By: Donald V. Watkins
© Copyrighted and Published on December 10, 2019
White supremacy groups in the United States have terrorized African-Americans for over a century. Their hatred of blacks resulted in the lynching of thousands of innocent black victims, the widespread and unprovoked killings of innocent black citizens, the savage beatings of tens of thousands of blacks, the burning of black men alive, hundreds of church and home bombings, the destruction of entire black communities in Oklahoma and Florida, the physical castration of thousands of black men, and other senseless forms of unimaginable violence against black men and women.
Throughout much of this dark period in American history, white supremacy groups found sanctuary within local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies and judicial bodies.
From 1956 to 1971, the Federal Bureau of Investigation collaborated with hordes of white supremacists who were embedded in state and local law enforcement agencies, as well as news media organizations, under a formal program called COINTELPRO. This program was designed to discredit reputable black civil rights activists like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and thousands of others. The FBI labeled Dr. King as the "most dangerous Negro in America" because he could speak and write well and he could mobilize the masses of black people. The FBI successfully demonized Dr. King to 75% of white Americans by portraying him as a "thug," a "filthy animal," and an "evil, abnormal beast."
Even though centralized COINTELPRO operations ended in 1971, decentralized COINTELPRO programs at the FBI field office level continued unabated in Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Florida, Louisiana, and Georgia, albeit in a more discreet and politically acceptable fashion.
Standing Down
Thanks to today's right-wing Justice Department and ultra-conservative federal judiciary, the traditional white supremacy groups can now stand down. Their services are no longer needed.
Fortunately for these hate groups, their ideological twins have once again successfully infiltrated the ranks of the U.S. Justice Department and federal bench. These twins have mastered the public relations skills that were sorely lacking in groups like the Ku Klux Klan, the skinhead organizations, and the American Nazi Party. These twins are highly educated, polite, mannerable, masters of deception, and appropriately dressed for all occasions. They have found community acceptance within the traditional pillars of white society. They even profess to have black friends who, like Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, are safe, non-threatening "Negroes."
Unfortunately for the African-American community, these ideological twins are far more dangerous than traditional hate groups because they are cloaked with important-sounding titles, they act under the color of law, they enjoy a presumption of legitimacy, and they operate from a national platform that carries with it the federal resources necessary to implement and perpetuate an insidious white supremacy agenda in the name of law enforcement.
These twins have the ability to articulate their racism in a philosophical way that convinces the white community that they are merely enforcing federal laws as prosecutors and conservative jurists. In fact, they are simply targeting black activists and dissidents for criminal investigations, trumping up criminal charges against them, home cooking them in federal courtrooms, and incarcerating them in record numbers.
The racial disparity among adults serving time in the nation's prisons reflects a clear race-based bias against black defendants. According to an April 2019 report issued by the U.S. Bureau of Statistics, black men are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of white men, while black women are incarcerated at nearly double the rate of white women.
While blacks make up 13% of the U.S. population, they account for 37.5% of all inmates in federal prison. The federal judiciary that produces this result consists of a body of magistrates, trial judges, and appellate judges that is 80% white. Alabama, for example, did not get its first black federal judge until 1980. Even then, this judge's presidential appointment was vigorously opposed by the Alabama and American Bar Associations.
The numbers don't lie. Either blacks are nearly three times more likely than whites to commit federal crimes, or they are the victims of a federal law enforcement apparatus that is engulfed in white racism. The objective evidence demonstrates that a modern-day, turbo-charged version of the FBI's centralized COINTELPRO is running at full speed.
Blacks no longer need to fear the men and women in white robes. Today, it is the ultra-conservative men and women in black robes who present a clear and present danger to African-Americans. The ideological twins in black robes are the ones who are aggressively dismantling black America and its substantial achievements in the face of unbearable racial discrimination, and they are doing it with glee.
