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Violence is a disease. You dont cure it by spreading the illness to more people. Game of Thrones via Gecko Fly

Kujichagulia: Self-determination that lifes unfortunate events or circumstances will not take control of ones life; of ones family, or child, or neighborhood. Dr. Bravada Garrett Akinsanya, founder and CEO of the African American Child Wellness Institute (AACWI) and co-host of Conversations with Al McFarlane Friday Healing Circle would attest there are certain things within our control and power. Speaking that power into existence is the key. Its called social wellness.

We can choose to use our hands to hug, or we will decide to harm. Eventually, some will learn they cannot dehumanize someone without losing part of who they are and a portion of their Divine appointment as a human being. I just want those holding guns to stand in a mirror and keep telling themselves, I affirm my right to be. My life does matter, said Akinsanya.

Lisa Clemons wore a police officers badge for 13 years until she began the critical work of her non-profit organization, A Mothers Love. She emerged from the chaos of post George Floyd murder resulting in civil unrest around the country and around the world, as a prominent critic of a left-wing philosophy towards the police department. She heard shouts of disband, defund, and she declared reform!

Violence experienced at the hands of law enforcement cannot be condoned, but all police dont have that brutality-type reputation. Cops are human, too, but they are and should be held to a higher standard, Clemons said. We also recognize that 70% of African American households are headed by women and they needed support in holding their families together. Weve stayed the course with many mothers and their children over the years.

Spike Moss is often referred to as the General and rightfully so. By the time the 40 plus year freedom fighter and civil and human rights activist had finished his truth discourse, I was temporarily stunned. The information was jarring and I sat there wanting people to hear him; to get the truth that was peeling off; and to want to do something about this deadly atrocity.

We deserve to be whole; we deserve to be free; and our children need to laugh and learn and feel love once more.

If the young people who formed Black Lives Matter had paid attention to what has been going on in the urban communities all over the country, they would have never used that catch phrase, Moss said. They might have replaced it with the words co-conspirators of their own demise, as James Baldwin once wrote of black people. Theres been few villages or visions in 20 years, and with the staggering statistics of gun violence, obviously Black lives havent mattered in quite some time. I went to my first gang conference in 1968 in St. Louis. It was sponsored by the Vice Lords out of Chicago. Believe me when I say, things have not changed.

Moss continued by validating his declaration with raw facts. The Ku Klux Klan has been in business for 173 years. We have now killed more black people than the Klan has in 173 years. The Viet Nam War went on for 5 years and we were 7% of the front line. We have now killed and wounded more Blacks than in the Viet Nam War. To date, over 200 have been shot in the Twin Cities not including the ones who were murdered. At the end of last year, the total figure was approximately 1,000 victimized in Minneapolis and St. Paul combined, Moss said. Do Black Lives Really Matter?

On one of his frequent prison visits around the country, Moss found himself in New Jersey visiting four prisons a day for a week. In addressing young men mostly of color, he realized these boys might be 50 or 60 years old when they would have a chance for freedom.

Im not upset about how many of you are here; how many years you were sentenced for your crime; or how young you are. Im upset because you are here for doing something to someone who looks just like you, Moss said he told the imprisoned men. It reflects self-hatred.

But theres no time for excuses, for them or for us. We have to teach and provide resources and places to heal, Moss said.

Telling the story of how we arrived at a place where there are constant sounds of popping bullets and mothers cries when learning thier babies lives have been taken by stray bullets, Moss highlighted 1998 when then President Ronald Regan went on television and announced, If you can go to the rest room yourself and you can feed yourself, we shall no longer take care of you in mental institutions.

They emptied facilities and many very ill people found themselves living under bridges and on the highways and byways. These individuals got even sicker, Moss said.

Another white man got on television and warned that in 30 years children would suffer from a new drug called crack cocaine. It would stifle learning, anger control, and create extreme anxiety. The children wouldnt be able to sit still. At the end of 2020, it was reported that 1 in every 5 Americans are mentally ill. If one looks at an African American study, it will probably show every two or three in five. Then we poison these mentally ill people with dangerous drugs while making sure they have a loaded weapon that empties in seconds at their disposal to end of someone elses life. And added to all that, let me sadly report that African Americans have the largest population of dysfunctional parents. They have the largest population of single mothers trying to figure out how to handle this life when theyve never been taught to be women or mothers. We only comprise 14% of the countrys population. Whos taking care of the children?

