Dem Rep. Jacobs: ‘Truth Commission’ Needed on Racial Injustice to Establish a Common Narrative

Representative Sara Jacobs (D-CA) on Sunday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Reliable Sources” that America needed a truth commission to establish a common narrative on racial injustice and white supremacy.

Jacobs 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. 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.  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.”

She added, “Lots of countries, lots of places have ideologies that are extreme, people who have ideologies that are extreme have conflict, have disagreements within their community. But there are only some areas where that actually turns into violence, and that’s the role of conflict entrepreneurs — or in other words, leaders.”

Anchor Brian Stelter said, “In the case of the United States, it’s about a ‘whitelash,’ a white Christian America reaction, backlash, to a changing, country personified by Trump. But none of this is going away now, even though the trial is over and even though one phase of Trumpism is over. You also said in an interview with the 19th News website this week that the country needs a truth commission. What exactly would a truth commission be?”

Jacobs said, “We haven’t really done the reckoning with the racial injustice and white supremacy of our past that we need to do. So a truth commission — a lot of people will think of South Africa. We have used them in countries around the world. Basically, what it is is its 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 6, that we can come to a common narrative, moving forward, of what we want our country to be.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN