In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, Black Identity Extremists was a designation used by the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

(FBI) from August 2017 to July 2019. It first appeared in a

counterterrorism Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that Government, governments, law enforcement, business, and Intelligence agency, intellig ...

report dated August 3, 2017 sent to thousands of American police departments and described safety concerns about allegedly violent

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

activists. The term was discontinued when the FBI merged several classifications under the umbrella term of “racially motivated violent extremism”.

Definition

According to documents obtained by ''

The Young Turks ''The Young Turks'' (TYT) is an American progressive news commentary show on YouTube that additionally appears on selected television channels. TYT serves as the flagship program of the TYT Network, a multi-channel network of associated web se ...

'' a 2018-19 "Threat Guidance" defined Black Identity Extremists as people who "use force or violence in violation of criminal law in response to perceived racism and injustice in society". The FBI files also claim that one of the motives was "establishing a separate black homeland or autonomous black social institutions, communities or governing organizations within the USA."

Reactions

The term first received media attention in October 2017 when ''

Foreign Policy A State (polity), state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterall ...

'' published a leaked copy of the report in October 2017. According to ''Foreign Policy'', the report is the first reference to "black identity extremists", while also noting the report claims " e FBI assesses it is very likely Black Identity Extremist perceptions of police brutality against African Americans spurred an increase in premeditated, retaliatory lethal violence against law enforcement and will very likely serve as justification for such violence". However, former government officials and legal experts claimed the term described a movement that did not exist. Civil liberties organizations and political commentators expressed concern that the internal use of this designation by the FBI's counter-terrorism unit signals a politically-motivated effort to label black activism, such as the

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police bruta ...

movement, as equivalent to

white supremacists White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White su ...

. In November 2017, the

National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives The National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) is a membership group of primarily black law enforcement CEOs and command level officials in local, state, county, and federal government. Headquartered in Washington, DC, it h ...

, the nation's largest black police group, stated that the FBI designation was "ill advised." In December 2017,

Rakem Balogun Rakem Balogun, whose legal name is Christopher Daniels, is an American activist, best known for his involvement in a Facebook-related incident that occurred on December 12, 2017, which became headline news in the United States. Background Balog ...

was arrested after he was designated as a "Black Identity Extremist". However, by May 2018 all charges against him had been dropped. In March 2018, the term was discussed during a sitting of the

Congressional Black Caucus The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) is a caucus made up of most African-American members of the United States Congress. Representative Karen Bass from California chaired the caucus from 2019 to 2021; she was succeeded by Representative Joyce ...

. According to the

ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

, documents leaked by ''

'' show that a program called IRON FIST continued to investigate Black activists, even though the label "Black Identity Extremist" was no longer used. The label was retired after objections that it inappropriately assigned a group or organizational identity without sufficient evidence to show that such a group actually existed. It has not dismantled other surveillance programs like IRON FIST, leading to criticism that the Federal government has neglected the threat posed by white supremacists to focus on targeting Black people.

References

{{reflist American political neologisms 2010s neologisms Federal Bureau of Investigation controversies

Definition

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See also

References