Black activist jailed for his Facebook posts

Diablo

Muse
Diablo
Joined
Mar 28, 2018
Messages
707
I found this story in the Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/11/rakem-balogun-interview-black-identity-extremists-fbi-surveillance

Excerpts:

Rakem Balogun spoke out against police brutality. Now he is believed to be the first prosecuted under a secretive US effort to track so-called ‘black identity extremists’

Rakem Balogun thought he was dreaming when armed agents in tactical gear stormed his apartment. Startled awake by a large crash and officers screaming commands, he soon realized his nightmare was real, and he and his 15-year-old son were forced outside of their Dallas home, wearing only underwear.

Handcuffed and shaking in the cold wind, Balogun thought a misunderstanding must have led the FBI to his door on 12 December 2017. The father of three said he was shocked to later learn that agents investigating “domestic terrorism” had been monitoring him for years and were arresting him that day in part because of his Facebook posts criticizing police.

“It’s tyranny at its finest,” said Balogun, 34. “I have not been doing anything illegal for them to have surveillance on me. I have not hurt anyone or threatened anyone.”


This is quite extraordinary, and more akin to repressive regimes than the USA. What do others here think?
 
You missed this quote.

The agent also mentioned Balogun’s Facebook posts calling a murder suspect in a police officer’s death a “hero” and expressing “solidarity” with the man who killed officers in Texas when he posted: “They deserve what they got.”
Click to expand...

It seems on the face of it that he is an agitator and can't hope to express opinions like this and have videos about weapons training under the banner of Guerilla Mainframe and not attract some unwelcome attention.

I note he espouses that...

“Violence is the method of our oppressor, our method is hard work, love and unity.”

Despite his writings and videos having a slightly more aggressive (to me) feel to them.
 
Still, he has 1st Amendment rights. Are they banging on the doors of white supremacists and taking them down for similar "agitation?" Maybe there's a lot more to this story that hasn't been reported . . . need to find out more . . . but on the face of it, this is some troubling ****.
 
Balogun spoke to the Guardian this week in his first interview since he was released from prison after five months locked up and denied bail while US attorneys tried and failed to prosecute him, accusing him of being a threat to law enforcement and an illegal gun owner.
Click to expand...

Is it the Trump administration that directed this kind of thing or has rump simply created the atmosphere for this kind of thing to go on?

Clearly he made no direct threats or they might have had a case. So he was jailed for saying (some/all?) police deserved to be killed. I wonder what the police had to say about it?


Edited to say, think I'll leave my typo.
 
"Investigators began monitoring Balogun, whose legal name is Christopher Daniels, after he participated in an Austin, Texas, rally in March 2015 protesting against law enforcement, special agent Aaron Keighley testified in court.

The FBI, Keighley said, learned of the protest from a video on Infowars, a far-right site run by the commentator Alex Jones, known for spreading false news and conspiracy theories."

...

"In a leaked August 2017 report from the FBI’s Domestic Terrorism Analysis Unit, officials claimed that there had been a “resurgence in ideologically motivated, violent criminal activity” stemming from African Americans’ “perceptions of police brutality”."

I'm speechless this is going on in America.
 
Fudbucker said:
"Investigators began monitoring Balogun, whose legal name is Christopher Daniels, after he participated in an Austin, Texas, rally in March 2015 protesting against law enforcement, special agent Aaron Keighley testified in court.

The FBI, Keighley said, learned of the protest from a video on Infowars, a far-right site run by the commentator Alex Jones, known for spreading false news and conspiracy theories."

...

"In a leaked August 2017 report from the FBI’s Domestic Terrorism Analysis Unit, officials claimed that there had been a “resurgence in ideologically motivated, violent criminal activity” stemming from African Americans’ “perceptions of police brutality”."

I'm speechless this is going on in America.
Click to expand...

"Home of the free"!!! Unless you say something the government does not like. And there are many US citizens who agree with this type of police activity, all the while maintain that they support "free speech".
 
bluesjnr said:
You missed this quote.



It seems on the face of it that he is an agitator and can't hope to express opinions like this and have videos about weapons training under the banner of Guerilla Mainframe and not attract some unwelcome attention.

I note he espouses that...

