FBI probed civil rights group as terrorist threat and KKK as victims

[Mrs. Overall]

Source: The Hill

The FBI reportedly ran a surveillance operation on a civil rights group in California as part of a “domestic terrorism” investigation that labelled the activists as “extremists” and considered members of the Klu Klux Klan to be victims after protests against neo-Nazis at a rally in 2016.

According to documents obtained by The Guardian, the FBI began spying on By Any Means Necessary (BAMN), after a member of the civil-rights group was stabbed at the white supremacist rally in June 2016 in Sacramento.

A 46-page FBI report on the group, which was later obtained through a records request by the government transparency nonprofit organization Property of the People, showed that the agency investigated BAMN for “conspiracy” against the rights of the KKK and white supremacists at the rally.

The agency also stated in the report, which the Guardian noted was heavily redacted, that “the KKK consisted of members that some perceived to be supportive of a white supremacist agenda” and cited BAMN’s past advocacy issues, which included efforts against “police brutality,” as evidence in the terrorism probe.

Read more: https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/428013-fbi-probed-civil-rights-group-as-terrorism-threat-and-kkk-as

[ck4829]

1. Didn't realize there was a right to set the ground for "racial holy war"

[Basement Beat]

2. Good ol' America.

Every institution here is built on and still thoroughly embedded off of racist hate towards people who aren't descendants of Europeans.
It must feel nice to not feel like an "enemy" within the country you're born in.

[Nitram]

3. WTF?

[bitterross]

4. Seems perfectly appropriate to me.

The FBI should investigate groups of all stripes if they have a concern there is an extremest part of the group that might become a danger to the US. "Liberal," "progressive" groups are not immune to this.

Yes, they'd be better off looking at the RWNJ's statistically speaking. However, if there was an event or complaint that caused the investigation they did their job.

[srobertss]

6. I haven't followed the link above but

The Guardians coverage includes this:

“The FBI launched its terrorism investigation and surveillance of Bamn after white supremacists armed with knives faced off with hundreds of counter-protesters, including Bamn activists, at a June 2016 neo-Nazi rally in Sacramento. Although numerous neo-Nazis were suspected of stabbing at least seven anti-fascists in the melee, leaving some with life-threatening injuries, the FBI chose to launch a inquiry into the activities of the leftwing protesters.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/feb/01/sacramento-rally-fbi-kkk-domestic-terrorism-california

From the article, it’s not clear to me how coordinated this approach was with the Sacramento police, but one of the left wing protestors who was stabbed and bludgeoned by the neoNazis was arrested and charged by police with assault and rioting. None of the right wingers were charged with anything, that’s despite the fact that “neo-Nazis were seen on camera holding knives and fighting with counter-protesters (who suffered severe stab wounds).”

Neither the police or the FBI has investigated these right wing groups.

I wish I could remember the source of the reporting about a law enforcement official in Florida, I think, who felt frustrated at the lack of national information on right wing groups when he was dealing with a crime committed by one of these groups. There was a report produced by the DOJ under Obama, but Republicans were so offended, they trashed the report and took no further steps.

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. You don't have to run a surveillance operation just because there was a complaint

"Doing their job" means looking at what happened on the day. It was a member of Bamn who was stabbed. That is not indicative of "a danger to the US". Neither is 'advocacy against “rape and sexual assault” and “police brutality”'.

[Eugene]

8. From the OP article, BAMN was labeled extremist for complaining about police brutality and

what is generally considered disorderly conduct (failure to disperse, trespassing, disruptive noise making, etc.)

Does it need to be pointed out that while law enforcement obsesses with "the left," it has a blind spot for the far right. Even the FBI has a long history in that regard.

[mpcamb]

5. I'm sure they would rather chase unarmed protesters than gun toting white supremacists.

[Progressive Jones]

9. I will never, ever defend the rights or lives of white supremacists. That's not my job. nt