In 2020, far-right activists Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl orchestrated a campaign of robocalls targeting thousands of Black Americans in an effort to dissuade them from voting, one of the duo’s many attention-seeking political dirty tricks. Some of their projects, like press conferences in which they trafficked in transparently false smears against political opponents, earned them mostly well-deserved ridicule. But their scheme to spread misinformation about voting has brought Burkman and Wohl serious legal consequences in multiple states and massive fines.
Among the duo’s legal troubles is a lawsuit filed by the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation that was joined by New York Attorney General Letitia James. A judge in that case recently ruled that Burkman and Wohl were guilty of violating both the Voting Rights Act and the Ku Klux Klan Act.
On Monday, Wohl posted a short video clip from a recent deposition in that lawsuit in which Burkman declared that, in protest of the supposed violation of their First Amendment rights, he and Wohl will soon be calling for a new constitutional convention.
On top of that, Burkman announced that he is also launching a hunger strike.
“It has now become abundantly clear that this once great republic, this once great Constitution, that once great office of the attorney general in New York can no longer safeguard our fundamental liberties,” Burkman said. “Therefore, today, with the support of Brother Wohl, I call for the founding of a new government in the United States, a new republic, and a new constitution. In the coming weeks, Jacob and I will be calling for a constitutional convention to begin the drafting of a new document.”
Burkman then cited United Farm Workers’ leader Cesar Chavez’s hunger strike in 1968 as inspiration for launching his own such strike.
“I am announcing that as of 9:00 am Eastern Standard Time, I will begin a hunger strike that will not stop for any reason until this horrific lawsuit and others like it all over the nation are dropped,” Burkman proclaimed. “I will allow myself only Perrier water.”
Given Burkman’s track record for honesty and accuracy, it doesn’t seem likely that he’ll follow through.
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