprehended and we are thankful for
that. But the threat remains and we have to remain forever
vigilant.
I will be sure to send Coach Prime your well wishes.
Mr. Guest. Yes, sir. You talk a little bit about
infrastructure, training for campus police, and then as far as
technology, things that would be beneficial there for the
security of the campus. Can you just talk very briefly? I have
only got about 30 seconds. The Chairman may allow me to go over
very briefly, but can you talk about maybe some technology
needs that you have there at Jackson State where the Federal
Government can partner with your campus to make sure that you
have those needs met?
Mr. Hudson. Yes. One of the things, you know, when we talk
about those advanced security monitoring systems, you know, one
of the effects of underfunding is that we possess those
security data capture systems, but we do so with limited
bandwidth, sometimes older technology. What that does is it
doesn't allow us that continuous monitoring, doesn't allow us
that long-term storage that allows us to do the type of threat
assessments that you can do when you have the historical data.
That is one specific area where we really need to upgrade, and
that is an expense that most institutions just cannot cover in
their normal operating budget.
Also, you look at things like the increase of insurance
costs. You know, it costs a lot more oftentimes to be in the
areas that we are, especially when you have a threat such as
this. Institutions have to cover those things. So, again, these
things that fall outside your normal operating budget, which
are already pretty stretched thin, these things that are
outside of the normal expertise of an institution of higher
learning, how do we work with the Department of Homeland
Security, how do we work with the Department of Justice, law
enforcement agencies to ensure that we have the funding we need
to expand our capacity in those specific areas?
Mr. Guest. Thank you again, President Hudson, and thank you
for being with us today.
Mr. Hudson. Thank you so much.
Chairman Thompson. The gentleman yields back. The Chair
recognizes the gentlelady from Michigan, Ms. Slotkin, for 5
minutes.
Ms. Slotkin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Welcome to our
witnesses. Thanks for being here on this topic.
I am from Michigan and this topic is very relevant for a
whole bunch of reasons. One, because we just announced that we
are restarting an HBCU in Detroit and so we will join the
legions of States who are proud to have those institutions, but
also because we have had a real problem with racially-motivated
attacks and incidents in our State. In one of my counties,
Ingham County, we had 26 incidents against churches in the last
2 years.
We have had repeated problems with Zoom bombing, where
literally White supremacists jump onto a Zoom during COVID,
show pictures of people giving the Nazi salute, and start
basically attacking via Chat the pastors, the leaders. In
addition to our African American institutions, we have had
mosques--you know, violent incidents at mosques. We have had
our Hillel at Michigan State attacked. We have had a lot of
these incidents. It really struck me that a lot of the leaders
of these institutions have had to become security professionals
in addition to the spiritual leader or the, you know, senior
educational leader at these institutions.
So, can you talk about, you know, Mr. Hudson, in your role,
just kind-of how you have to do your job differently because
you have to think about security all the time?
Mr. Hudson. That is a great point. You do have to think
about those things one would consider outside of the normal
purview, if you will, of a higher ed leader. But when you think
about it, when you house students on your campus, when you have
students who are there 24/7, that is where they live, security
becomes a heightened priority for your institutions. For
Jackson State University, it has to be first and foremost. How
can we create the proper environment where our students can
learn, where they can be nurtured, where they--whether they can
thrive. These types of threats disrupt that effort, our effort
to provide those things. So, again, we have to become security
personnel, so we do that by making sure, first of all, we have
people around us who have the expertise, you know, in terms of
campus public safety.
We also make sure we do that by partnering with our local,
our State, our Federal law enforcement agencies to ensure that
we have the proper connections and the proper partnerships that
help us expand our capacity and our ability to secure the
campus. Again, we work with the Department of Homeland
Security, you know, our efforts with the Department, with the
Office of Academic Engagement, allows us, again, to expand our
capacity, expand our expertise through training, through
academic programming that helps us become a part of that
solution needed to deal with those various issues.
The other part we have to make sure we talk about is the
mental health aspect. How do we expand our services on the
mental health side to make sure that our students, the anxiety
that comes with being under the potential of attack, if you
will, how do we help our students deal with that while they are
still doing the normal things: Going to class, you know,
participating in campus activities? How do we make sure that is
a part of the process, as well?
So, it is a holistic multi-tiered approach that you do have
to take as a campus administrator in order to deal with these
types of issues.
Ms. Slotkin. Yes. It just strikes me that for institutions,
universities, colleges, and religious institutions that have
to--they sort-of have to build in and price out the additional
costs associated with security, physical security, but then
also all the work that goes into making people feel, as you
say, sort-of mentally safe. You know, this committee, I think,
has been a strong supporter of the Nonprofit Security Grants,
you know, these grants for institutions. But it is just sad
that we have to have those grants and that there is just this
added tax on being a targeted institution in this day and age.
