This July, at least four Americans were arrested for social media postings expressing support for violence against law enforcement personnel. But police officers and their supporters have yet to face consequences for their comments at the Blue Lives Matter Facebook community, where they wish violence on private citizens with regular frequency. Like the cops who are afforded impunity when they kill unarmed citizens, Blue Lives Matter commenters have spouted violent extremism with minimal scrutiny and maximum intensity.
Fantasies of murdered black WNBA players
Scarcely a day passed this month without an event that sent Blue Lives Matter supporters into a frenzy.
On July 11, players from the Minnesota Lynx WNBA team appeared during pre-game warmups in T-shirts emblazoned with a Black Lives Matter logo along with badges honoring the police officers gunned down in Dallas by the fanatical black nationalist Micah Johnson. In true Blue Lives Matter form, five off-duty cops abandoned their security duties at the game and staged a walk-out protest against the shirts. Hours later, the Blue Lives Matter Facebook community exploded in rage at the players.
Blake Urban, a self-described active duty cop at the Tallassee, Alabama police department, described in broken English his wish for police to deny service to the players: “And I hope they all beat each other up and they needed cops and I hope they didn't come.”
“I hope some crazy, black, ex military personnel decides to shoot up the team and nobody responds to save them... fk BLM,” wrote a commenter named Angela Davis.
“Truth is that it is not a Black Lives Matter movement it is a war on police and white people,” David Gonzales Fumero interjected. He added that BLM was “nothing more than a local terrorist organization committing hate crimes.” Fumero’s post earned 400 likes from fellow Blue Lives Matter community members.
In a separate post, a commenter named Lori Silver called not only to deny police services to Black Lives Matter supporters, but to black people across America: “I say take ALL of our officers OUT of all the hoods in our country n put them in ONLY white nbrhoods, then they will be safe. Let the hoodrats kill each other.”
When an Indian-American commenter took issue with the racism that consumes the Blue Lives Matter Facebook threads, a self-identified army veteran named Frank Jakubec launched into a tirade. “Let the Americans run America,” Jakubec ranted. “You people come over here and sh*t all over the unfortunate people that get stuck working for you.”
Sandwiched between the racist comment threads deluging Blue Lives Matter’s forum every day are ads for a T-shirt supposedly honoring the police officers recently killed in Dallas. The shirt features an image of a sword-bearing Crusader with blue crosses emblazoned on his shield and chest plate. A staple of right-wing iconography intended to convey support for civilizational warfare, the Crusader symbol has been embraced by British neo-fascists and the late Christian Right icon “American Sniper,” Chris Kyle, who had it tattooed on his right arm.
Black heroes for white racists
Though the Blue Lives Matter Facebook community expresses an aggressively racist sensibility, its most ardent members have a few black heroes. Chief among them is Sheriff Clarke, who is African American, but has defended a Confederate monument, called Black Lives Matter “black slime” that “needs to be eradicated from American society,” and said he would have used more force than the Texas cops who roughed up and drew a gun on black teenagers at a pool party.
When Clarke’s angry confrontation with CNN anchor Don Lemon went viral on July 17, the members of the Blue Lives Matter community lit up with joy. Among the most liked comments was one by Scott Downing, who has posted a photo suggesting he works for the Mendota Heights, Minnesota police department. “If Trump wins I say make Sheriff Clarke the next director of the FBI or the DOJ,” Downing proclaimed. “We need leaders who talk the truth, who see the truth, who stand up for the truth, and who are not afraid to put the truth forward regardless of its color.”
One of the few other black men to earn the adulation of Blue Lives Matter supporters was a self-described “Trainer Motivational Speaker” named Kevin Martin who took to Facebook to pledge total obedience to violent cops. Claiming he had been pulled over “COUNTLESS times by the police” while packing a “40 Cal Handgun,” Martin boasted that while he has been searched “for HOURS,” he had never been shot like other black motorists. “WHY?” Martin wrote. “Because I made 1 choice and that was to RESPECT THEIR AUTHORITY, and respect their orders… If the REST of america had the SAME AGENDA, this world would be so different.”
Martin’s declaration of unilateral submission before the authorities — and his apparent acceptance of being racially profiled — won a favorable post from Blue Lives Matter and pats on the back from its supporters. One of the few critical comments, by someone who expressed sorrow over Martin’s claims of being constantly pulled over, earned a rebuke from the Blue Lives Matter administrators: “He was stopped for traffic infractions...valid reasons...don't try to spin something positive with such an inflammatory comment.”
Martin immediately attempted to capitalize on the promotion he received from Blue Lives Matter, initiating a pro-police live chat on his Facebook page. “I, as a Black American will tell you why this problem starts directly with us, as black American people,” he promised, “and has very little to do with white America and our Police force.”
Calls for slaughtering Black Lives Matter protesters
This month in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a former Marine and apparent black nationalist named Gavin Long gunned down three cops in apparent retaliation for the videotaped execution-style killing of Alton Sterling by Baton Rouge police officers. Back in Long’s hometown of Kansas City, a local reporter knocked on the door of his former home and asked if Long still lived there. When he persisted after being told no, an unidentified man inside the house returned to the door, silently bearing a rifle though not pointing it at the reporter.
Coverage of the minor incident set the Blue Lives Matter Facebook community aflame, with commenters demanding the most bloodthirsty response possible.
