Demand the Federal Government Stop Targeting Black Protestors

Fam,

Last week we released a report, Struggle for Power: The Ongoing Persecution of Black Movement by the U.S. Government, with our partners at CLEAR. The report provides clear evidence that the federal government deliberately targeted supporters of the movement to defend Black lives during the political uprisings against police terror last summer. They did this in order to disrupt and discourage the movement. Sign our petition calling on the Biden Administration and Congress to end this targeting and protect those who protest in defense of Black lives.

We know that the U.S. government has a long history of using the police and federal law enforcement to suppress social movements for peace and justice, and we saw that play out in real time in last year’s protests. Police presence skyrocketed, and federal agents were deployed across the country—an extreme reaction, especially when compared to their docile response to anti-mask protests in the same year, during which armed individuals stormed government buildings.

For those arrested while protesting in defense of Black lives, in more than 90% of cases, federal charges were added on when an equivalent state or local law could have applied. This tactic was purposely used to ensure harsher sentencing, and Black defendants generally faced more severe charges when compared with white defendants.

The transgressions and injustices proven in this report are enraging, but this report also reveals one of the federal government’s primary tools to insert themselves and maintain control: the Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTFs). The JTTFs mark a partnership between the FBI and local, municipal, state, and/or other federal law-enforcement agencies around the country, and many of them have been ordered to focus their attention on the nationwide movement to defend Black lives. The FBI and the JTTFs it leads throughout the country are known for their intimidation tactics, targeting organizers to sow fear and distrust within important movement work.

Join us in calling for the end of these task forces used to target Black organizers.

During the 2020 uprisings, JTTFs were mobilized by then–Attorney General Barr to help stop “domestic terrorism,” a term historically used to frame Black and brown organizers as enemies of the state. This was just one example of the federal government spreading anti-BLM propaganda and casting protestors as “violent radicals” in order to seize power in local communities and charge protestors with inflated federal indictments that carry significantly harsher penalties than local charges under state law.

As we commemorate Black August, sign this petition for the abolition of the nationwide network of JTTFs, a tool of the federal government that has been used to try and silence those who protest in defense of Black lives.

In solidarity,
Movement for Black Lives

***

You Might Also Like These From The Good Men Project

Compliments Men Want to Hear More Often

Relationships Aren’t Easy, But They’re Worth It

The One Thing Men Want More Than Sex

..A Man’s Kiss Tells You Everything