I appreciate your work on that.
I will also say I think one of--sadly, in Michigan, one of
the ways that this security threat has played out is that
different religious and ethnic groups have been helping each
other as new groups become victims of new security threats. We
had a number of incidents at one of my large mosques, and we
brought in the Jewish community who knows, you know, very well
on how to secure their institutions. It is sad, but I do think
that it is an area where, unfortunately, we have to help each
other across lines. I just appreciate you coming here and
speaking to your experience because it is something that,
unfortunately, many, many institutions have to be thinking
about.
So, with that, I yield back, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Thompson. Thank you very much. Maybe the
Methodists and Baptists can get together in Mississippi.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Missouri, Mr.
Cleaver, for 5 minutes.
Mr. Cleaver. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Am I audible?
Chairman Thompson. Yes, you are on. We hear you.
Mr. Cleaver. Thank you. I want to thank you for this
hearing. One of the things I want to make sure that the
university presidents of HBCUs understand is that last year,
due in no small part to Congressman Bobby Scott of Virginia, we
were able to get record amounts of funding for HBCUs. He did an
amazing job and I think all of you have probably been informed
about the tremendous increases that he was able to get through
his committee as the Chair of Education. We are all, Members,
proud of it.
I want to go back to an issue earlier, and I hate we are
getting off the subject, but sometimes, you know, we just have
to respond. You know, I think this whole issue of talking about
defunding the police has given some people a license to
misrepresent, maybe even misunderstand. But to the panel, do
you see as a synonym defund the police and reengineering,
redesign, reimagine as either words that are synonyms or they
are interchangeable?
Chairman Thompson. Ms. Nelson, we are going to let you take
that.
Mr. Cleaver. Yes, I am sorry. The counselor, yes.
Ms. Nelson. So, if the question is whether those concepts
are interchangeable, I don't think I can answer that. I think
they mean different things to different people and there may be
some common themes.
I think the one theme and thread among all of those phrases
and intentions is that something is broken in our public safety
system. Something is broken and it needs to be fixed, and there
are many different ways in which people are suggesting we go
about it. But we saw that millions of Americans in 2020 agreed
with the notion that our public safety system is broken. They
did so in powerful protests, peaceful protests throughout this
country that reverberated on a global scale. So, I do think
that there is something resonant in all of those slogans that
just indicates that we have a significant problem to address.
This gives me an opportunity to share some research that
the Legal Defense Fund did recently in response to this notion
about an increase in crime and the idea that that is somehow
linked to a decrease in law enforcement or cries for reform of
law enforcement. Our Thurgood Marshall Institute conducted
research analyzing homicide trends in 61 major U.S. cities and
we drew samples from the 100 most popular cities in the United
States, as well. According to our research, cities with higher
levels of economic inequality experienced the higher increases
in homicides.
So, when we talk about crime, it is very important that we
look in the direction of what the underlying social conditions
are that produce a rise in crime or produce crimes more
generally. The focus is not an idea of thinking differently
about law enforcement and public safety. The focus should be
thinking about the economic inequality, the health disparities,
and the other social conditions that lead to crime and
violence.
Mr. Cleaver. I appreciate that and I hate that we have to
go in that direction, but I am not in linguistics or a
lexicologist, but I do know that you can't just--somebody can't
take a word or a phrase and then attach some other meaning to
it. I think that is unfortunate that it is happening. So, you
know, this is a serious problem. I get hit on both sides. I am
a graduate of an HBCU and I am going to into my 42nd year as a
seminary-trained ordained United Methodist pastor. I know the
money that we have to spend now at our church for security and
I also understand the trauma that many of the students and
faculty at HBCUs have experienced.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, not just for the hearing, but I
think making sure that this issue does not melt away as so many
do. Thank you very kindly. I yield back.
Chairman Thompson. Thank you. The gentleman yields back.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Green, for 5
minutes.
Mr. Green. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I thank the
Ranking Member, as well. I thank the witnesses for appearing. I
think the hearing has been most informative and quite
beneficial.
I would like to address just a few comments to the
representative from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Just for
edification purposes, many people may not know and I think it
is worthy of mentioning at this hearing, this institution was
founded by the Honorable Thurgood Marshall, Supreme Court
Justice Thurgood Marshall. I want to thank you, Ms. Nelson, for
your position with the organization. I was an NAACP branch
president for about a decade and have some sense of the
difficulties that we encounter when we attempt to use these
grant applications. Sometimes they can be very difficult to
negotiate.
