A group of high school student from Highstown, New Jersey did something fairly amazing this year: They took effective action against government secrecy. They wrote a law, and, in a bitterly divided Congress, they got it passed. And President Trump signed it.
The students in Stu Wexler’s American government class, persuaded Congress to preserve and publicize the records of infamous lynchings and other unpunished acts of racial terrorism from the civil rights era.
From The Washington Post:
The class lobbied to line up sponsors, get the bill out of committees in both chambers of Congress, have it voted on and approved just before Christmas, and then signed into law last month by President Trump.
Wexler, author of a book on the assassination of Martin Luther King, proved an able guide to the world of legislation and secrecy. (Full disclosure: Wexler is a friend.)
Rep. Bobby Rush, a former Black Panther turned Congressman from Chicago, sponsored the House bill. Sen. Ted Cruz, the pro-Trump conservative from Texas, signed on to the Senate bill.
A number of congressional historians believe it may be the first time a high school class successfully drafted a federal bill that was signed into law on any subject, much less one exposing some of the darkest secrets of the events that helped inspire America’s civil rights movement
When I got in touch with Stu, he was no ready to celebrate.
” I have grown almost [Bill] Belichickean on these matters,” he told me. Getting the bill passed was like winning the AFC championship game. “But we have a laser-like focus now on getting an appropriation and board appointments before we throw the parade. And I don’t even like the Pats.”
The success of these students have achieved so far is a reminder that there is a constituency for truth in Washington. But you can never stop pushing for it.
What Can I Do?
The Post story comes a month after the American Truth and Reconciliation Committee published a Joint Statement calling for the reopening of the investigation of the four political assassinations of the 1960s: John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy.
“The consequences still haunt our nation,” says Adam Walinsky, former speechwriter for RFK.
Yet, incredibly enough, the government still retains secret records about these assassinations that it has never made public. Empowered by President Trump’s quietly-executed order of October 2017, the CIA and FBI have White House permission to withhold more than 15,000 JFK files from public view.
In introducing the Highstown students’ cold case bill last July, Sen. Doug Jones, Alabama Democrat, said, “The American people have a right to know this part of our nation’s history,”
The same is true for the history of the assassinations of the 1960s. We need a law to force still-secret or forgotten records into public view. When people say “it can’t be done,” “it happened too long ago,” “young people don’t care,” I say, just read this article.
Go to The Truth and Reconciliation Committee for more information.
Know the Facts: “Trump Caves to CIA on JFK Files Secrecy.”
Sign the Petition: “Call for Congress to Reopen Assassination Probes.”