Moss said If there is a father figure in the home, theres a chance he could be dysfunctional, chemically dependent, or on alcohol. Often, theres no mother figure either. And if shes there, shes probably dysfunctional, too, living on chemical drug fixes every day, or on the street looking for a man. What kind of modeling are her children getting? They tell their five-year-olds not to get punked when they go to school. To get the person back. Revenge. The child grows up getting revenge in the streets and walks away from school at 13. Theres been no guidance. And most of those holding a gun they dont know how to use, havent had a hug in years.

We were fortunate as young people to have had a man by the name of Mahmoud El-Kati, Moss boasts proudly and with admiration and respect. He taught us the importance of being African American and being proud people; that we were not the N-word they told us and everyone else we were. We were not to disrespect our women, calling them bitches and hoes or sing rap songs with degrading, demoralizing lyrics while our babies sit in the back seat. We were to call them Queens, Moss said.

Pensive, Moss said he was tired of being mad, and yes, sometimes it took courage. He said, We need a legion of healers. Its what the famed educator Jaime Escalante did with a group of broken souls in East L.A. turning them around, making them believe in themselves, showing them they were loved.

You know, Dr. B., Moss concluded. I hate to say it, but unless we re-evaluate our current crises with urgency, answers, and resources, the only way this will all end is that we will kill off each other.

Part 2 of the Healing Circle interview with Spike Moss, Tenanye Heard, Dr. Oliver Williams, Dr. B., Lillie Rankin, and Al McFarlane offer solution recommendations.

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If 'Black Lives Matter', why are we killing each other? - Insight News

America has spent years fighting communism outside its borders, but now a Marxist threat is growing from within the country, Heritage Foundation senior fellow Mike Gonzalez says.

Gonzalez, author of BLM: The Making of a New Marxist Revolution, says the Black Lives Matter organization has encouraged Americans, especially young people, to embrace communist ideology.

In 2020, there were 633 riots according to the U.S. Crisis Monitor run out of Princeton [University], and 95% of those riots in which we know the identity of the perpetrator Black Lives Matter members were included, Gonzalez says.

Through his book, Gonzalez hopes to open peoples eyes to the true nature of Black Lives Matter.

Gonzalez joins The Daily Signal Podcast to discuss the book and why hes standing against the communist influences in our culture today.

Also on todays show, we read your letters to the editor and share a good news story about a New Jersey community that is going above and beyond to make sure all returning military personnel receive the welcome and thank you they deserve.

Listen to the podcast below or read the lightly edited transcript.

Virginia Allen: I am so pleased to be joined by Heritage Foundation senior fellow Mike Gonzalez. Mike is the author of the brand new book BLM: The Making of a New Marxist Revolution. Mike, the book is out today, congratulations.

Mike Gonzalez: Thank you, Virginia. Yes, Im very happy.

Allen: You really didnt mince words with the title of this book: BLM: The Making of a New Marxist Revolution. Thats pretty straightforward. But I do want to begin with defining some terms. What exactly do you mean by new Marxist revolution?

Gonzalez: When we talk about Marxists, were talking about communists. They have tried to take over America for many decades, for many centuries, really. They have always seen America as a rich country, the world leader, at least since World War I. They want to see us as a top target, but they failed miserably.

In all the years as a Soviet Union, they tried to infiltrate us or tried to influence Americans and they failed. This time through Black Lives Matterand I can get into whyMarxism and Marxist communists have come very close, the closest theyve ever come, to changing our way of life and that is what is happening right now.

Allen: I found it really fascinating that as youre going through the book, youre explaining that very thing, this changing culture and how the Black Lives Matter organization has an agenda. You actually started the book by talking about Frederick Douglass. That fascinated me. Why did you feel the need to give that historical perspective and talk about a figure like Frederick Douglass before diving into this larger conversation about Black Lives Matter?