So, I thought I would ask you a couple of questions related
to the grant application process. I am concerned about the
difficulties you may be having. Is there any difficulty that
you would call to my attention that I might be able to help you
with or we might be able to help you with in terms of making it
easier to negotiate the grant application process?
Ms. Nelson. Well, thank you very much, Representative Green
for acknowledging the Legal Defense Fund and its founder,
Thurgood Marshall. I will defer to Mr. Hudson to talk about the
grant application process as the Legal Defense Fund is not
presently applying for a grant application. But we do note that
there are institutions, other institutions, other nonprofits,
that want to take advantage of this program. We support the
increase in funding and the act that is on the floor today that
would increase funding to the NPSG to $500 million for each
fiscal year from 2023 to 2028, which we believe is a very
necessary intervention as Black institutions continue to be
subject to hateful attacks across the country.
Mr. Hudson. Thank you so much.
Mr. Green. I am going to yield to you in just a second, but
let me ask something. I, too, support H.R. 6825 and would like
to acknowledge the Chairman, Chairman Thompson, and the Ranking
Member Katko for putting this before us. I am a cosponsor of it
and I appreciate your being more specific as it relates to this
legislation.
Yes, sir, I now yield to you.
Mr. Hudson. Thank you so much. I must say that one welcome
development of the increase in funding is that it allows more
institutions to be served by these funding opportunities. It
becomes less of a competition and more of a need-based system
where, you know, if your application is successful, if you
demonstrate the need, you have a really good chance of
receiving that funding. So, that is definitely a plus.
The other part is the funding agencies, especially I would
say over the last couple of years, have been really good and
they have really, you know, increased their efforts to help our
institutions navigate that application process, navigate the
bureaucracy, if you will, that comes along with applying these
funds, applying for these funds, and actually receiving these
funds. So we have been excited by that development.
We have taken advantage of as many of those that are
possible. It has helped our institutions receive more funding
than we have in the past. We would just like to see that
continue. We would like to see the availability, the pool of
funds continue to increase. We would like to see those outreach
efforts continue that allow us to better access those funds,
better navigate the application process, and continue to work
to build our capacity. Because, in the end, this is about
capacity building, building our capacity in terms of today's
subject matter to better protect our campuses and to be more
proactive in assessing and determining these threats before
they actually happen.
Mr. Green. Well, one of the aspects of this legislation
that I am excited about is that it provides feedback to
nonprofits that do not receive grants. Can you comment on the
importance of that feedback, please, sir?
Mr. Hudson. Yes, because, obviously, you know, if you don't
receive funding, at least on your initial application, you do
want to come back. You do want to reapply for those funds
because the need still exists. So, that feedback is important
because it tells you the strengths and weaknesses of your
application and allows you to go back and sort-of recalibrate
your efforts and really put forth a better effort in terms of
application process.
Also, it provides just that one-to-one connectivity between
your institution and that funding agency that allows you to
look at other programs, that allows you to have access to other
opportunities that may be different than the one that you apply
for and were maybe rejected from.
So, those are definitely welcome efforts. Again, it is part
of that outreach, which I talked about, that we have seen an
increase in recently. Our goal is to make sure that continues
and to make sure the availability of those resources, the pool
of resources, continue to increase, also, so more institutions
can be assisted by these funds.
Mr. Green. Thank you. My time has expired. Mr. Chairman, I
yield back. Thank you for making it clear that Black lives do
matter by having this hearing.
Chairman Thompson. Thank you very much. The Chair
recognizes the gentlelady from New Jersey, Mrs. Watson Coleman.
Mrs. Watson Coleman. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, for
convening us today. I want to thank you and the Ranking Member
for the legislation that we were considering that will increase
the resources to these institutions to ensure that they are
safer and have access to healthier environments, whether or not
it is your worship environment or your educational environment.
I want to appreciate the fact that the Members of this
committee have asked very diverse questions and they basically
have covered the kind of areas that I was concerned about. What
sticks out for me is very much is this, though. I think Mr.
Hudson kind-of put this in my head. When we asked him about
needs for his campus, he said something about the traditional
and historic underfunding, that there is at least a $10 million
need to sort-of harden his campus or make it safer for his
students to learn. So, I am interested in ensuring that there
are buckets or pots of money, resources that are available to
our institutions to make their campuses safer from an
infrastructure perspective.
Another thing was the sort of systems, technology training,
things of that nature. We need to make sure that those buckets
of money exist or the money--or the programs that are created
under the legislation we already have allows for this.
Last, I am very concerned about the whole mental health
issues, both on the campuses and, you know, Reverend Manning
raising those issues with regard to his church and members who
haven't even come back to church since that horrible experience
9 years ago. I need to know if there are sufficient resources
for mental health services to both parishioners from our church
perspectives and from our colleges.
