Morning Briefing: Racism and Abuse of Power by Police and Sheriffs
Morning Briefing: Racism and Abuse of Power by Police and Sheriffs
Recent published reports details how ICE's 287(g) program 'empowers racist sheriffs,' and finds law enforcement officers 'openly support extremist groups like the Proud Boys.'
Morning Briefing: An investigative report by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has reportedly “revealed that racial profiling, poor jail conditions and other civil rights violations are widespread among the 142 state and local law enforcement agencies ICE describes as participants in the 287(g) program.”
There is reportedly “significant evidence of racial bias among officers” in California’s law enforcement agencies, and a 95-page report found that law enforcement officers “were found to openly support extremist groups like the Proud Boys, Three Percenters, and neo-Confederate organizations.”
Patriots Arise, a conference for far-right conspiracy theorists, was recently held in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and the “two-day conference featured appearances by several Republican candidates for office.”
A Philadelphia judge has sued The Daily Beast for “suggesting in an article that she is somehow linked to the right-wing conspiracy movement Q-Anon.”
Eugene area man was sentenced to federal prison for “mailing threatening communications to a former teacher whom he targeted in part because of her sexual orientation.” The front door of the Pride Center of Vermont was shattered with a rock, in the “latest act of anti-LGBTQ violence.”
Pittsburgh law enforcement is reportedly investigating “multiple acts of hate against the Jewish community in Squirrel Hill.” Local law enforcement is reportedly investigating New England Nationalist Social Club, a neo-Naz organization, found in West Hartford, Connecticut.
A former police officer was found guilty by a jury for “all six charges he faced for his participation in the insurrection.” The charges included obstructing Congress, “interfering with police during a riot, destroying evidence, and trespassing and disorderly conduct at the Capitol while armed with a dangerous weapon.”
A man who has been charged for participating in the Capitol Riot, “has been identified as the son of a famed American artist.” A Texas man facing charges for participating in the Capitol Riot, “may never have had a plea bargain offer clearly explained to him by the lawyer who represented him last year.”
Must Reads
Natasha Lennard writes that “in our era of Trumpian reaction, we are seeing reports about a new New Right. Like the New Rights that came before it, it’s a loose constellation of self-identifying anti-establishment, allegedly heterodox reactionaries. The newest of the Rights is similarly fueled by disaffection with liberal progress myths and united by white supremacist backlash…” [The Intercept]
Jared Holt writes that “for those currently suing Alex Jones for defamation, including the parents of Sandy Hook mass shooting victims, and the countless others caught in Infowars’ scope throughout time, that harm has been gravely serious. The wider project of weaponized misinformation and conspiracy theories that Jones has built his business on has alarming consequences for the greater stability and health of the societies they inhabit.” [The Daily Beast]
Philip Bump writes that the Right’s support of the use of government power in the cultural wars “is not what Republicans — the party of small government and the free market — are supposed to espouse. For the most part, though, they’ve been fine with it, nodding at a state governor leveraging state power in this way. Just as there’s been little outcry from the right over librarians pulling books with sensitive or controversial subjects from shelves when those subjects run afoul of conservative orthodoxy.” [The Washington Post]
What to expect from Radical Reports: Morning Briefing provides a daily round-up of reporting on the Radical Right; Extremist Links offers a weekly round-up of extremists activities including the white supremacist and militia movements; Research Desk provides monthly highlights research and analysis from academia on the Radical Right; Field Notes delivers research on key organizations and analysis of the strategies and tactics of the Radical Right.