Gonzalez: Yeah, Chapter 1 starts with Frederick Douglass, the introduction obviously starts with Jan. 6. I explain my understanding of Jan. 6, but I start the book proper on Frederick Douglass because Frederick Douglass really is the best known abolitionist in U.S. history. He was a man of noble character. He was a man of courage. I started with his fight with a sadistic master to whom he had been loaned and how he said he became a man by beating this man who owned them on loan.

I started with him because throughout his life, he was anti-socialist. I describe in the book a meeting in which he spoke and there was a socialist. One of the quirky, weird, odd things about communists and socialists, by the way, [Karl] Marx and [Friedrich] Engels never established a difference between socialism and communism, but they used the terms interchangeably. The socialist speaking with Frederick Douglass really was not putting an emphasis on the abolition of slavery. He was putting an emphasis on the abolition of wage labor.

Communists believed that wage laborin other words, what we all dois a continuation of slavery, which is crazy, just as communism is crazy. Frederick Douglass could not stand that this man was saying these things.

To Frederick Douglass, abolition was about one thing: It was about ending slavery, ending this blight upon our country. To communists, abolition is a completely separate thing. They want to abolish the family, the state, and all the institutions. In 1848, when this meeting takes place, Frederick Douglass understood that what we needed to abolish was slavery.

Allen: Yeah. That historical context is so critical for this broader conversation. I loved in the introduction, you really clearly lay out the mission for the book. You say, This book exists to fill the void in public awareness. You go on to say, If journalists will not report on the real nature of the Black Lives Matter organizations and their leaders and if the federal government cannot gather information on First Amendment-protected activities, this book will attempt to correct the record and analyze all the aspects of what transpired in 2020, as well as the historical forces that led up to those events.

So what then is that real nature of the Black Lives Matter organization and their leaders?

Gonzalez: First of all, I want to make it very clear that I agree with demand on the federal government not being able to collect information on First Amendment-protected activities. Im saddened by the fact that journalists did not vet, in fact, refuse to vet and did not cover the Black Lives Matter movement.

They covered for them. They de-emphasize or deny the Marxism of their foundersPatrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi, and also Melina Abdullaheven though they themselves are quite open about it and make videos saying, Yeah, Im a Marxist and Ive being trained as a Marxist.

They say this all the time and journalists, when they report on itwhich is very, very seldomthey say, I think I quote a PolitiFact fact check, in which he said, Well, Marxism these days, its really considering life through an economic lens.

No, it isnt. Marxism is what it is, what it says it is. Its communism. It is getting rid of the market economy, getting rid of capitalism, which Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi, and Patrisse Cullors say they want to do. They want to get rid of free markets. They want to get rid of our ability to own property and sell that property or sell our labor for a wage. They dont even like our system of representative democracy.

Opal Tometi has been very praiseful of the Chavismo in Venezuela. She was photographed with Nicolas Maduro. She believes in this type of direct democracy, which is not a democracy at all. Its just a dictatorship of one party.

So this is what they want to do. They want to abolish the family. In fact, the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation had it on their website that they wanted to really make deep changes to the family system.

I wrote about it with my colleague, Andrew Olivastro, in a piece that was read by over a million people. Within a month, they did what all Stalinists do: They airbrushed that out of their website. All of a sudden that was gone, except that it is in other parts of the literature. They cannot hide this. They want to abolish the American way of life. This is what theyre about.

They hide themselves behind a very good slogan: Black lives matter. Who could be against that? If you dont think that black lives matter, I dont even want to talk to you. They hide themselves. If they call themselves Red Ideas Matter, it would be much more representative of who they are, but of course, like all communists, they hide themselves behind these noble sentiments, like black lives matter.

Allen: Thats really helpful context, Mike. I know you talk about the fact that, for so long, and during the Cold War, America was fighting the Soviet Union and we were fighting communism from afar, but now what we see is that were fighting it within our own borders, were fighting it from within.

Talk a little bit about how the organization Black Lives Matter is responsible. Are they responsible? Should we blame them for what we see now in this new interest that we see young people having in socialism and in new fascination with communism? Is Black Lives Matter really to blame for that?

Gonzalez: Yeah, let me put it together. First of all, its a really sad irony that as we celebrate this year, the 30th anniversary of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, that were seeing communist ideas gain such currency in our system.

