CCR and Color of Change to DHS: Release the #RacePaper

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Last week, CCR, Color of Change, and the Kramer Law Clinic sued the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to release the contents of the agency’s blacked-out memo referred to in government documents as the "Race Paper." We first uncovered the existence of the document via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to DHS, which sent us a fully redacted version with only the name of the attachment visible.

The existence of the "Race Paper," among other documents we’ve obtained, confirms the targeted surveillance that many Black activists and organizers around the country have reported, and raises alarming questions about the agency’s escalating criminalization of Black people organizing for racial justice.

We first submitted the request in 2016 to uncover how DHS and FBI were monitoring and surveilling the Movement for Black Lives, and since then, we’ve received hundreds of pages of documents. Among them was a set revealed in November 2017 that show how federal agencies characterized Black protestors as "Black Supremacist Extremists" and portrayed protected First Amendment protest activity as violence-inciting to justify surveilling Black activists. The documents were in stark contrast with the agencies’ communications regarding white supremacist groups, whom they deemed as engaging in “lawful” protest activity worthy of government protection.

Be sure to add your name of the Color of Change petition demanding DHS release the Race Paper, and check out coverage on The Root, The Intercept, and Gizmodo.

Louisiana water protectors fight back against Tiger Swan

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This Thursday, we’ll be with our partners in Louisiana before the State Board of Private Security Examiners (LSBPSE), which is poised to make a decision about whether Louisiana peoples’ groups opposed to the Bayou Bridge Pipeline can intervene as interested parties in the hearing that will determine whether the private security firm TigerSwan LLC will get a license to operate in the state.

TigerSwan is connected to Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), one of the owners of the Bayou Bridge Pipeline LLC, and has applied to operate in Louisiana. ETP previously retained TigerSwan in North Dakota to respond to water protectors resisting the Dakota Access Pipeline. There, they engaged in military-style counter-insurgency operations, used public relations campaigns to disseminate pro-pipeline messaging, and oversaw intelligence operations and surveillance of camps and protestors.

TigerSwan is now seeking a license from the LSBPSE, presumably to support ETP in its attempt to develop the Bayou Bridge Pipeline. TigerSwan's initial application was denied, and they appealed the decision.

Anne Rolfes, Director of Louisiana Bucket Brigade said: "As concerned citizens from across Louisiana, we must be permitted to voice our opposition to TigerSwan infiltrating our communities at the upcoming hearing."

Stay tuned on Facebook at midday Thursday for a live update from Baton Rouge after the hearing.

"Gina Haspel should be arrested--not put in charge of the CIA"

CCR Executive Director Vince Warren published a scathing op-ed in The Guardian calling on the U.S. Senate to reject Trump’s appointment of Gina Haspel as CIA Director, who notoriously oversaw torture during the Bush Administration. He wrote:

"Torture is illegal under US and international law in all circumstances, and human rights organizations like mine have been strongly pushing for those who ordered or committed torture after 9/11 – including the president – to be held accountable in US and international courts.

…

The Center for Constitutional Rights recently submitted a filing with the International Criminal Court that brought Haspel to their attention. We wanted to highlight her impunity for torture and the heightened risk for a return to torture given her position as deputy CIA director."

Read the piece in full here.