We Get Jail Time for Protesting While They Get a Pat on the Back

Fam,

On August 18th, we released Struggle for Power: The Ongoing Persecution of Black Movement by the U.S. Government, in collaboration with the CLEAR clinic, detailing how the federal government targeted supporters of the movement to defend Black lives; this was deliberately done in order to disrupt and discourage the movement. This persecution resulted in hundreds of organizers and activists facing years in federal prison with no chance of parole. In most of these cases, federal charges were tacked on when an equivalent state or local law with less aggressive sentencing could have easily applied.

Throughout history, when Black social movements attract the nation’s or world’s attention, or we fight our way onto the nation’s political agenda as we have today, we’re disparaged and persecuted; cast as villains in the story of American prosperity; and forced to defend ourselves and our communities against police, anti-Black policymakers, and U.S. armed forces.

Sign our petition calling on the Biden Administration and Congress to end this targeting and protect those who protest in defense of Black lives.

This report continues the work of our fore-elders in documenting our struggle for power and the massive resources and time the U.S. federal government spends to destroy our movement for rights, freedom, and power.

The contrast between the treatment of protestors in defense of Black lives and anti-mask protestors by police and the federal government is stark. Protestors for Black lives faced massive military and police presence, stacked charges, and clear targeting to instill fear in the movement. Simultaneously, anti-mask protestors, who were overwhelmingly white, stormed government buildings while armed, with clear aggression and no precautions to keep them from spreading a deadly virus. Those protestors were met with docile, submissive, and even friendly responses from the police and had no military deployed to subdue them.

In the aftermath, they have received few repercussions for their public political protests, instead of enjoying support and compliments from then-President Trump, who called them “very good people.” In the same breath, Trump condemned those who participated in the uprisings following George Floyd’s murder. The Trump administration worked hard to paint these organizers and activists as “anarchists and far-left extremists” while painting the U.S. government as the heroes for fighting to subdue us.

The federal government has remained committed to undercutting radical organizers for racial justice and Black power whose insistence on exercising their inherent rights threatens white Americans’ political and social dominance. Each of these transgressions is a direct response from the U.S. government to the perceived threat of Black power.

For a comprehensive framework for a society that values Black lives, repairs past harms, and invests in Black communities, check out the Movement for Black Lives’ Vision for Black Lives policy platform.

In solidarity,
Movement for Black Lives

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