We spent all these resources, all this time and energy and lives fighting socialism, fighting communism, fighting what [former President Ronald] Reagan called the evil empire, the Soviet Union, which was finally dissolved on Christmas Day 1991. The significance of the day is underlining the noble and moral character of our crusade against communism.

It is because of what happened in 2020, the year of turmoil and the riots. There were 633 riots, by the way, at least according to the U.S. Crisis Monitor run out of Princeton. And 95% of those riots in which we know the identity of the perpetrator, Black Lives Matter members were included.

It is because of this that critical race theory all of a sudden jumps the university walls and enters K-12 in full force. Were seeing as a result of last year, our classrooms completely change and teachers. It was happening before, but it really enters into full force.

We see also critical race theory entering the military, the houses of worship. And corporate America has completely surrendered to this ideology. Sports and every aspect of our lives is because of this. It is because of what happened last year.

The manipulation of the tragedy of George Floyds death, which is a tragedy, the manipulation of this into making people believe the leaders of all our key institutions that we are systemically racist and that our criminal justice system is systemically racistthey threw in the towel and accepted all of this.

And were telling our soldiers to read critical race theory texts, which say that the Constitution is illegitimate. These are people who volunteered to defend the Constitution from enemies, foreign and domestic, and yet, were telling them to read Kendi and all these other writers, Ibram X. Kendi, who say the Constitution is an illegitimate document.

This is happening because of the year of unrest that we had the riots and demonstrations, the upheaval, that people want to forget. Nobody wants to talk about it, but we cannot forget what we had after May 2020 for many, many, many months. Ive written the book just to shine a light on this and say, We cannot give in.

In fact, youve seen resistance from the American people. Ive crossed the country and speak to groups from coast to coast and I get hundreds of people, Im not that electrifying a speaker, and people turn out because they demand information about critical race theory. They want to know whats going on. They want to have it explained to them.

The resistance is now coming from the grassroots. The American people are standing up and saying, No, I dont want these things taught to my children. I dont want to be trained and go through these reeducation camps at my place of work. This is a form of workplace harassment, so theyre fighting against what Verizon is trying to do, what American Express is trying to do, and even The Salvation Army has these training programs.

Allen: Well, Mike, I really appreciate the research that you have done on critical race theory. You really are the expert at Heritage on that subject. I encourage all of our listeners, if you want to read Mikes pieces on this, you can check him out on The Heritage Foundation website.

Mike, you mentioned the riots last year that obviously took the nation by storm and really changed so much in our country. I was fascinated that in the book, you mentioned how Antifa in some ways became a distraction from Black Lives Matter. I was really, really interested in that point. Talk a little bit about that.

Gonzalez: I say that in a way to castigate politicians. Politicians from both parties are not courageous or as courageous as they should be. They dont want to talk about Black Lives Matter because black lives matter, because of the slogan. They are very shy to talk about these organizations, which are distinct from the concept.

Antifa, which is a much more white phenomenon, these are anarchists. Theyre violent anarchists. As I see it, they dont have a thought-out academic discipline, like Black Lives Matter has critical race theory behind it. Theyre all practitioners of critical race theory. Antifa doesnt have that. Antifa is anarchism and its just pure violence, almost for the sake of violence. I think they have goals like overthrowing the state, but they dont have a well-thought-out program.

Black Lives Matter has bills in Congress. Black Lives Matter has a curriculum that is being taught in many of our childrens schools already. Black Lives Matter has a foreign policy. They came out and supported the communist government of Cuba. As the communist government was rounding up protesters, beating them up, and putting them into prison through kangaroo trials, BLM came out and supported them. BLM came out in support against Israel as Israel was fighting the terrorist group Hamas earlier this year.

So Black Lives Matter has a foreign policy and it has a gazillion dollars. They raised $10 millionwell, no, sorry, they raised $100 million last year. It has all these assets that Antifa does not have.

Allen: You mentioned the money and you have a whole chapter in the book specifically titled Following the Money, what did you discover as you looked at the money coming into and out of the Black Lives Matter organization?

Gonzalez: There are all these corporations that have gone woke. There are many reasons being given why.