“Violence is the method of our oppressor, our method is hard work, love and unity.”

Despite his writings and videos having a slightly more aggressive (to me) feel to them.
Click to expand...

Without knowing more of what he wrote, I have to say this seems like a clear-cut violation of his 1st Amendment rights. Posting that the police officers in Dallas "deserved what they got", and praising their shooter, makes him a dick, not a criminal....
 
Skeptic Ginger said:
Is it the Trump administration that directed this kind of thing or has rump simply created the atmosphere for this kind of thing to go on?

Clearly he made no direct threats or they might have had a case. So he was jailed for saying (some/all?) police deserved to be killed. I wonder what the police had to say about it?


Edited to say, think I'll leave my typo.
Click to expand...

It's the Dallas PD. No Trump Needed.
 
Skeptic Ginger said:
Is it the Trump administration that directed this kind of thing or has rump simply created the atmosphere for this kind of thing to go on?

Clearly he made no direct threats or they might have had a case. So he was jailed for saying (some/all?) police deserved to be killed. I wonder what the police had to say about it?


Edited to say, think I'll leave my typo.
Click to expand...
Given that the investigation of him started in 2015, I don't think you can pin this on 'rump.
 
xjx388 said:
Given that the investigation of him started in 2015, I don't think you can pin this on 'rump.
Click to expand...

The FBI has a sordid history of keeping tabs on civil rights leaders.

"The report, dated August 2017 and compiled by the Domestic Terrorism Analysis Unit, said: “The FBI assesses it is very likely Black Identity Extremist (BIE) 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.” Incidents of “alleged police abuse” have “continued to feed the resurgence in ideologically motivated, violent criminal activity within the BIE movement”."
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/06/fbi-black-identity-extremists-racial-profiling

THAT has happened under Trump.
 
I could see that the gov ought to prosecute more people for "inciting to riot". And I don't think that law has any exclusions for cell phone use or social media.

But nobody has quoted any cite of what law he supposedly broke.
 
Fudbucker said:
The FBI has a sordid history of keeping tabs on civil rights leaders.

"The report, dated August 2017 and compiled by the Domestic Terrorism Analysis Unit, said: “The FBI assesses it is very likely Black Identity Extremist (BIE) 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.” Incidents of “alleged police abuse” have “continued to feed the resurgence in ideologically motivated, violent criminal activity within the BIE movement”."
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/06/fbi-black-identity-extremists-racial-profiling

THAT has happened under Trump.
Click to expand...
One of the things I've taken away from the various gun and police threads here is that there are no reliable statistics on unlawful homicide, neither of the police nor by the police. So I don't see how the FBI could claim there would be an increase in "premeditated, retaliatory lethal violence against law enforcement", until they start to actually compel all 18,000 PDs around the country to report them and compile those statistics.

The guy was detained for five months, lost his car, his job and his house over charges invented out of whole cloth. I hope he sues them and gets adequate compensation.
 
casebro said:
I could see that the gov ought to prosecute more people for "inciting to riot". And I don't think that law has any exclusions for cell phone use or social media.

But nobody has quoted any cite of what law he supposedly broke.
Click to expand...

To the extent that they could, it would need to be very clear and present danger.

"X specific group of people, let's meet at X specific place and perform X act of violence"

"F the police" just wouldn't cut it. Even "People should shoot police officers" would be protected speech.
 
Fizil said:
Without knowing more of what he wrote, I have to say this seems like a clear-cut violation of his 1st Amendment rights. Posting that the police officers in Dallas "deserved what they got", and praising their shooter, makes him a dick, not a criminal....
Click to expand...

But the charges in this case were not actually about his speech, even if that played a role in motivating his prosecution. The charges were about weapon possession. You have to read through quite a bit of the article before they bother saying the actual charges (bad journalism):

The official one-count indictment against Balogun was illegal firearm possession, with prosecutors alleging he was prohibited from owning a gun due to a 2007 misdemeanor domestic assault case in Tennessee.​

So it's not actually a 1st amendment issue, it's actually a 2nd amentment issue.
 
