The FBI framed Islam as dangerous to justify anti-black state suppression

Evidence

Hoover’s commitment to curtail not only Communism but all forms of African American protest against racism resulted in a culture of suspicion at the FBI and in the executive branch more generally that sought to monitor and ultimately influence the practice of Islam among African Americans. There is some evidence that agents entertained the possibility that Islamic religion could be practiced in an apolitical way, but at the same time, Islam inevitably came under suspicion because of its association with African American protests against white supremacy. In sweeping Islamic religious practice, of various types, into the machinery of anti-black state suppression, Hoover and the FBI created mechanisms and meanings that framed Islam as a danger to the US nation-state. — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 398

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s existing work on how the label ‘dangerous’ becomes a mechanism of state discipline; parallels the frightened-subject analysis guiding this book. — connects to: The FBI operated a documented program undermining civil rights leaders — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 153; The FBI conflated Black Muslim anti-racism with sedition and imperialism critique — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 234; The FBI surveilled black Muslims as seditious threats more than white Arab immigrants (+1 more)