Last, I just want to say just sort-of generally that hate
crimes in this country really target Blacks, Asians, Latinos,
LGBTQ, and anybody else that the White supremacists think are
just not worthy of our respect and our protection. I want to
make sure that we have the resources available, that we are not
having to compete against one another for inadequate resources
in total.
So, I just would like to ask if Reverend Manning, Pastor
Manning, would just comment on the sort of emotional and mental
impact, this mental health impact, the incident had on his
congregation and what it means to his congregation.
Rev. Manning. Thank you for the question. The impact, of
course, you have initially the struggle with what happened,
trauma, impacting a favorite place of worship. Then we did have
a grant from USC that only lasted for 3 years. The problem with
the grant in that particular perspective, it was kind-of short-
term, did not necessarily give people just enough time to
realistically come to grips with how they are feeling. It has
only been recently that several members have started to open up
the door and allow me to even share with them in regard of how
they can continuously heal.
As I said before in my testimony, this should be long-term.
I do not know how long it will ever take members to heal from a
mental health perspective and a trauma perspective, especially
as we are now living in an age where there are other attacks
coming up against houses of worship.
So, the mental health component actually is very important.
It is one that we realized from a spiritual formation
perspective and it is one that we have to continue to be there
to help as time goes on.
Mrs. Watson Coleman. Thank you. Thank you, Pastor. Another
thought is that the trauma that is associated with active-
shooter training, while necessary, I understand the reluctance
that you all had in engaging in it, but it certainly is part of
our readiness, our preparation. So, I just sort-of raise that
for both you and for Mr. Hudson and commit to you that I will
work very hard to ensure that you have the resources that you
need in order to ensure that we can worship safely and that we
can educate our children, and that our faculty and our
administration in both the churches and our colleges are
sufficiently prepared and protected, as well.
Thank you. I yield back.
Chairman Thompson. The gentlelady yields back. The Chair
recognizes the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Pfluger, for 5
minutes.
Mr. Pfluger. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to thank
everyone, all the witnesses and participants today on this
important hearing. I will focus on my role on this committee,
which is as the Ranking Member of Intelligence and
Counterterrorism and trying to, you know, be in the business of
making sure that our communications between the Federal, local,
and State law enforcement entities continue to be strong and
that we have, you know, good information. I hope that as a
result, as well, as a byproduct of this hearing that all of us
will stand united in condemning acts of violence throughout the
United States, regardless of where they occur. Obviously, it is
unacceptable for any of those to happen. So, again, thank you
for being here.
You know, recently, the Intel and Counterterrorism and the
Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Recovery subcommittees
held a joint hearing that was based on securing the American
houses of worship with a specific interest in the Jewish
community. In that hearing our Members really learned that
through the Jewish Secure Communities Network, that those
facilities are able to share information on threats with each
other and with law enforcement. I am very interested to know,
you know, if there is anything similar, if there is any sort of
communications mechanism and how the colleges and universities
are able to communicate with each other and with local, State,
and Federal entities to make sure that we are staying vigilant.
So, anybody can answer that. President Hudson, if you are
able to answer that, I will yield to anybody that wants to take
a shot at that.
Mr. Hudson. Yes, and thank you so much for your question.
You are absolutely right that coordination between the
universities that were affected and really all universities and
those law enforcement entities is vital.
At Jackson State, we have been fortunate to have great
communication with all levels of law enforcement and great
support from those entities.
The next step, and we have hosted several summits on our
campus related to, you know, the local issues as it related to
crime, criminal justice. But really the next step is making
sure we do have those convenings, those regular convenings, in
which we review where we are, review our planning, review those
threat assessments, make sure that we are always vigilant.
As I said, as wonderful as the response was from our local
law enforcement agencies, it was response by its very nature.
We want to be proactive. We want to make sure that before there
is a threat, we are always in communication, we are always in
that constant planning mode, and we are always on the same
page, so we can mitigate even the possibility of the threat and
certainly the potential fallout.
I will say again that enough of these threats have become
real and have become real acts of violence for us to not ever
take them lightly. We always have to take them seriously. Part
of taking them seriously is making sure that we are always in
constant communication and coordination with our local, State,
and Federal law enforcement agencies to really ensure that we
are doing the things and taking the steps needed to protect our
campuses.
Mr. Pfluger. Yes. Thank you, President Hudson. Does anybody
else have a different opinion as far as any of the witnesses?
Rev. Manning. No, the only thing, and thank you for that
question, I think the only thing that we have to continuously
do is to build those lines of communication even within all of
our churches. The work that we have done already, as well, with
the Tree of Life after their horrific act back in October 2019,
it was immensely beneficial to be able to come and to share
with them. I think realistically when we can share all of the
communications together, then that helps in aiding all the
house of worship, knowing first and foremost that they are not
alone. Then second, that there are folks out there who have
trailblazed the way, as well.
