Infiltrators

When my ladyfriend told me about the "Black Lives Matter" activists who had shut down a Bernie Sanders event, my first reaction was to spew out a conspiracy theory: "I'll bet they were FBI plants!" Although that theory felt satisfying, no evidence supported the notion; all I had was knee-jerk suspicion. In other words, I had reacted like Alex Goddamned Jones.

Nevertheless, when the time came to write a few words about the Sanders affair (see the post below), this parenthetical remark sneaked in:

(Actually, I suspect that the activists who said "Let's target Sanders" were FBI infiltrators. But that's a post for another occasion.)

That was pure Alex Jonesing. Really, I should be horsewhipped. Except...

Put away that horsewhip! A helpful reader sent me a link -- a very eye-opening link.

The "infiltration" theory is no longer a mere matter of blue-sky conjecture. Although I now doubt that the FBI or any other government agency has any link to this operation, I am convinced that something really weird went down in Seattle.

The Sanders event was shut down by two women named Marissa Johnson and Mara Willaford. It turns out that they were not leaders in the "Black Lives Matter" organization. They belong to a bizarre militant group called Outside Agitators 206, a black separatist movement which may have connections to Louis Farrakhan's Nation of Islam. OA206 adheres to an anti-government philosophy which I consider indistinguishable from libertarianism.

The media's confusion stems from the fact that "Black Lives Matter" is simultaneously an organization, a movement, and a rallying cry. A person who does not belong to the actual group may nevertheless claim to be part of the movement.

If you hit the link given above, you'll find that the comments are even more interesting than the article:

I do not believe these women are doing the work of BLM I believe as it says on the one girls FB page she is a Republican and she was targeting liberals, specifically Bernie ! She was so proud of her and her friends actions . They have no clue of the damage they caused to BLM by their actions !

I’d observe that if OA206 is protesting Dems and Dem policy and fore going the Republican party then it isn’t a matter of an outside group ‘co-opting’ BLM…

it’s called dirty tricks… remember Lee Atwater? this is the sort of crap he pulled a la Willie Horton…

There is more -- much more. Here.

One of the Black Lives Matter activists who shut down the Bernie Sanders rally in Seattle is a self-identified “radical Christian” and former Sarah Palin supporter.

However, perhaps even more damning, on her Facebook page, Johnson admits that she was a Sarah Palin supporter. This fact, the fact that she once supported Sarah Palin, is in itself indicative of poor judgement and faulty character, and provides a larger context for her more recent moral failure.

Can we label these two individuals as provocateurs? Although we can't establish that point with the rigor of a geometric proof, the smell of fish pervades the air. I am of the opinion that Willaford and Johnson represent the Black Lives Matter movement the same way Lee Harvey Oswald represented the Fair Play for Cuba Committee.

Why did they target Sanders? One obvious goal is to drive a wedge between black people and the Democratic party, thereby insuring that the election will go to a Republican funded by the Koch brothers.

More insidiously, these two women obviously hoped to destroy the cross-racial popularity, credibility and moral authority of the Black Lives Matter movement, which had gained many white sympathizers. If enough black people tell those white sympathizers "Go away! We don't need you!" then a broad, puissant social movement will become confined to a small, impotent group of radical black separatists.

And that outcome is, of course, precisely what the racist right wants.

The NOI has existed since the late 1920s. During that time, what have black separatists accomplished? Nothing. Nothing positive. They have encouraged segregation, they have discouraged unionization, they have told blacks to stay away from the voting booth, and they have insisted that black people should never work with progressive white people to advance social change. Practically speaking, the NOI and its offshoots (like OA206?) function as adjuncts of the Klan.

Do people like Willaford and Johnson understand that they are doing immense harm to the efforts to reform the police? Of course they do. Such is their intent.

Although I no longer suspect that the FBI has any connection to all of this, I am convinced that a right-wing agenda drives these events.

Sarah, meet Louis. Some of you are now probably wondering: How the hell can OA206 have links to both Sarah Palin and Louis Farrakhan? You'd think that the Kevin Bacon game would, in this instance, require at least a few more steps.

Many younger people don't understand that the Nation of Islam has always been a right-wing movement with strong links to American fascism. If you doubt that assertion, simply Google "Nation of Islam" and "George Lincoln Rockwell."

The points of convergence between NOI and libertarianism are also pretty clear, if you do a little research: Start here, then go here.

In the 1960s, the Nation of Islam was funded by Texas oil millionaire H.L. Hunt, who also poured money into both the John Birch Society and the KKK. Hunt advocated a radical form of libertarianism. The other great moneyman behind the Birch movement was Fred Koch, the father of the Koch brothers, who are now trying to purchase the 2016 election.

It seems that the underground powerlines laid in that era are still intact and still functional.

By the way: If you scour the progblogs, you will see that the trolls are out in force, trying to convince that public that the secret power behind Marissa Johnson and Mara Willaford is none other than -- you guessed it -- Hillary Clinton.

Evidence? There is none. Zero. Zippo. Trolls don't need no stinkin' evidence.

Yet this ludicrous claim keeps popping up, over and over, on D.U. and on Kos. The usual places. I am starting to get a very "2008" vibe.

Also see this Vox story, which falsely claims that the activists were part of the Black Lives Matter organization:

Yet many of his [Sanders'] supporters are tremendously pissed off at the activists for targeting Sanders,who they see as a natural ally of the movement, rather than going after Hillary Clinton or Republicans.

Vox wants you to believe that Hillary is a horrible, awful racist who screens Birth of a Nation twice a month and who privately refers to Stepin Fetchit as "one of the good ones."

See? This was one clever, clever operation. Sanders seems to have profited from the Seattle encounter (which he handled as well as could be expected); he is now drawing truly massive crowds. In the end, Hillary may be the one who suffers most from this dirty trick.