Ziggurat said:
But the charges in this case were not actually about his speech, even if that played a role in motivating his prosecution. The charges were about weapon possession. You have to read through quite a bit of the article before they bother saying the actual charges (bad journalism):

The official one-count indictment against Balogun was illegal firearm possession, with prosecutors alleging he was prohibited from owning a gun due to a 2007 misdemeanor domestic assault case in Tennessee.​

So it's not actually a 1st amendment issue, it's actually a 2nd amentment issue.
Click to expand...

The gun possession was tossed out, and that's not why he showed up on the FBI's radar.
 
Fudbucker said:
The gun possession was tossed out
Click to expand...

Yes, but it's still what he was charged with.

and that's not why he showed up on the FBI's radar.
Click to expand...

People can show up on the FBI's radar for lots of reasons, including for speech. Nikolas Cruz should have shown up on the FBI's radar for speech. The question is what happens next.

And that's where the FBI is really screwing the pooch. Not for the first time, and not just with blacks.
 
Ziggurat said:
Yes, but it's still what he was charged with.
Click to expand...

Because they couldn't make any other case. He should never have been arrested in the first place.



People can show up on the FBI's radar for lots of reasons, including for speech. Nikolas Cruz should have shown up on the FBI's radar for speech. The question is what happens next.
Click to expand...

What speech?
 
Ziggurat said:
Sure.



I agree. But that is still a 2nd amendment issue.



For example.
Click to expand...

Do you think "I'm going to be a professional school shooter" is equivalent to what Balogun was posting?

ETA: He landed on the FBI's radar for attending a rally, so the questions is: is posting ""I'm going to be a professional school shooter"" equivalent to being at a rally protesting law enforcement for purposes of the FBI taking notice of you?
 
Last edited:
Dr. Keith said:
Was it DPD or FBI or both working together?
Click to expand...

Both - the FBI's report on so-called "Black Identity Extremists", as well as efforts to harass nonviolent activists like Deray McKesson, both began under Obama's executive branch, although Dolt 45 and Jeff Sessions clearly approve of such matters, as they've shown via words and action.
 
Mumbles said:
Both - the FBI's report on so-called "Black Identity Extremists", as well as efforts to harass nonviolent activists like Deray McKesson, both began under Obama's executive branch, although Dolt 45 and Jeff Sessions clearly approve of such matters, as they've shown via words and action.
Click to expand...

Thanks.

DPD has really been working hard on improvements as of late. I hope this a thing of the past for them.
 
Ziggurat said:
But the charges in this case were not actually about his speech, even if that played a role in motivating his prosecution. The charges were about weapon possession. You have to read through quite a bit of the article before they bother saying the actual charges (bad journalism):

The official one-count indictment against Balogun was illegal firearm possession, with prosecutors alleging he was prohibited from owning a gun due to a 2007 misdemeanor domestic assault case in Tennessee.​

So it's not actually a 1st amendment issue, it's actually a 2nd amentment issue.
Click to expand...

2007 makes it sound ex-post-facto.

Okay. Anybody know what the warrant was for? What was it the cops told the judge? Or was this a warrantless arrest, in more ways than one.
 
Last edited:
Dr. Keith said:
Thanks.

DPD has really been working hard on improvements as of late. I hope this a thing of the past for them.
Click to expand...

As I understand, many people noted similar efforts back when that idiot killed five of their officers during a BLM rally/march - the marchers and police had actually been remarkably friendly up until that point.
 
There's still free speech in this country.

However I notice a lot of people scoffing at the "black identity extremist" designation in general. They do exist and they are basically domestic terrorists or have the potential to be. I don't see the big deal with creating new terms to cover a particular range of persons of interest.

If you've ever strolled through downtown in New York or New Jersey cities mostly in the 1990s and early 2000s but also sometimes today you'd remember the many varieties of black Afrocentrist preachers, some Pan-Africanists, standing on the sidewalk starting petty arguments or blasting anti-government propaganda with their horn. Some chapters of the New Black Panthers go so far as to declare genocide against white people.

If I were an FBI or CIA officer I would definitely put them on the list.
 
Venom said:
There's still free speech in this country.

However I notice a lot of people scoffing at the "black identity extremist" designation in general. They do exist and they are basically domestic terrorists or have the potential to be. I don't see the big deal with creating new terms to cover a particular range of persons of interest.

