Last month, we delivered 108,034 of YOUR petition signatures demanding Congress #ProtectBlackDissent. 

In our NEW video, our Campaigns Strategies Director Myaisha Hayes explains why the time is now to #ProtectBlackDissent, but also why our demand has a long history: 

“Last summer, millions of people took to the streets in defense of Black lives and rose in solidarity against police violence. In response, we saw the police double down on protesters with even more police violence. For those of us familiar with the history of Black protest, this response from the police isn’t so surprising. The FBI has been coordinating with state and local police to surveil and criminalize Black movements, even as recently as the 2014 uprisings in Ferguson, bringing its history of racist attacks on Black liberation movements into the 21st Century.” 
 

During last month's briefing, Representative Rashida Tlaib (D–Michigan) shared that those of us who have experienced white supremacist violence “know that it’s a bigger part of this country than people would like to admit.” Specifically, she was talking about the January 6 assault on the Capitol, and what the riot revealed about how entrenched U. S. law enforcement is in white supremacist violence. “The white nationalists who attacked the Capitol and their forebears have benefitted from the increased state surveillance power at nearly every turn in our history.” 

Our own Myaisha Hayes and Sandy Fulton of Free Press dug into this further in their latest op-ed. They took our demands even further than Congress, drilling down on the responsibility the Biden administration has to make good on their commitment to racial equity by abolishing white supremacy at its roots in our government and all levels of law enforcement: 

"In January, President Joe Biden correctly named white supremacy as the force behind the violent insurrection. But to combat this growing threat, the White House must first confront hate from within law enforcement agencies like the FBI.
In 2017, as fascists, white nationalists, and militias descended on Charlottesville for the Unite the Right Rally, the FBI was busy distributing its racist assessment of so-called “Black Identity Extremists” to law enforcement agencies across the country, warning them of the supposed threat of violence from Black activists.
Radical Black-led organizing for liberation continues to be criminalized and deemed a threat. That’s why white supremacist groups, which have always been violent and have always threatened our safety, were able to storm the Capitol. Without congressional leaders stepping in to use their oversight powers to hold them accountable, the FBI is free to continue undermining our movements."   

Read more of our insights , and watch & share our new campaign video with your communities.

Together, we will #ProtectBlackDissent.

In Solidarity, 
Myaisha Hayes and the rest of Team #MediaJustice

Yesterday we delivered 108,034 of YOUR petition signatures demanding Congress end the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) “Black Identity Extremists” (BIE) designation, and to investigate the FBI and law enforcement’s use of surveillance. And now, in light of what the January 6 insurrection revealed about pervasive law enforcement collusion with white supremacists, we're also demanding investigation into their ties to the far-right. With our partners Free Press Action, the ACLU, and Color of Change, we brought together a panel of activists and experts representing communities targeted by the police and FBI to urge Congress to do more to protect Black communities instead of harm us. 
 

In the coming days, we'll share more comprehensive recaps of the briefing and the fight that led us there. But we really wanted to share this story with you as soon as possible! Here’s a few highlights from yesterday's powerful conversation:

• Our Campaign Strategies Director Myaisha Hayes moderated the panel, and made it clear that “We don’t want equal opportunity surveillance” in the form of knee-jerk reactions to the January 6 white supremacist insurrection. 

• Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D–Michigan) joined us with her commitment to prevent “domestic terrorism” policies that will only cause more harm: “Until we get serious about changing the culture of these [law enforcement] agencies, we can’t expand surveillance—no matter how well intended.”

• Reuben Telushkin of Jewish Voices for Peace explained why “More power to the people with the guns and the tools is not what we want or need.”

• Adjoa Aiyetoro announced that the Black & Brown Activism Defense Collective is organizing a lobby day to keep the pressure on Congress to #ProtectBlackDissent. 

Check out this Twitter thread for more briefing highlights.

Instead of being a Constitutional right, protesting while Black in this country is a cause for targeting. Systemic racism continues to sell us the age-old lie that Black activism is somehow inherently violent, and, thus, is deserving of disproportionate surveillance and force. This lie is further institutionalized by law enforcement and the FBI who designates Black protestors the same level of “threat” as white supremacist groups like the KKK. History tells us this practice is devastating for Black activists, but beyond that, the long-term impact of this practice is largely unknown due to a lack of transparency from the FBI and investigatory inaction from Congress–despite our repeated demands. 

This ongoing practice of creating a false equivalency between Black protestors and violent white supremacist groups is a stunning snapshot of racist policing in the U.S.

Time and time again we have seen Congress and those in power use an event like January 6th as an excuse to increase the reach and power of surveillance in the name of safety. But we know that in practice, this actually means increasing surveillance for Black and brown communities who are already overpoliced and spied on. The time is NOW to #ProtectBlackDissent.  

In Solidarity, 
Myaisha Hayes and the rest of Team #MediaJustice