The FBI’s Domestic Terrorism Analysis Unit sent out a memo in 2017 identifying some Black leaders and organizations as “Black Identity Extremists (BIE)” reported FinalCall.com. The FBI’s new 2020 reference guide on “Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremism” abandons 2019 revisions, reverting back to its 2017 classification of “Black Identity Extremists”. Under the classification are those who use “political reasons including racism or injustice in American society”, according to yahoo.com.
Black activists and organizations who exercise freedom of speech and protest racism and injustice have long been targets of the FBI. The FBI’s COINTELPRO disrupted many of the Black movements and organizations to stop the growth of militant Black organizations, especially among the Black youth. The FinalCall.com article “Stool Pigeons, Sell Outs and Opps: Using Informants to Destroy Black Organizations” shed light on the movie “Judas and the Black Messiah”, the story of Black Panther Party Leader Fred Hampton’s assassination.
The FBI’s 2020 document claims that “many” Black identity extremists “have targeted law enforcement and the U.S. government,” and a “small number” use a “combination of sovereign citizen ideology, religious beliefs, and black separatists rhetoric.” Black people who may be angry over police brutality and racial injustice fall within the category as domestic terrorism threats due to so-called ‘violent extremism’ according to the FBI.
The FBI’s portrayal of individual Black activists and Black organizations as a single movement, or a part of a “Black Lives Matter” movement is misleading. Focusing attention towards Black groups when White supremacists represent the vast majority of domestic terror attacks in the U.S. envokes fears that the FBI’s COINTELPRO operations has re-emerged. “It’s very unfortunate and it’s important for people to understand that no, as far as I’m concerned COINTELPRO did not end, it just shifted shape,” said atty. Taifa.
NNV News Blog Writer Sister Rose Morris