“Blow up the house,” urged a commenter named Joseph Brunner. His post earned almost 300 likes and spurred other commenters to issue similarly destructive propositions.
Fantasies of murdered black WNBA players
Scarcely a day passed this month without an event that sent Blue Lives Matter supporters into a frenzy.
On July 11, players from the Minnesota Lynx WNBA team appeared during pre-game warmups in T-shirts emblazoned with a Black Lives Matter logo along with badges honoring the police officers gunned down in Dallas by the fanatical black nationalist Micah Johnson. In true Blue Lives Matter form, five off-duty cops abandoned their security duties at the game and staged a walk-out protest against the shirts. Hours later, the Blue Lives Matter Facebook community exploded in rage at the players.
Blake Urban, a self-described active duty cop at the Tallassee, Alabama police department, described in broken English his wish for police to deny service to the players: “And I hope they all beat each other up and they needed cops and I hope they didn't come.”
“I hope some crazy, black, ex military personnel decides to shoot up the team and nobody responds to save them... fk BLM,” wrote a commenter named Angela Davis.
“Truth is that it is not a Black Lives Matter movement it is a war on police and white people,” David Gonzales Fumero interjected. He added that BLM was “nothing more than a local terrorist organization committing hate crimes.” Fumero’s post earned 400 likes from fellow Blue Lives Matter community members.
In a separate post, a commenter named Lori Silver called not only to deny police services to Black Lives Matter supporters, but to black people across America: “I say take ALL of our officers OUT of all the hoods in our country n put them in ONLY white nbrhoods, then they will be safe. Let the hoodrats kill each other.”
When an Indian-American commenter took issue with the racism that consumes the Blue Lives Matter Facebook threads, a self-identified army veteran named Frank Jakubec launched into a tirade. “Let the Americans run America,” Jakubec ranted. “You people come over here and sh*t all over the unfortunate people that get stuck working for you.”
Sandwiched between the racist comment threads deluging Blue Lives Matter’s forum every day are ads for a T-shirt supposedly honoring the police officers recently killed in Dallas. The shirt features an image of a sword-bearing Crusader with blue crosses emblazoned on his shield and chest plate. A staple of right-wing iconography intended to convey support for civilizational warfare, the Crusader symbol has been embraced by British neo-fascists and the late Christian Right icon “American Sniper,” Chris Kyle, who had it tattooed on his right arm.
Black heroes for white racists
Though the Blue Lives Matter Facebook community expresses an aggressively racist sensibility, its most ardent members have a few black heroes. Chief among them is Sheriff Clarke, who is African American, but has defended a Confederate monument, called Black Lives Matter “black slime” that “needs to be eradicated from American society,” and said he would have used more force than the Texas cops who roughed up and drew a gun on black teenagers at a pool party.
When Clarke’s angry confrontation with CNN anchor Don Lemon went viral on July 17, the members of the Blue Lives Matter community lit up with joy. Among the most liked comments was one by Scott Downing, who has posted a photo suggesting he works for the Mendota Heights, Minnesota police department. “If Trump wins I say make Sheriff Clarke the next director of the FBI or the DOJ,” Downing proclaimed. “We need leaders who talk the truth, who see the truth, who stand up for the truth, and who are not afraid to put the truth forward regardless of its color.”
One of the few other black men to earn the adulation of Blue Lives Matter supporters was a self-described “Trainer Motivational Speaker” named Kevin Martin who took to Facebook to pledge total obedience to violent cops. Claiming he had been pulled over “COUNTLESS times by the police” while packing a “40 Cal Handgun,” Martin boasted that while he has been searched “for HOURS,” he had never been shot like other black motorists. “WHY?” Martin wrote. “Because I made 1 choice and that was to RESPECT THEIR AUTHORITY, and respect their orders… If the REST of america had the SAME AGENDA, this world would be so different.”
Martin’s declaration of unilateral submission before the authorities — and his apparent acceptance of being racially profiled — won a favorable post from Blue Lives Matter and pats on the back from its supporters. One of the few critical comments, by someone who expressed sorrow over Martin’s claims of being constantly pulled over, earned a rebuke from the Blue Lives Matter administrators: “He was stopped for traffic infractions...valid reasons...don't try to spin something positive with such an inflammatory comment.”
Martin immediately attempted to capitalize on the promotion he received from Blue Lives Matter, initiating a pro-police live chat on his Facebook page. “I, as a Black American will tell you why this problem starts directly with us, as black American people,” he promised, “and has very little to do with white America and our Police force.”
Calls for slaughtering Black Lives Matter protesters
This month in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a former Marine and apparent black nationalist named Gavin Long gunned down three cops in apparent retaliation for the videotaped execution-style killing of Alton Sterling by Baton Rouge police officers. Back in Long’s hometown of Kansas City, a local reporter knocked on the door of his former home and asked if Long still lived there. When he persisted after being told no, an unidentified man inside the house returned to the door, silently bearing a rifle though not pointing it at the reporter.
Coverage of the minor incident set the Blue Lives Matter Facebook community aflame, with commenters demanding the most bloodthirsty response possible.
“Blow up the house,” urged a commenter named Joseph Brunner. His post earned almost 300 likes and spurred other commenters to issue similarly destructive propositions.