Mr. Pfluger. Well, thank you, Reverend. Thank you,
President Hudson. I think your words and your testimony are
salient to us, that we should always be vigilant of threats. It
is really sad that we have to even talk about this, to be
honest. It is very sad to me.
But, Mr. Chairman, I hope that as a result of this, what
this committee will do is take these words, take these
witnesses' testimony today, and take this situation and apply
it to not only this particular specific situation, but also to
the greater security needs of our country. That the information
sharing, whether it is our Southern Border or whether it is
terrorism abroad, that we will do everything we possibly can to
secure this country and use the words that we just heard from
the reverend and the president.
With that, I yield back.
Chairman Thompson. Thank you very much. As you know, that
is part of the charge of this committee, to do just that. I
look forward to a cooperative effort to make sure we accomplish
it.
The Chair recognizes the gentlelady from Florida, Mrs.
Demings, for 5 minutes.
Mrs. Demings. Well, thank you so much, Mr. Chairman, and
thank you for reminding us of our charge. Certainly, our
primary responsibility is the safety and security of our
Nation. I have not forgotten that. But today, we are here to
talk about domestic terrorist threats against Black
institutions, houses of worship, and HBCUs. I think our
children being threatened and worshippers is worth staying very
focused and giving the--just amount of time and attention to
that matter. I want to thank our witnesses for being here with
us today, as well.
Reverend Manning, you described the violence against Mother
Emanuel--and it is good to see you, I wish it was under
different circumstances--as a deliberate and sinful act rooted
in hate. I just want to repeat those words because I want this
committee to stay very focused on why we are here.
President Hudson, you stated that the threats against HBCUs
are a deliberate attempt to destroy these cultural spaces where
intellect and diverse thought thrives.
Reverend Manning, following up on the $50,000 that you
indicated that Mother Emanuel had to spend on security in
recent years, I am just curious, have you received any outreach
at all from any Federal offices about programs that might
assist your church in provided security at your church?
Rev. Manning. Thank you for the question. I already
articulated that we did receive a partial grant with MUSC, but
that was from a trauma perspective.
From a security perspective, we have not. A lot of times
within the church situation, there may be some delay in
receiving information regarding if those grants are indeed
available. I think that is something that we definitely have to
work through.
Mrs. Demings. Yes, I think it is just almost unbelievable.
I mean, the Nation watched and, quite frankly, probably the
world watched a vicious attack against the pastor and the
worshipers there. I find it almost unbelievable that no Federal
agency reached out with regard to security at the church.
President Hudson, I know you have indicated that you were
aware and certainly of the Nonprofit Security Grant Program.
Certainly, we know that bomb threats against HBCUs is nothing
new. We are certainly here today to talk about the recent
series of threats, but could you just share a little bit? When
did you become aware or how did you become aware of Nonprofit
Security Grant Program?
Mr. Hudson. Well, we became aware of the program quite some
time ago and we became aware, as we do a lot of the different
programs. It was through the efforts of our Congressman, my
Congressman, Congressman Thompson, and his office that really
does a great job of keeping us abreast of opportunities that
are available to our colleges, our universities, even outside
of the very issue we are talking about today.
Also, our engagement with DHS Office of Academic Engagement
and that is a more recent effort, we signed an MOU with them
this past fall, has helped increase the awareness of these
various programs that you may not otherwise be aware of. You
know, we put opportunities out in a way where we assume that
everyone knows. So, when funding agencies, when our
Congressman, when they are intentional about letting you know,
and sometimes it is as simple as sending an email, hey, just
want to make you aware of this opportunity, when those efforts
happen, it really helps our ability to not only know the
importance of the issues that these grants may address, but
also gives you some comfort, if you will, that your
applications will be reviewed seriously and this is an
opportunity that they want you to have.
That is so important. Grant writing oftentimes is
competitive amongst universities. So, as I said before when you
upped the pool of resources and make it more available to more
schools, that helps. When you provide that outreach for the
opportunities that are available, you are going to get more
people writing and you are going to open that opportunity up to
more institutions.
Mrs. Demings. You know, I think about how critical
information sharing is and the unbelievable number of houses of
worship. Thank God for those and the HBCUs, too. But
disseminating information to all might be quite challenging.
Are your institutions part of organizations that could help
disseminate information and coordinate technical assistance if
needed? We are just trying to find better ways to get
information out to larger numbers of institutions.
Mr. Hudson. Absolutely.
Mrs. Demings. For either one.
