According to a recent Anti-Defamation League report, white supremacists and far-right extremists have killed 51 police officers since 1990. During that same time period, black nationalists and other far-left extremists groups killed 11 cops. In 2017, white supremacists attacked a police officer and two corrections officers, while leftist groups' police killing tally was zero.
The report also reveals a year in which most extremist killings occured and carried out by white people–is normal; findings show the years in which most extremist murders are committed by minority groups–Pulse nightclub shooting for example–are rare.
Of the 34 total extremist murders carried out last year, 20 were done by right-wing extremists; five were carried out by black nationalists.
The report comes not long after news that the FBI had begun keeping close tabs on black identity extremists–that is–black activists it believes stokes "ideologically motivated, violent criminal activity." Critics were curious about the broad classification, and argued that black civil rights groups such as Black Lives Matter are overwhelmingly nonviolent.
Nusrat Choudhury, senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union Racial Justice Program, referred to the term "black identity extremist" as a "manufactured threat," according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
“Without a clear statement from the FBI that this report has been retracted or disavowed, there is no guarantee that law enforcement is not actively surveilling black activist groups who are simply asserting their right to free speech,” Choudhury said. “This is embarrassing for the FBI, and terrifying for those groups.”
In November, the Congressional Black Caucus asked FBI Director, Christopher Wray, to recall the extremist designation from Black Lives Matter and similar groups. Wray did not commit.
On Tuesday, FBI spokesman, Andrew Ames, confirmed there has been "no update" on the matter since.
“This document essentially says we don’t care about your ideology, we care about your black identity,” said former FBI agent Michael German. “It’s an enormous classification that could encompass any violence by a black person.”
German also noted that the FBI's bar to justify surveillance is “very, very low."
“All they need is speculation that a group might sometime in the future commit violence to target them,” German said. “And that speculation can come from their own agents. It’s such a low threshold.”