If you've ever strolled through downtown in New York or New Jersey cities mostly in the 1990s and early 2000s but also sometimes today you'd remember the many varieties of black Afrocentrist preachers, some Pan-Africanists, standing on the sidewalk starting petty arguments or blasting anti-government propaganda with their horn. Some chapters of the New Black Panthers go so far as to declare genocide against white people.

If I were an FBI or CIA officer I would definitely put them on the list.
Click to expand...

Please.

Yes, I'm well aware of the NBPP, the Black Israelites, and so on. They're all bark, and they have little to nothing to do with groups like Black Lives Matter or any of the major rallies. If the FBI had any actual evidence of these groups conspiring to commit murder (they don't), they wouldn't waste their time using Alex Jones clips to imprison some random dude who wrote exactly the same thing that people on this very board wrote about murderous police and vigilantes who attack and kill random black people, and harass outspoken advocates of nonviolence, now would they?

And that's the problem with the "Black Identity Extremist" label - it refers to nothing at all specific, and just gets used haphazardly.

Even when you discuss actual cop assassins, like the guy in Dallas, you quickly discover a guy that had been run out of every group he tried to join, and openly stated that he was acting alone. It's predictable that, when you see entire PDs outright attacking black communities, eventually some dangerous person will clap back - that's just probability.

Also, the overwhelming number of people I've seen yammering about "white genocide" are white supremacists who think that "the Jews" are conspiring to have black and brown people impregnate "their" women. In other words, the usual mix of racism, misogyny, and antisemitism thrown in because that train's never late.
 
Last edited:
Mumbles said:
And that's the problem with the "Black Identity Extremist" label - it refers to nothing at all specific, and just gets used haphazardly.

Even when you discuss actual cop assassins, like the guy in Dallas, you quickly discover a guy that had been run out of every group he tried to join, and openly stated that he was acting alone. It's predictable that, when you see entire PDs outright attacking black communities, eventually some dangerous person will clap back - that's just probability.

Also, the overwhelming number of people I've seen yammering about "white genocide" are white supremacists who think that "the Jews" are conspiring to have black and brown people impregnate "their" women. In other words, the usual mix of racism, misogyny, and antisemitism thrown in because that train's never late.
Click to expand...

But just because he isn't part of a group doesn't mean he can't fall under that label. And they need not be immediately arrested or charged with inciting violence or terrorism, just monitored.
 
Venom said:
But just because he isn't part of a group doesn't mean he can't fall under that label. And they need not be immediately arrested or charged with inciting violence or terrorism, just monitored.
Click to expand...

Buuut...this guy was arrested. And held for months. And financially ruined.

That's kind of the entire point here. If that's the only arrest this whole focus on so-called "Black Identity Extremists" has caused, then the effort is a total failure.
 
Venom said:
...
However I notice a lot of people scoffing at the "black identity extremist" designation in general. They do exist and they are basically domestic terrorists or have the potential to be. I don't see the big deal with creating new terms to cover a particular range of persons of interest. ...
Click to expand...
The police (regardless of which agency they work for) seem to have a hard time distinguishing between protesting a cause, protesting using mayhem and vandalism, and truly planning/belonging to a terrorist faction of demonstrators for that cause.

Hoover's FBI did the same thing to us in the 70s, treating any and all war protesters like they were all aiming for violent overthrow. It's too easy for the police to let their personal opposition to the political position bias their POVs.

No doubt this blogger's posts were going to piss off police. I can see keeping an eye on the guy. But I can't see moving in for an arrest when you really have nothing.

I'd guess the weapons charge was because whatever they thought they'd find in the search, they didn't.
 
Let's try the shoe on the other foot test.

Suppose this was a white identity extremist, who had expressed support for the creep who ran over the woman in Charlottesville and who posed (apparently after his release) with a pistol in his hand?

I'm guessing there would be much less outrage hereabouts. NY Magazine has a little more on the story, although they are surprisingly coy here:

He then made multiple politically incorrect Facebook posts.
Click to expand...