Mr. Hudson. Absolutely for certain colleges and
universities, HBCUs. For us, we are members of the Thurgood
Marshall College Fund, and they are a great organization in
terms of disseminating information to member institutions and
following up with those, facilitating webinars, facilitating
Zoom chats in which we can get additional information and
actually speak with the funding agencies and those officials
who are responsible for administering those grants.
So, I would always say that those organizations, you also
have UNCF, as well, are really key and vital. To the extent
that those funding agencies work with those organizations, that
information does filter out better to the individual
institutions.
Mrs. Demings. I am out of time. Mr. Chairman, thank you so
much. I yield back.
Chairman Thompson. Thank you very much. The Chair
recognizes the gentlelady from California, Ms. Barragan, for 5
minutes.
Ms. Barragan. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this
hearing today. It calls attention to the disturbing trend of
increased bomb threats at Black colleges and Historically Black
Colleges and Universities. Let us be clear, these acts of
intimidation are rooted in racism and bigotry, and they should
outrage all of us.
In my district, Charles R. Drew University, an historically
Black graduate institute, received 2 bomb threats in January.
In their 55-year history, nothing like this has happened
before. These threats cause terror for their students and staff
alike.
Mr. Chairman, thank you for immediately raising the
seriousness of these threats with the FBI and the Department of
Homeland Security. I am here to work alongside you and this
committee to address domestic violent extremism, acts that
promote dangerous, violent, White supremacist ideologies.
President Hudson, you spoke about this a little bit in your
last answer. In my district, Charles R. Drew University is
still unsure if the bomb threat perpetrator was caught and if
they were targeted by the same individual or groups as other
HBCUs across the Nation.
In your testimony you emphasized the importance of close
collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security. Do you
know if the Department is working alongside HBCUs to coordinate
information about these bomb threats? Do you have any
recommendations for information sharing?
Mr. Hudson. Yes, they have been very helpful in terms of
disseminating information and coordinating with the member
institutions. I can personally attest that I have heard from
several individuals through the Department of Homeland
Security, including my Congressman, through local law
enforcement, State law enforcement, Federal law enforcement,
just that personal recognition that we know this is out there,
we are doing everything we can to assist, that has been very
helpful.
Again, I would recommend continuing to work not only
directly with those institutions, which that personal touch is
so important, you know, once you have received a threat, but
also working through those member organizations, those umbrella
organizations, as I mentioned Thurgood Marshall and there are
several others. They are very good at getting us all together
and making sure we are all receiving the same information and
making sure we are all receiving the same opportunities to
learn more about resources, to speak with those administrators,
those high-ranking administrators, that have the ability to
move the needle as it relates to these issues.
So, I would just ask----
Ms. Barragan. Thank you.
Mr. Hudson [continuing]. That they continue that effort
along those lines.
Ms. Barragan. Thank you. Reverend Manning, as our society
has become more digital and users can post anonymously on-line
with greater ease, how has Mother Emanuel addressed 21st
Century on-line threats? Are you aware of the actions that
other faith-based institutions are taking to make sure their
congregation members feel safe during this time of increased
threats?
Rev. Manning. Yes. Thank you for the question. Let me
answer the first question--or the last question first.
So, our work, of course, with the Jewish community, Tree of
Life has actually borne a lot of fruit in that regard where we
do talk on a regular basis. Rabbi Jeff Myers and I have a
personal connection, so we do do that in that regard, as well
as part of some of the other platforms that we do, that are
able to plug into. We're able to hear about some of the threats
locally here within the city of Charleston.
As far as on-line, when we have those type of attacks that
may come on our Facebook page, the only thing we can do is, of
course, go in and remove them and then report them to Facebook
in that regard. But the on-line presence is indeed something
that we had to spend some time in because there is so much
anonymity that is out there, where people can just post and
then whatever they are going to say, they can say, and then we
just have to make sure that we are doing our level best to
remove all of those type of comments that come up.
Ms. Barragan. Thank you for that. Ms. Nelson, in the wake
of the recent HBCU bomb threats, the NAACP called for the full
accountability, arrest, prosecution, and conviction for those
responsible for these threats. Charles R. Drew University in my
district still doesn't know if the perpetrator was caught.
Can you talk about the importance of accountability and how
Congress can help address the unequal and selective criminal
justice enforcement measures you have seen over the years?
Ms. Nelson. Yes, thank you. I want to emphasize how
important it is for Congress and for Federal law enforcement to
aggressively investigate and prosecute hate crimes. They are a
scourge on our society. They represent our very worst
inclinations. They have the ability to spread to invite copycat
instances of violence and often involve mass efforts at
extracting violence against particular communities.
