Rep. Jayapal’s call to activists sounds alarms over sparking violence

U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal sparked renewed outrage after a video clip resurfaced of her calling on activists to be “strike ready” and “street ready.”

Demands for consequences, or an apology from the Washington Democrat, reverberated on social media after a repost of a clip in which she spoke of her series of Resistance Lab trainings and what appeared to be a call to violence.

“We might call this getting strike-ready. I think of it as getting us strike-ready or street-ready,” Jayapal said in the Zoom clip from earlier this year.

Democrats are clearly calling for violence. https://t.co/C8aBScpDFf

— Thomas John (@ThomasJohn65936) September 25, 2025

“And part of that is understanding our own strength, and as we develop that strength, being able to assess our risk tolerance,” the far-left Democrat continued.

“Because we know that risk tolerance increases as the severity of the situation increases, and as our own understanding of what’s happening increases. So overall, the more we understand what’s effective, what the risks are, and who’s ready to participate, the more impact we can have,” she said.

Jayapal voted against a House resolution honoring Charlie Kirk last week that passed with 310-58 votes, with 95 Democrats supporting the measure.

“Unfortunately, this Republican resolution was designed as a political ‘gotcha’ — trying to force every member of Congress to lift up the views of Charlie Kirk rather than simply condemning his assassination. I cannot do that. This resolution does nothing to send a unified message to the country, to prevent further violence, or to turn down the temperature,” she said in a statement following the vote.

The congresswoman has previously talked about how “inspiring” it is to see people resisting ICE agents, referring to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency as a “terrorist force.”

“Some of the most inspiring things have been when people encircle courtrooms and refuse to allow ICE agents in,” Jayapal said in an episode of “The Joy Reid Show.”

“There are all kinds of nonviolent resistance tactics that we have to use,” she explained at the time. “And I’ve started something called Resistance Lab… It’s a training on really the documented most effective ways to counter democratic backsliding, nonviolent resistance tactics to build that movement.”

Her resurfaced comments came after weeks of politically incited violence, including the assassination of Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk. With increasing demands for Democrats and leftists to be held accountable for incendiary rhetoric, Jayapal’s call to be “strike-ready” and “street-ready” was slammed on social media.

Why would a member of the United States Congress urge civilians to be strike ready?

— bbear1116 (@bbear111670) September 24, 2025

Is this “toning down the rhetoric”?

— Angie on the Gulf (@MAGA_dogmom) September 24, 2025

Hey @SpeakerJohnson are you going to do anything about this? Sure appears to be calling for violence.

— Greg Mitchell (@gregnmitchell) September 24, 2025

We were VERY concerned during the Biden Harris administration. No one called for us to get ‘street ready.” We were NOT mobilizing in the streets firebombing people, or shooting police, or beating up Democrats.

— Kristen Rose (@Kristen419364) September 25, 2025

That is an explicit call to violence. She needs to be censured and arrested.

— Richard de los Santos (@ZeusRadls) September 25, 2025

Strike ready and street ready? Exactly what does this mean? Violence? The connotation is certainly violence.

— GigiofSeven, Wanda Knight (@JustFaithinGod) September 24, 2025

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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.

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