Freshman Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA) told CNN over the weekend that a “truth commission” was needed in the U.S. so that there could be a “common narrative moving forward” and suggested that lawmakers needed to probe right-wing media to see what role that it had in the January 6 riot in Washington, D.C.
“You also said in an interview with the 19th news website this week that the country needs a truth commission,” CNN’s Brian Stelter said. “What exactly would a truth commission be?”
“So, I think part of what we’re seeing now is because we haven’t really done the reckoning with the racial injustice and white supremacy of our past that we need to do. And so, you know, a truth commission, a lot of people will think of South Africa. We’ve used them in countries around the world,” Jacobs responded. “And basically, what it is, is it’s communities all the way up to the national level having conversations about both the gory and the glory of our history and what happened, both throughout the history of our country and leading up to and on January 6th, so that we can come to a common narrative moving forward of what we want our country to be.”
When asked if she thought that leadership in the House and Senate had “the stomach” for such a move, Jacobs responded by saying that she believes that they do.
“Look, we all were victims of this attack in addition to being the lawmakers of this country. And I know for a lot of this, this is very personal. We’ve had threats to our lives, threats to our homes and our families,” she said. “So I think there are a lot of us who know that this impeachment trial was just the start of holding Donald Trump accountable, but that we need to make sure that we’re doing a accountability of anyone who incited, encouraged or committed acts of violence and then really looking forward at kinds of things like truth commissions, like democracy, like institution building that we know are going to be the real fixes to what we have seen in this country.”
Rep. @SaraJacobsCA tells @brianstelter that America now needs a “Truth Commission”
Stelter: "Do you think the House and Senate leadership have the stomach for that?”
Jacobs: "I think so." pic.twitter.com/7c27KI2OXy
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) February 14, 2021
Jacobs pointed to “new technological systems” being responsible for “violence around the world,” and specifically mentioned the role that the radio played in the genocide in Rwanda.
“We know that these kinds of technological systems when you have the ability to communicate in a different way also correlate to what we’re seeing here in the U.S. with the rise of this extremist ideology,” she said.
“So you are describing the impact of cell phones and this constant connectivity, social networks and far-right television networks, all of which you are saying are fueling a fire?” Stelter asked.
“Well, that’s exactly right,” she said. “We know the violence on the 6th was predicated on the idea of the big lie, the fact that this election was stolen, despite the fact that Donald Trump’s own Department of Homeland Security says it was not. And you need to be able to perpetuate that kind of lie in order to get the kinds of reactions that you did.”
“I think we need to look at far right media, which I know, Brian, you have been such a leader on calling out,” she continued. “And also the role of social media and the whole ecosystem of social media where the kinds of information and the kinds of posts that get the biggest reactions are the ones prioritized by their algorithms.”
Rep. Jacobs to Stelter: “We need to look at far-right media, which I know, Brian, you have been such a leader on calling out." pic.twitter.com/yuHqhx8zc1
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) February 14, 2021