The FBI manufactured ‘black identity extremism’ to justify policing black protest

Evidence

When Foreign Policy published the leaked memo, one former FBI agent, Michael German—putting wind in the sails of conspiracy theorists everywhere—said plainly that the agency had identified a movement that wasn’t real to justify ramping up enforcement activities. … “Basically,” he said, “it’s black people who scare them.” — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 209

Categorization

• SHARE: The quote ‘it’s black people who scare them’ is a sharp one-line distillation worth sharing with anyone tracking federal surveillance and civil liberties.
• XREF: connects to: The FBI operated a documented program undermining civil rights leaders — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 153; FBI counterintelligence programs targeted civil rights activism as threats to national security — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project: A New American Origin…, 392; The FBI manufactured terror plots to justify its counterterrorism spending — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 586 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• FBI counterintelligence programs targeted civil rights activism as threats to national security #contradicts (0.75) — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 392