Vivek Ramaswamy, a colleague, he does a lot of [anti-critical race theory] work, has another book out in which he talks about how this is really easy for the CEOs to go woke. This is costless to them, but were seeing all these foundations raising money.

A lot of times, as I point out in the chapter devoted to this, these foundations have links, longstanding links, to Marxist groups, such as the Sandinistas. One of these groups is a [pro-Peoples Republic of China], pro-Maoism group in San Francisco, the Chinese Progressive Association, which is the financial sponsor of two of the Black Lives Matter affiliates.

The Chinese Progressive Association in San Francisco was founded to support the Peoples Republic of China against mainland China, against Taiwan. It was founded in the 70s for that reason.

Allen: In your writing of this book, in the research that youve done on the Black Lives Matter organization and critical race theory, ultimately, in your assessment, whats the end goal for Black Lives Matter? What are they aiming for? You say that they have public policy, they have bills in Congress. Whats their end-all, be-all?

Gonzalez: Their goal is what Alicia Garza said in 2019, when she was visiting a group of Maine leftists. She said, What we want to do is dismantle the organizing principle of society. She said that, and thats what they want. They want to dismantle the way were organized. They want to dismantle the American system.

They say that were systemically, structurally, institutionally racist, because they want to pull out all the institutions and want to change all the institutions, all the structures in the very system of America. That is their goal and they hide behind this good slogan that black lives do matter in order to pursue the complete overhaul of the United States.

Look, we have problems, problems that we need to solve, obviously, but were still the fairest, most prosperous country in the world where real human flourishing can take place. Thats the reason why people fall from airplanes out of the sky to come to this country, and theres no line of people leaving to get out.

Theres a very, very long line of people coming to get in because they see, they understand that America is the land of hope for the working man and woman of the world, of any race. These are people coming of all races. If we were a racist country, systemically racist country, we wouldnt have so many people of all races wanting to come in here and succeeding here and thank God for that.

Allen: This might be a naive question, but why? Youre saying that they want to fundamentally change America, they want to unravel the traditional structure of the family, of capitalism. Why?

Gonzalez: Well, on the family itself, it was Marx and Engels who put that in The Communist Manifesto of 1848 that they wanted to abolish the family.

I dont think anyone embraces evil qua evil. I think that they do believe that this is an oppressive system. Critical race theorists, just like critical legal theorists, just like critical theorists in the 1930s and 20s, believe that the West has a superstructure that is oppressive. They admit that capitalism produces the goods, but they say thats whats bad about capitalism, because it produces material well-being and that it perpetuates a very oppressive system.

They are crazy, and Im not a psychologist, but you have to believe that Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi, and Melina Abdullah believe that we live in an oppressive society. Obviously, they havent traveled, or they havent traveled extensively outside of the U.S.

I have lived in at least seven countries, at least a year, as a foreign correspondent. I lived in Kabul for a month. And I can tell you that compared to the rest of the world, not only are we not oppressive, but were pretty, pretty good.

Allen: Where do we go from here then and what is really your hope as readers read the book, what do you want them to take from it?

Gonzalez: I want to open peoples eyes. I want to convince people who are either ambivalent about Black Lives Matter or actually believe that this is a noble endeavor and noble organizations, as a concept, of course its noble, but as organizations, no theyre not. And I want to convince people of that.

I also want to stiffen up the resolve of the American people that, no, we shouldnt allow this here. The American people are exceptionally attached to liberty. We have always been. This is something that has been remarked upon by social scientists and foreign visitors for centuriesG. K. Chesterton and before him, Alexis de Tocqueville and Herbert Marcuse, who hated it.

I want the people who already are suspicious of the BLM organizations to stiffen their spine against this and make sure that this does not take hold. I also want to reach out to people who do believe that these are good organizations, who have been misinformed, who have been manipulated into believing that we live in an oppressive system with systemic racism.

Allen: So critical. Well, the book is BLM: The Making of a New Marxist Revolution. You can get it on Amazon. Mike, final words, anything youd like to add before I let you go?

Gonzalez: Yes. As I said, America, I dont want to pretend that we do not have our faults. No system ever is going to be perfect on earth because its dealing with flawed individuals, right? Man is flawed, but this is a good country. I traveled the country, I go everywhere. Americans are good people. We have a good system. So before we think about completely overhauling and pulling out the foundations, we should really think hard: Is this really what we want to do?

