Newly released FBI and Department of Homeland Security documents reveal that federal law-enforcement agencies worried that violent “black supremacist extremists” would kill police officers, attack the Democratic National Convention and cause chaos at the Republican National Convention last year. Even though they could find no evidence or substantial proof, federal agencies monitored black organizations and warned local and federal agencies to do the same because ... umm ... well ... did I mention the “black” part?
According to emails and reports published by Al-Jazeera (American media outlets probably missed them because they didn’t contain Donald Trump tweets), the FBI was concerned that Black Lives Matter protests would turn violent after Micah Xavier Johnson killed five police officers in Dallas during a BLM protest in July 2016. The documents, obtained by a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by Color of Change and the Center for Constitutional Rights, revealed how federal agencies began monitoring the activities of Black Lives Matter and other groups even though—by the FBI’s own admission—Johnson acted alone and had no ties to Black Lives Matter or any other black organization.
“There are a number of black supremacist extremist groups in the Dallas-area,” one email read, adding: “the most prominent of which is the New Black Panther Party (NBPP) which has numerous offshoots.”
The FBI even thought that these imaginary black supremacists were set to attack the Democratic and Republican conventions, because ... again, they offered no evidence aside from supposition and white-peopleness. One newly uncovered email warned, “Due to sensitivities surrounding recent police shootings, the threat of copycat attacks against law enforcement exists. There is a threat of black supremacist extremists attempting to violently co-opt the upcoming DNC/RNC.”
What was the cause of this threat? According to an FBI intelligence report obtained by Foreign Policy (pdf), it was Ferguson, Mo.’s very own Michael Brown. Apparently, when Brown offered bullets from Officer Darren Wilson’s service weapon permanent residence inside his chest and head, he was really trying to incite violence ... by dying. The report states:
The FBI assesses it is very likely Black Identity Extremist (BIE) perceptions of police brutality against African Americans suppred an increase in premeditated, retaliatory lethal violence against law enforcement and will very likely serve as justification for such violence. The FBI assesses itis very likely that this increase began following the 9 August 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and the subsequent Grand Jury November 2014 declination to indict the police officers involved. The FBI assesses it is very likely incidents of alleged police abuse against African Americans since then have continued to deed the resurgence in ideologically motivated, violent criminal activity within the BIE movement.”
Another Department of Homeland Security bulletin (pdf) warned law-enforcement agencies across the country about an upcoming Black Lives Matter protest called the Day of Rage. The memo warned: “While the media does specify nonviolence and denounces the actions taken against police officers that were not involved in these deaths ... these protests are not safe places to be.” It added: “Being anywhere near these protests greatly increases the chance that you could become a victim of violence. When the mob mentality takes over, normally decent people can commit heinous acts.”
The memo was sent to military personnel and police officers all across the country. A former FBI agent and state law-enforcement officer who now works as a federal agent in the Treasury Department said, although he was not involved in the investigation, that the reports could lead to local and federal authorities targeting black groups.
“I have worked in local and federal law enforcement,” he told The Root on the condition of anonymity. “I don’t know what they were trying to do, but I can attest that any street-level officer would read that report and focus on black people and black groups. I’ve seen it. I’ve done it.”
There was only one problem with concern over the Day of Rage: It was a hoax. It never happened and it was never planned by Black Lives Matter.
To be clear, the FBI and Homeland Security have not publicly disclosed any connection between violent extremists and Black Lives Matter or any black organization. There have been no arrests. They have not discovered any evidence, plans or even private conversations concerning violence in the Black Lives Matter network of activists. In fact, the best way to describe these assessments is by using a term that comes from academic and scientific circles:
Bullshit.
The FBI’s own data confirms that 2015, the year after the Michael Brown killing, was one of the safest years for cops ever.
Not only have the FBI and DHS not provided a single shred of evidence to back up their claims, but their own data shows the opposite. According to a separate November 2016 report issued jointly by the FBI and DHS (pdf), white supremacists “were responsible for 49 homicides in 26 attacks from 2000 to 2016 … more than any other domestic extremist movement.” It is a fabrication wrapped inside a myth covered in lying-motherfucker sauce.
But those scary black people, though.
Read more at Al-Jazeera.