So, it is something that we are deeply concerned about. We
have talked about some of the historical instances and events
that are known to many of us. But there are many, also, that
fall under the radar and your reference to the threats of the
schools in your districts are a great example of ones that we
don't hear about every day in the news, but still wreak the
havoc that we have been discussing in terms of the terror that
they produce in individuals and in whole communities.
Ms. Barragan. Thank you. Thank you all for--all our
witnesses. With that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
Chairman Thompson. Thank you very much. The Chair
recognizes the gentleman from New Jersey, Mr. Malinowski, for 5
minutes.
Mr. Malinowski. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman, for
holding this hearing today. Thank you to our witnesses. I am
sure we all wish we weren't having to talk about this, but it
is important that we are.
We are seeing a staggering increase in the number of
domestic bombings in the United States. In 2020, the number
skyrocketed by 71 percent. In the first few months of this year
alone we have seen an unprecedented wave of 57 improvised
explosive device threats, or IED threats, against institutions
like our Historically Black Colleges and Universities and
places of worship more generally.
We can talk about the root causes, and I think we have done
that in this committee and elsewhere, of the rise of domestic
extremism and generally the role that social media companies
play in amplifying and recommending violent extremist content.
But we are here today to ensure that as we deal with those root
causes, we are also acting to protect the potential targets of
these attacks.
We have to do more to help our State and local communities
and governments and others that serve on the front lines with
the resources that they need to identify and protect
institutions most likely to be targeted. That is why I recently
introduced and the committee unanimously supported the
Bipartisan Bombing Prevention Act, a bill that formally
authorizes the Office of Bombing Prevention, or OBP, to provide
counter IED training and guidance to targeted organizations,
and working with Federal partners like FEMA to administer
grants to those institutions that would be most likely to be
attacked.
I know since January, OBP has been in contact with over 100
Historically Black Colleges and Universities, as well as FBI
and local law enforcement, offering their expertise and
support.
So, I wanted to ask Reverend Manning and Mr. Hudson, a part
of OBP's mission is coordinating a comprehensive National
counter-IED strategy. I wonder if you could speak to the
importance of having that kind of holistic and strategic
approach to bomb prevention.
Rev. Manning. Well, I would think that it would definitely
be advantageous. From a conventional AME Church perspective, it
would help in making sure that all the churches across the
United States, and dare I say the world, have the most recent
information, and I think that would help immensely.
Mr. Hudson. I echo Reverend Manning's sentiments from the
colleges and universities side, definitely having access, full
access, to all the information at the same time would be very
beneficial. It also aligns with the multi-tiered approach that
is necessary to combat this issue. You have to look at it from
all levels. Having that type of coordination and that
dissemination of information amongst colleges and universities
so we can review best practices, for instance, would be most
beneficial.
Mr. Malinowski. Thank you. Say a little bit about the
support and outreach that you have received from the Federal
Government along those lines and whether you think there is
room to grow and strengthen that collaboration.
Mr. Hudson. Well, we are excited about the collaboration
and the assistance we have received from the Federal
Government, just from, again, the opportunities that are being
provided for funding and the ability to increase the pool of
those funds, the availability of those funds, and, again, the
interaction with the funding agencies. So, those things are
very important. We would just like for that to not only
continue to be enhanced, but to be enhanced and, again, allow
for more universities to really improve and increase their
capacity.
I will say, you know, for Jackson State, and this is true
for most HBCUs, without that Federal support it will be
difficult for us to meet the moment, if you will, and for us to
build our capacity to properly respond to these ever-increasing
threats. This is not the last time this will happen. These
things will continue to happen. History often repeats itself.
The assistance of the Federal Government is going to be
necessary to allow us to meet those threats and really build
our capacity in doing so.
Mr. Malinowski. Well, I am afraid you are right and we will
do whatever we can to help. Thank you so much and I yield back.
Chairman Thompson. The gentleman yields back. The
gentlelady from Texas.
Ms. Jackson Lee. If you would just allow me a moment to put
something on the record. I didn't know if you were closing at
this time, Mr. Chairman. Thank you so very much.
Thank you all so very much. This has been powerful and
instructive to all of who represent HBCUs.
I do want to just reassert the Nonprofit Security Grant
Program for the nonprofits, but also the recent Vice
President's announcement that may have been already mentioned
by the Chairman, but I just wanted to say it again. For our
HBCU schools, there is a project, School Emergency Response to
Violence, Project SERV, that you can now immediately get in the
queue application for $50,000 to $100,000.
I am certain that this will not happen again. I encourage--
first of all, the Chairman should be thanked because we were
the first committee, I think, that had the Classified briefing.
But I encourage the FBI and DHS and others because of the
overhanging threat to move as expeditiously and thoroughly as
possible in their ability to give you answers in many
instances.