Allen: Critical. BLM: The Making of a New Marxist Revolution, get it on Amazon. Mike, thank you so much for being here.

Gonzalez: Thank you, Virginia.

Have an opinion about this article? To sound off, please email[emailprotected]and well consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular We Hear You feature. Remember to include the url or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state.

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Marxist Nature of Black Lives Matter Exposed in New Book - Daily Signal

In 2020, we all watched history being made in streets all across America and the globe as the Black Lives Matter movement brought thousands of people of all ages, races, genders and backgrounds together to stand up for social reform.

What first started as a hashtag in 2013 grew into a movement thats a testament to the power of protests in America and lead author Veronica Chambers along with Jennifer Harlan wanted to break it all down to teach young readers about it in their new book, Call and Response: The Story of Black Lives Matter.

The book uses photographs, quotes and informative text to look at how a moment became a movement over the last eight years starting with looking at how Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi first came together to start Black Lives Matter.

Because this book is for young readers and their parents, teachers, and librarians, Chambers felt it was important to take a step back and look at the activist's early lives.

"It was just interesting to see how these three really disparate girls growing up in different parts of the country kind of come together from like student activism to grown-up activism, and what started as a hashtag became a movement," she says.

Call and Response: The Story of Black Lives Matter

The Black Lives Matter protests hit their peak in the United States on June 6, 2020, when close to half a million people rallied in 550 locations in once day, Chambers explains. As a journalist, this moment had her asking, "How did so many people come to this moment where they literally took to the streets around this issue, and a really diverse group?" she notes.

That lead her to a bigger question why do people protest and why does it matter?

"One of the things that I found out in researching the book is that between 1900 and 2016 over 50% of peaceful protests have had significant change in government. It has become the mode of change ... and so I wanted to contextualize for people that this is really like part of a long history in America of peaceful protests coming together to make meaningful change," Chambers explains.

Chambers not only wanted to contextualize this modern movement, but use it as a way to show young readers what protest is, why it matters and how they can use your voice for whatever cause they believe in no matter how old they are.

Call and Response: The Story of Black Lives Matter

From citizen journalism, photojournalism, murals, music, defining and addressing systemic racism to bake sales for Black Lives Matter, Chambers says showing the many ways people can protest was key. "We wanted to create a document that would keep the conversations going, and that's partly why we call the book Call and Response," she says. " ... It's about a conversation, and what we really hope is that the book is a start of some really great conversations for people."

See the original post here:
'Call And Response: The Story Of Black Lives Matter' Aims To Keep The Conversations About The Power Of Protest Going - WUWM

DAYTON There is a new campaign in Dayton that is working to raise vaccination awareness in the local Black community.

According to the non-profit Kaiser Family Foundation less than half of the Black population in 33 states have been vaccinated. The Shot for Life campaign, started by the Black Lives Matter Dayton Organization, hopes to raise the vaccination numbers the Dayton area.

>> Kabul attack: US service member death toll rises to 13 (live updates)

I am frustrated because this is a preventable infection, Dr. Andre Harris, who is partnered with Shot for Life, said.

Dayton-Montgomery County Public Health provided WHIO vaccination rate numbers, which showed that 38 percent of the Black community are fully vaccinated. 48 percent of the White community were fully vaccinated.

Dr. Harris, Chief Medical Officer of Atrium Medical Center, told News Center 7s Michael Gordon that he wanted to use his 20 years of medical experience to support BLM Dayton, raise awareness and fight back against online vaccine disinformation.

>> Business group pushes back on vaccine bill

People are teetering. By getting more information and hearing from physicians it will put them in a place where they can make a solid decision to move forward with vaccination, Dr. Harris said.

While Dr. Harris knows some minds cannot be changed, he said encouraging some to get the shot can make a big difference.

The first Shot for Life event will be next Sunday, Sept. 5, at Mcintosh Park. Vaccinations and testing will be available, as well as a bookbag giveaway.

2021 Cox Media Group

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Dayton Gets Real: Dayton Black Lives Matter start Shot for Life vaccination campaign - WHIO Radio

The aircraft watched protests in Washington, DC, in June last year and also flew over Baltimore in 2015 after Freddie Grays death.

