Dear FBI:
A couple of years ago your government agency came up with a category of people that you claimed were a huge threat to this country and thus needed to be constantly under surveillance and have punitive actions taken against them.Â
Y’all said people and organizations with any sort of affiliation to this group were subjected to be monitored. The group of people you classified were Black Identity Extremists.Â
Now, it was never made clear as to what made one a BIE. Was it wearing red, black, and green clothing? Was it studying the words of Malcolm, Marcus or Fannie Lou? Was it being supportive of Black Lives Matter? Was it listening to rap groups like dead prez, Public Enemy or Sa Roc? What made someone a BIE?
When this BIE category was introduced, hate crimes directed at Black people and other people of color were flourishing. This was on top of the constant acts of police violence and terror many were experiencing. Many raised the question: Does the Justice Department have a category for White Identity Extremist? To my knowledge the answer at that time was no.
Fast forward to Aug 2019. In the past week we’ve seen three mass shootings in Gilroy, El Paso, and Dayton, all done by white men who expressed hatred and disdain for Black and Brown folks and race mixing.
Where does the FBI stand on that question of BIE and WIE? Are you guys putting tons of resources toward eradicating the groups these hateful people belong to? How are you guys handling the people who uphold the ideology of white supremacy and white nationalism?
Are you guys monitoring police departments and making sure we don’t have WIE patrolling our streets? Are there any of these people in your own ranks?
PS: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Congresswoman Barbara LeeCongressional Black Caucus Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib — are y’all able to craft some sort of legislation to address this issue?