DoomsdaysCW#BLM protesters were targeted by federal government with stiffer punishments, an analysis shows
By Christina Carrega, CNN
August 20, 2021
"The Justice Department targeted more than 300 #protesters by charging them with federal crimes for their roles during the civil unrest last summer after the murder of #GeorgeFloyd, according to a new report from The #MovementForBlackLives, a coalition of #Black advocacy groups.
"The report found that more than 90% of federal cases against Black Lives Matter protesters could have been charged in state court – and that in 88% of those cases, the federal charges carried more severe penalties than similar state charges.
"'This persecution resulted in hundreds of organizers and #activists facing years in federal prison with no chance of parole,' the report read. It was co-authored by CUNY School of Law’s Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility Clinic.
"The report also contends that federal officials have tried to suppress Black social movements going back decades. For instance, at the direction of former #FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, officials spied on and interrogated leaders associated with the #BlackPanther Party as well as #AngelaDavis, #MartinLutherKingJr and #MalcolmX.
"According to the report, this was done 'in a deliberate bid to infiltrate, penetrate, disorganize, and disrupt the Black movements for rights, power, and freedom, and to preserve the established #WhiteSupremacist order.'
"The report, which focused on the period of nationwide civil unrest sparked by Floyd’s death in May 2020 at the hands of police in #Minneapolis, was released this week. It was first reported by The Associated Press.
"Federal officials filed a litany of charges against racial justice protesters over five months after Floyd’s death, including 105 for arson, 49 for civil disorder, 45 for assault against an officer and 30 felon-in-possession of a weapon cases.
"According to the report, the 'vast majority of charges brought were for non-violent offenses or offenses that were potentially hazardous but were restricted to #property destruction, not violence against people.'"
Read more:
https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/20/politics/blm-protesters-analysis/index.html