Last updated on August 26, 2021, at 12:07 p.m. ET

Posted on August 24, 2021, at 1:08 p.m. ET

The FBI's Cessna Citation jet

An advanced FBI spy plane that was used to watch Black Lives Matter protests in Washington, DC, last year is now up for sale.

A listing for the Cessna Citation jet has appeared on a website run by the General Services Administration to sell surplus federal government property. The aircraft carries a Wescam MX-20 camera turret, which is designed for high-altitude, persistent surveillance. With infrared sensors, it can monitor targets day and night, and in recent years has been used for some of the FBIs most important surveillance missions.

In June 2020, a BuzzFeed News review of flight tracking data provided by the website Flightradar24 linked the plane to high-profile raids including the capture of gang members on drug and weapons charges in Northern California in 2018, drug trafficking busts in Puerto Rico in 2018 and 2019, and drug, firearms, and money laundering arrests in Alabama in 2019.

And though the FBI says it does not monitor activity protected by the First Amendment, BuzzFeed News also tracked the plane circling Washington, DC, in June 2020 during Black Lives Matter protests after the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. We also found that the plane circled Baltimore in April and May 2015 following the death of Freddie Gray from injuries sustained in police custody.

This reporting was subsequently cited by three Democratic members of Congress in a letter to the federal Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, asking it to investigate federal government surveillance of Black Lives Matter protests.

Flights by the FBI's Cessna Citation jet last year from June 1 to 6

Since 2003, the Cessna Citation aircraft has been registered to the National Aircraft Leasing Corporation, identified as a front for the FBI by Matthew Aid, a former intelligence analyst, in his 2012 book Intel Wars. The address given in its registration with the Federal Aviation Administration is a UPS store in Greenville, Delaware.

Most of the FBIs fleet of more than 120 surveillance aircraft, similarly registered to fictitious companies, are smaller propeller-driven planes that usually fly at altitudes of around 5,000 feet. The Cessna Citation jet is the only aircraft of its type registered to known FBI fronts, and it typically watched its targets from 15,000 feet or more, making it harder to spot from the ground.

The contact given for questions about the sale is Earl McEwen, an FBI special agent who testified in court about using an FBI plane to surveil the 2014 Bundy standoff, an armed encounter between federal agents and supporters of a Nevada rancher who refused to pay fees for grazing his cattle on federal land.

McEwen declined to answer any questions about the aircraft sale from BuzzFeed News.

The FBI declined to answer queries raised by BuzzFeed News, including whether there would be restrictions placed on who they would sell the surveillance aircraft to and whether the jet is being replaced. It is unclear why the agency is now selling the plane.

Although the existence of its fleet of aircraft is well known, the FBI has revealed little information about individual planes and their activities. In 2016, the agency denied a Freedom of Information Act request from BuzzFeed News for flight and evidence logs from 27 of its planes, refusing even to confirm or deny whether the records existed. In September 2018, a federal judge ruled against our attempts to overturn that decision.

At the time of publication, no bids for the aircraft had yet been recorded on GSA Auctions, the website where the plane is listed for sale. The listing indicates that the plane is being sold with the Wescam MX-20, which could complicate the sale because it is deemed a sensitive technology covered by the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, which requires approval from the State Department before it can be exported. It is unclear what other equipment remains on the aircraft, although a photograph of the interior suggests that controls for the camera have been removed from the cabin.

The plane could continue to be used for surveillance. But some prospective buyers may be more interested in converting it into a private jet, currently in hot demand as the COVID pandemic has driven wealthy people away from airlines. Jets of that age and model can retail for $1.2 million, according to Albert Heidinger, president of Raptor Aviation, a company in Port St. Lucie, Florida, that sells aircraft including ex-military planes. But he said it was hard to say what a buyer would offer the FBI for the plane given the high costs of refitting it for use as a private jet.

This market is crazy, so no telling what it will actually bring, Heidinger said.

Aug. 26, 2021, at 16:08 PM

This story has been updated to include that the FBI declined to comment.

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The FBI Is Selling A Surveillance Plane It Used On Black Lives Matter Protests - BuzzFeed News