USCPR Statement on Arrest of Individual Making Threats of Violence Against Our Organization
WASHINGTON DC, NOVEMBER 21, 2023—Today, the Federal Bureau of Investigations charged Kevin Brent Buchanan, 62, of Tooele, Utah with threatening the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR), a nonprofit organization.
USCPR is grateful to the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). The ADC was our first call after our assessment of the threat, and they helped initiate and facilitate the investigation with the Department of Justice. The ADC advised us throughout the ordeal.
According to publicly filed court documents, between Oct. 31 and Nov. 2, 2023, Buchanan called the organization and left at least five voice messages stating, in part, “You’re the enemy,” “You’re being catalogued,” “You’re gonna die,” and “You’re dead people walking.”
This threat of violence against USCPR staff is part of a sharp increase in hateful rhetoric and hate crimes targeting Palestinians, as well as other Arabs and Muslims, across the country. Such rhetoric led to the murder of 6-year-old Palestinian-American child Wadea Al Fayoume in Plainfield, Ill., near Chicago.
“The threats of violence against USCPR are rooted in bigotry, oppression, and the denial of our humanity as proud Palestinian people,” said USCPR Executive Director Ahmad Abuznaid. “We will not be intimidated by such threats, and we will not compromise our advocacy for human rights and a liberated future. We’ll keep acting in love for our people, culture, and land until justice is won.”
Over the past six weeks, high-level U.S. government officials all the way up to President Biden have propagated dehumanizing rhetoric against Palestinian people, as Biden himself repeated debunked lies twice.
“Even in the face of such racism and violence, we continue to build toward our mission,” Ahmad Abuznaid said. “We envision a future in which the freedom and safety of Palestinian people from the U.S. to Palestine is not just a dream, but a reality, with collective liberation for all.”
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About the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights
The US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) is a national network of activists and organizations who are committed to freedom, justice, and equality for the Palestinian people and who work to end U.S. complicity in their oppression. USCPR is a political home for all who believe that freedom for the Palestinian people is an integral part of achieving our collective liberation. USCPR provides resources and strategic support to the U.S.-based Palestine solidarity movement, channeling grassroots power into positive change in U.S. policy and public opinion. USCPR works with local organizers and activists, policymakers, movement leaders, media, and advocacy organizations to advance a rights-based, accountability and justice-oriented framework from the U.S. to Palestine.
