Left-Wing Case Against the FBI

COINTELPRO 2.0

#ACAB: All Cops Are Bastards is a common term from Tik Tok used by gen-z after the police execution of George Floyd. The public outcry grew as many heard Floyd's cries for his mother and his life while a police officer kneeled on his neck for about 10 minutes. His death and humanity sparked a historic, record-breaking, global protest inspiring even Senator Mitt Romney to show up. 

We all had high hopes that maybe this was it-the revolution was finally here! The turn of events gives a new meaning to Gil Scott-Heron's "The Revolution Will Not be Televised” song. Instead of highlighting the peaceful protests, the media focused on burning cop stations, looting, and fires. Just in the nick of time, any genuine efforts to Defund the Police halted as the media turned to the copaganda narrative of rising crime in cities that never came resulting in a decrease in public opinion of Defund the Police. At President Biden's 2022 State of the Union, the common words that stuck with many were his rallying cries to "Fund them. Fund them. Fund them with resources and training," even as 2022 becomes the deadliest year for police killings of citizens. 

Public opinion of the 2020 BLM Uprisings began to sour due to the growing concerns of the riots that the media decided to make the focus of their 24/7 breaking news hysteria. All to find out what the activists on the ground were saying that this was not associated with the movement were right- it was the FBI. Democracy Now just broke the news on what has been coined COINTELPRO 2.0 with the new podcast "Alphabet Boys," describing how the FBI infiltrated Colorado BLM protests by paying an informant at least $20,000 to infiltrate and spy on activist groups in Denver, Colorado. Zebbodios Hall, Denver Activist targeted by the FBI, recounts the informant, Mickey Windecker, encouraging him and activists to purchase guns and commit violence. This common FBI tactic from the original COINTELPRO in the ‘60s-'70s, called snitch-jacketing, where informants become leaders in Black political groups to accuse other leaders of these groups of being informants. 

The FBI's terror tactics have targeted Muslim groups to commit violent crimes to satisfy the war on terror narrative, some right-wing individuals; however, the target has been chiefly left-wing and marginalized people. Instead of focusing on the single greatest threat to this country, white supremacy, the FBI spends time and money targeting people trying to fight back against the system that oppresses them. 

At the beginning of this article, I mentioned ACAB and talked about the police killing of George Floyd. However, the issue of police violence and warfare goes all the way up to the FBI. The institution of policing in this country claims to "protect and serve," and to them, I ask, protect and serve who? Again, the history of policing in this country started as slave patrols for wealthy white enslavers. The media focused on looting and burning stores such as Target, a multinational corporation with insurance, rather than the cries of human beings screaming stop killing us! Black Lives Matter! 

These institutions rooted in white supremacy are not meant to protect us. They were built to keep us trapped in a system designed to turn us into machines, divide us versus them, and ensure that the top 1% can continue hoarding the wealth that belongs to all of us. The call to defund the police is about creating social safety nets and providing equitable resources to the most marginalized. We do not need more cop cities or equipment to militarize cops. These issues are not just popular trends to latch on to; they are about life and death, injustice, and complicity. Before regurgitating a popular media narrative, please think critically about who this benefit and whom it silences. 

Rest in Power Commrade, Manuel “Manny” Esteban Paez Teran. 

Rest in Power, Tyre Nichols.

Rest in Power, Keenan Anderson.