“Today, I stood in solidarity with Black females throughout the country in defense of our constitutional right to vote,” Beatty stated in a declaration later on Thursday. “We have actually come too far and battled too tough to see everything methodically dismantled and restricted by those who want to silence our voice.”
The Capitol Police said the group was arrested for violating a D.C. law that prohibits “crowding, obstructing, or incommoding.”
The buildings that comprise the Capitol complex are still near most visitors, however members and staff can escort guests inside. The group had at first rallied near the Capitol at a church building as part of what participants billed as a “Day of Action on Voting Rights” with Black females leaders, supporters and allies advising the Senate to pass two crucial pieces of legislation– a stretching Democratic election reform costs and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.
The larger Democratic costs has actually mainly stalled out in Congress after Senate Republicans filibustered the bill. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Thursday in a letter to House Democrats that the House would continue its deal with the John Lewis-named ballot rights legislation– an expense focused on bring back a part of landmark legislation overruled by the Supreme Court in 2013. That former legislation limited certain states and areas, most in the Southern U.S., requiring them to seek federal approval before altering specific ballot laws. The legislation is a leading Black Caucus concern, and the group has gotten in touch with the House to reintroduce the bill before the August recess.
It, too, faces a bleak future in the 50-50 Senate, where a previous version drew the assistance of just one Republican co-sponsor, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).
Arrests of members of Congress inside the Capitol complex are unusual, though Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), was arrested throughout a 2018 protest in the Hart Senate Office Building also.
Beatty herself is no complete stranger to protest. She and other authorities were pepper-sprayed during demonstrations over the death of George Floyd in the summer of 2020.
Katherine Tully-McManus contributed to this report.