It takes awhile (the writer has to get in a dig at the NRA first) to find out a little more about his politically incorrect speech:

The agent also mentioned Balogun’s Facebook posts calling a murder suspect in a police officer’s death a “hero” and expressing “solidarity” with the man who killed officers in Texas when he posted: “They deserve what they got.”
Click to expand...

Note that I am not saying the FBI was right here. But this is sort of the flip side of the Nicholas Cruz situation.
 
Mumbles said:
Buuut...this guy was arrested. And held for months. And financially ruined.

That's kind of the entire point here. If that's the only arrest this whole focus on so-called "Black Identity Extremists" has caused, then the effort is a total failure.
Click to expand...

Okay, well I disagree that this particular person needed to be treated this way.

The effort is not a failure. Keeping tabs on persons of interest is ongoing and necessary.
 
Do we have any more facts in this case, or only the one paper's story based on the guy's statement? Five months in jail without a lawyer? Really? Was he actually held for something else, like parole violation, and had to serve out a sentence? Article mentions a son, no wife. Child support prob perhaps ?
 
Brainster said:
Let's try the shoe on the other foot test.

Suppose this was a white identity extremist, who had expressed support for the creep who ran over the woman in Charlottesville and who posed (apparently after his release) with a pistol in his hand?

I'm guessing there would be much less outrage hereabouts. NY Magazine has a little more on the story, although they are surprisingly coy here:



It takes awhile (the writer has to get in a dig at the NRA first) to find out a little more about his politically incorrect speech:



Note that I am not saying the FBI was right here. But this is sort of the flip side of the Nicholas Cruz situation.
Click to expand...

Not really. The FBI got interested in this guy because he attended a rally, not because of anything he said on FB, according to the Guardian article.
 
Fudbucker said:
"Investigators began monitoring Balogun, whose legal name is Christopher Daniels, after he participated in an Austin, Texas, rally in March 2015 protesting against law enforcement, special agent Aaron Keighley testified in court.

The FBI, Keighley said, learned of the protest from a video on Infowars, a far-right site run by the commentator Alex Jones, known for spreading false news and conspiracy theories."

...

"In a leaked August 2017 report from the FBI’s Domestic Terrorism Analysis Unit, officials claimed that there had been a “resurgence in ideologically motivated, violent criminal activity” stemming from African Americans’ “perceptions of police brutality”."

I'm speechless this is going on in America.
Click to expand...

And it is damned hard to not agree with the perceptions as they are extremely well covered. Wonder if they are hoping all news sources will take a hint and stop reporting them.
 
Venom said:
There's still free speech in this country.

However I notice a lot of people scoffing at the "black identity extremist" designation in general. They do exist and they are basically domestic terrorists or have the potential to be. I don't see the big deal with creating new terms to cover a particular range of persons of interest.

If you've ever strolled through downtown in New York or New Jersey cities mostly in the 1990s and early 2000s but also sometimes today you'd remember the many varieties of black Afrocentrist preachers, some Pan-Africanists, standing on the sidewalk starting petty arguments or blasting anti-government propaganda with their horn. Some chapters of the New Black Panthers go so far as to declare genocide against white people.

If I were an FBI or CIA officer I would definitely put them on the list.
Click to expand...

With Farakhan and the NOI leading the list....
Arrest was way over the line, but keeping an eye on those who advocate violence against the police SHOULD get you looked at a little.
 
Last edited:
I was not aware that acting like a Alpha Hotel, and saying a lot of stupid crap on the Internet is grounds for arrest.
Yeah, what the guy said was reprehensible, but that alone does not warrant arrest.
 
casebro said:
2007 makes it sound ex-post-facto.

Okay. Anybody know what the warrant was for? What was it the cops told the judge? Or was this a warrantless arrest, in more ways than one.
Click to expand...

When he was arrested, police confiscated his .38-caliber handgun and an unloaded AK-style assault rifle – and also, he said, took his book Negroes with Guns by the civil rights leader Robert F Williams.

The official one-count indictment against Balogun was illegal firearm possession, with prosecutors alleging he was prohibited from owning a gun due to a 2007 misdemeanor domestic assault case in Tennessee. But this month, a judge rejected the charge, saying the firearms law did not apply.

"2007 misdemeanor domestic assault case" that doesn't say conviction. I'm curious if he was ever convicted of that charge.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom