Rep. Hillary Scholten can’t hide behind photo ops, not when she is consistently voting to increase funding for cops, for the US military and to suppress contemporary social justice movements

Last week marked the 60th anniversary of what is often referred to as Bloody Sunday, where police beat Civil Rights activists during a march through Selma across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

The Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) has been engaged in a 2-year voting rights campaign in Selma, so SNCC leader John Lewis, along with Hosea Williams (SCLC) led the march. A blockade of state troopers and local cops told those marching to disperse, to which they refused.The police gave orders to attack those marching, beating them with clubs in a cloud of tear gas, while mounted police ran down marchers and continued to club them as they fled.

The march was organized not only because of the fight for Voting Rights, but to honor the death of Jimmy Lee Jackson, who was murdered by the police on February 18th, 1965. On March 3rd, Dr. King delivered the eulogy for Jackson, which included the following words:

Jimmy Lee Jackson was murdered by every white minister of the gospel who has remained silent behind the safe security of his stain-glassed windows. He was murdered by the irresponsibility of every politician…..who has fed his constituents the stale bread of hatred and the spoiled meat of racism. He was murdered by the timidity of a federal government that is willing to spend millions of dollars a day to defend freedom in Vietnam but cannot protect the rights of its citizens at home. He was murdered by every sheriff who practices lawlessness in the name of law. He was murdered by the cowardice of every Negro who passively accepts the evils of segregation and stands on the sidelines in the struggle for justice.

Interestingly enough, Rep. Hillary Scholten posted numerous photos of her family who went to Alabama for this historic 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. Here is a picture of Scholten’s family on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where Black activists were brutalized by cops. No one should be fooled by the photo ops from Rep. Scholten, especially in light of the comments that Dr. King made in 1965 at the funeral of Jimmy Lee Jackson.

Putting sentiment aside, let’s look at the voting record of Rep. Scholten since she was first elected as the 3rd Congressional Representative for Michigan in 2022, and juxtapose her voting record with Dr. King’s words cited above.

During Police Week in 2024, Rep. Scholten made the following statement:

“Every single day, law enforcement officers put their lives on the line to protect their communities. I’ve had the honor of meeting hundreds of these heroes during my time in Congress, and I am in awe of their willingness to put others above self in a time when serving one’s community is all the more challenging. As we work to make policing stronger and safer for all in West Michigan, it’s so important to recognize our safety heroes who do this work every single day. This week, the House came together in a bipartisan way to advance several pieces of legislation that will improve the lives of officers around the country, and I was proud to be a part of this much-needed effort.”

These words from Rep. Scholten were matched by her votes in 2024, which are listed below, with some commentary from GRIID.

• H.R. 3325 – The Recruit and Retain Act to authorize law enforcement agencies to use Community Oriented Policing grants for recruitment activities, in an effort to address an unprecedented crisis in hiring and retaining qualified personnel. GRIID – she voted for more public money to be used to recruit more cops, which are state violence workers.
• H.R. 7581 – The Improving Law Enforcement Officer Safety and Wellness Through Data Act to require the U.S. Attorney General–within 270 days of enactment–to submit reports that detail acts of violence against law enforcement officers and the efficacy of programs intended to provide law enforcement with wellness resources. GRIID – Let’s find more money and created programs to assist cops with wellness, but not for the families of the 426 people that the cops have killed so far in 2024, according to https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/. 
• H.R. 7343 – TheDetain and Deport Illegal Aliens Who Assault Cops Act to require that non-U.S. nationals who assault law enforcement officers must be arrested, detained, and removed from the U.S. GRIID – really, this shit. Does Rep. Scholten want us believe that there is an epidemic of undocumented immigrants assaulting cops? PLEASE!
• H.Res. 1213 – A resolution regarding violence against law enforcement officers. GRIID – This resolution begins by stating, “Whereas, beginning in 2020, and in conjunction with the “defund the police” movement, respect for the rule of law and law enforcement officials diminished;” This is very telling, since it equates the Black-led Defund the Police Movement with the lack of respect for the rule of law. How can any reasonable person respect cops who brutalize Black people, or in the case of Patrick Lyoya, shot them in the back of the head while sitting on top of them?

In addition to supporting the police and voting for more public money for cops, Rep. Scholten has voted for the massive US military budgets over the past two years, which Dr. King also condemned since it took money away from meeting the needs of every day Americans.

A third way that Rep. Scholten betrays the memory of Bloody Sunday, is by voting to suppress the pro-Palestine campus movement, which Dr. King would certainly have endorsed. I wrote about this just yesterday, but will include part of what I wrote regarding Rep. Scholten’s position on the pro-Palestine campus movement.

Rep. Scholten, the so-called liberal, once again is demonstrating her allegiance to US Imperialism, to Zionism and her commitment to the repression of free speech. Notice that the Congresswoman provides no evidence of antisemitism. You just have to invoke it to make it a fact, just like Zionists preach. On top of the unsubstantiated claim of antisemitism, Rep. Scholten takes it one step further by partnering with a Republican from Indiana to introduce legislation that in reality is meant to further silence critics of Israel and US policies that support Israel. However, this might be a good time to point out why Rep. Hillary Scholten is on the wrong side of history and the wrong side of justice.

• US students and faculty are organizing to stand in solidarity with the Palestinians and against the US-funded Israeli genocide that has already killed 35,000 Palestinians.
• Many of the campus protests against the Israeli genocide are being led by Jewish students and faculty.
• US students who are organizing encampments across the country are following in the same tradition as previous movements like the Civil Rights Movement, the anti-Vietnam and anti-Iraq War Movements, the Climate Justice Movement, and the South African anti-Apartheid Movement, just to name a few. 
• US students and faculty are exposing the political and economic commitment that Higher Education has to conformity, especially when it comes to US foreign policy and Israel.
• US students and faculty are also exposing how the police state functions in the US, especially when university trustees and university donors are pressuring campuses to actively suppress this movement.

In the end, Rep. Hillary Scholten can not hide behind the 60th anniversary commemoration of what happened on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Rep. Scholten is in no way furthering the cause of justice for Black people, for immigrants, but she is proudly voting for increased funding for the cops and for the US military. How dare she cheapen the memory of the Black Freedom Struggle, of the SNCC organizers and the murder of Jimmy Lee Jackson. 

Photo credit goes to Spider Martin – 1965.