The Police Have Been Spying on Black Reporters and Activists for Years. I Know Because I'm One of

[JonLP24]

The Police Have Been Spying on Black Reporters and Activists for Years. I Know Because I’m One of Them.

Wendi C. Thomas is a black journalist who has covered police in Memphis. One officer admitted to spying on her. She’s on a long list of prominent black journalists and activists who have been subjected to police surveillance over decades.

by Wendi C. Thomas, MLK50: Justice Through Journalism June 9, 6 a.m. EDT

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — On Aug. 20, 2018, the first day of a federal police surveillance trial, I discovered that the Memphis Police Department was spying on me.

The ACLU of Tennessee had sued the MPD, alleging that the department was in violation of a 1978 consent decree barring surveillance of residents for political purposes.

(Snip)

One of the first witnesses called to the stand: Sgt. Timothy Reynolds, who is white. To get intel on activists and organizers, including those in the Black Lives Matter movement, he’d posed on Facebook as a “man of color,” befriending people and trying to infiltrate closed circles.

https://www.propublica.org/article/the-police-have-been-spying-on-black-reporters-and-activists-for-years-i-know-because-im-one-of-them/amp?__twitter_impression=true

[Captain Zero]

1. Remember the story from California in 2003??

As I recall a group of anti- war elders, mostly grandma's were meeting weekly to plan peaceful protesting, bake cookies for the troops, etc. One week a nice young man joined in with them and came to their meetings for several weeks. Then one of the members read a local paper article about a police officer killed in motorcycle crash, like on his own bike. It was the guy who had started coming to the meetings. He was assigned on under cover details the article said. Nice huh? Your tax dollars at work. Spy on grandma's baking circle. But, over the years since Vietnam I've made a little hobby of spotting them at demonstrations. Is there a guy there with no sign? Hangs out near you as the speakers talk, maybe even acknowledges you and you speak to each other? Well if you try to engage that person a little more and they seem to make a move away from you? It's him. Also I've joked this year when you see a group of left demonstrators and one person doesn't have a Covids mask? Him.

[ck4829]

2. Kick