Mr. Chairman, I just wanted to indicate that we are
collaborating with the administration, we are collaborating
with Members of Congress in our districts. We hope that you all
will call upon us so that we can ensure the safety of all of
you and to use these grants that have now been evidenced.
Thank you so very much. With that, I yield back.
Chairman Thompson. The gentlelady yields back. Let me thank
the witnesses for their testimony and the Members for their
questions.
Reverend Manning, you maiden voyage as a witness to
Congress will be duly noted and let me say you passed with
flying colors, by the way. We thank you for it.
However, we will have staff reach out to you directly on
making sure that you and anyone you suggest would have any and
all information relative to the nonprofit programs that Mother
Emanuel can benefit from. You should not have had to spend
$50,000 of your own money when we have monies available right
here to help.
Let me say to Ms. Nelson, your organization has a
tremendous job to do. You need to help keep the conscience of
this country on track and make sure we do the right thing. We
are a Nation of laws and sometimes those laws have been bent to
the negative impact of others. So, I applaud you for that.
President Hudson, your institution is a great institution,
not because I have a degree from there, but I also represent
it. So, I appreciate you coming in. I know you have a
tremendous challenge ahead of you.
The one thing that I want to talk about on our historical
Black colleges, when threats occur, then all of us who had
children to go to college, the first thing that comes to our
mind is it safe? So part of what we have to do is mitigate the
issue to the extent practical, so that parents don't have to
wonder when I send my child to college, is it a death sentence
or is it there so that they can get the expectation of a
wholesome education? Our committee is committed to doing that.
That is why the Ranking Member and others have joined me in
trying to increase this pool of money for institutions and
other nonprofits to take advantage of it. It is not enough, it
is a start. But coupled with that is some training and
coordination that can be equally as helpful as an investment in
dollars. So, we look forward to that going forward.
The Members of the committee may have additional questions
for the witnesses and we ask that you respond expeditiously in
writing. The Chair reminds Members that the committee's record
will remain open for 10 business days.
Without objection, the committee stands adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 12:19 p.m., the committee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
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Questions From Congresswoman Dina Titus for Eric S.C. Manning
Question 1. You testified about the history of White supremacist
attacks on Black churches and how the church is the heart of the Black
community.
In the years following the racially-motivated attack at Mother
Emmanuel Church, what have been the long-term effects on the
community's confidence in gathering safely and how can communities like
yours be supported after immense trauma?
Answer. Response was not received at the time of publication.
Question 2. How have the threats to Black churches evolved over the
years and what resources do churches need to keep their communities
safe?
Answer. Response was not received at the time of publication.
Questions From Congresswoman Dina Titus for Thomas K. Hudson
Question 1a. Since January 4, there have been a total of 59 bomb
threats, most of which targeted HBCUs and Black churches. The FBI
states that 31 field offices have been involved in working with local,
State, and Federal law enforcement to identify those involved.
Has the Department of Homeland Security helped connect you with
resources/programs to bolster your security in the wake of these
events? If so, have you noticed an impact on the student's sense of
safety and security?
Answer. Response was not received at the time of publication.
Question 1b. What can the Department of Homeland Security do to
communicate with you more effectively regarding the threats that your
institutions face?
Answer. Response was not received at the time of publication.
Question 2a. Yesterday, the Department of Education announced that
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) that have recently
experienced a bomb threat are eligible to apply for grant funds under
the Project School Emergency Response to Violence (Project SERV)
program. Additionally, the Department of Homeland Security has been
providing resources, assessments, training, and grant funding to
support emergency management and prevent acts of targeted violence and
terrorism.
From your experience, have you found roadblocks to engaging with
Governmental entities and do you have any thoughts on how they can
further engage and support HBCUs?
Answer. Response was not received at the time of publication.
Question 2b. Have you have had any experiences with other groups or
Government officials that have assisted you with the security of your
institutions? For example, local police, State/local government, non-
profit organizations, or other community groups or associations.
Answer. Response was not received at the time of publication.
Questions From Congresswoman Dina Titus for Janai Nelson
Question 1. You testified about the history of White supremacist
attacks on Black churches and how the church is the heart of the Black
community.
You discuss this in your testimony, but can you elaborate on how
threats to Black institutions have evolved over time?
Answer. Response was not received at the time of publication.
Question 2. Since January 4, there have been a total of 59 bomb
threats, most of which targeted HBCUs and Black churches. The FBI
states that 31 field offices have been involved in working with local,
State, and Federal law enforcement to identify those involved.
White supremacy and racially-motivated extremism are not new. With
that in mind, what unique public policy challenges do Black
institutions, like HBCUs and Black churches, face as a result?
Answer. Response was not received at the time of publication.
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