Civil Rights Lawyer: How a KKK Law is Being Used to Silence Two Black Women in Minneapolis

In a stunning act of legal contortion, federal authorities arrested two prominent Black women activists in Minneapolis for participating in a nonviolent protest at a church. Following a prayer during Sunday service, minister and civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong posed a question to the pastor. It prompted a brief exchange that led protestors to chant for justice for Renee Good. There were no acts of violence, threats or intimidation—it was, by all accounts, a peaceful protest.

Yet, despite the absence of any malice or physical harm, federal agents descended upon them, arresting Armstrong, who is also a former NAACP branch president, St. Paul School Board member Chauntyll Louisa Allen, and veteran activist DaWoke Farmer (William Keller). Though the specific charges remain murky, it appears the federal government invoked two statutes originally designed to protect civil rights and address violent intimidation: the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 and the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.

The outrageous irony here cannot be overstated. Black women engaged in a nonviolent act of dissent are being accused of conspiring to deprive people of their civil rights under the Klan Act — a law Congress passed in 1871 to provide a legal hook to prosecute the Klan for its violent, terroristic acts targeting newly freed Black people during Reconstruction. 

Similarly, the FACE Act was created to protect women seeking abortions from intimidation and violence as they accessed reproductive health clinics. It also criminalizes violence and the threat of physical force at a religious place of worship. The law was never intended to be used to suppress peaceful protest inside a church, absent any force or threat of harm.

The misuse of these laws is stark. The KKK Act and the FACE Act simply do not extend to actions of peaceful protest. This Administration is demonstrating an ongoing pattern of co-opting and misusing laws that were passed to protect Black people from white supremacy to, now, protect white supremacy by silencing its critics.

The Department of Justice’s handling of the case was disjointed and sloppy from the beginning. They arrived in court without the proper paperwork, warrants or a formal complaint, leaving the defendants and their counsel in the dark about the exact charges. The original U.S. attorneys reportedly quit, forcing DOJ lawyers to be flown in from Washington, D.C. Even after the judge ordered the defendants’ release, the DOJ immediately appealed, ensuring the women were held overnight while an appellate court reviewed the decision.

These prosecutions are not about violence or threats in a religious space. They are a transparent attempt to silence dissent. This Administration has already shown how selectively it treats the sanctity of religious spaces. It certainly did not hesitate to revoke the federal policy that once made churches off-limits for ICE raids. Instead, these targeted arrests appear to be part of an ongoing campaign that terrorizes immigrant communities and the citizens who stand up for them. 

The feds are deliberately targeting high-profile activists to make an example of them, sending a clear message that the rest of us should be silent and complicit. The two Black women arrested were even subjected to a perp walk, which federal agents shamelessly used as a photo opportunity in their campaign against dissent. It was meant to be a warning.

But it is also a reminder.

These sisters, and so many others, are following in our ancestors’ footsteps. They continue a long tradition of resistance by fighting injustices that undermine the rights of us all and call out the hypocrisy of white Christian nationalists who preach the gospel but refuse to live by it.

Black people continue to put ourselves on the front lines not because we misunderstand the risks, but because we understand what is at stake. This is not just a fight over the Constitution’s protections but a fight for the very soul of this country.

Judith Browne Dianis is a civil rights lawyer.