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Abstract
In August 2017, the Federal Bureau of Investigations ("FBI") released an intelligence assessment asserting the resurgence of a domestic terror threat to law enforcement: Black Identity Extremist ("BIE") ideology. According to the assessment, BIE is rooted in perceptions of alleged police brutality amongst the African American community. The FBI alleges the shooting of an unarmed African American teenager, Michael Brown, in 2014 precipitated the rise of BIE ideology. The assessment's conclusion criminalizes dissent of law enforcement within the African American community and makes movements such as Black Lives Matter vulnerable to FBI encroachment of civil rights. This note examines how the BIE assessment and prosecution of Christopher Daniels, commonly referred to as the first BIE activist to be prosecuted, reflects the resurgence of the FBI's history of illicitly monitoring African American activists, through tactics such as the notorious COINTELPRO program of the 1960s.
Introduction
Nine days before a White Supremacist killed a counterprotester at a rally opposing the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, the FBI published an assessment warning of "Black Identity Extremists" as an emerging domestic terror threat to law enforcement.2 The assessment concluded the August 2014 shooting of an unarmed Black3 teenager, Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Missouri was a catalyst for anger and discontent amongst the African American community towards law enforcement, along with other instances of "alleged" or perceived police brutality against African Americans.4 However, 223 African Americans were shot and killed by police in 2017, which accounts for 23% of all fatal shootings, despite the fact that African Americans account for only 13.3% of the general population.5 Furthermore, 46 police officers were "feloniously" killed in the line of duty in 2017, which was a decrease from the 66 who were feloniously killed in the previous year.6 The FBI's blatant disregard of such data, coupled with the assessment's conclusion that individuals with "extreme Black identities" possess a propensity for violence towards law enforcement, is reminiscent of historical FBI programs such as the Counter Intelligence Program, or "COINTELPRO." COINTELPRO was a series of covert intelligence operations conducted by the FBI from 1956-1971, with the purpose of eradicating all progressive political activity in American society.8 While COINTELPRO initially targeted "subversives" such as communists, such programs were overwhelmingly...