Reports from around the country among prominent Black Lives Matter activists claim that federal investigators are practicing strong-arm, intimidation tactics to prevent demonstrations from occurring at the Republican Convention in Cleveland Ohio.
The Convention is now underway and well into day three of the much anticipated event. A wave of gun violence by police, protests and attacks directed at law enforcement rocked the nation in the weeks proceeding the event, worrying security forces in Cleveland as the Republican convention was set to begin.
The killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile launched an emotional, activist movement around the nation, led in many locations by the popular Black Lives Matter movement. In Dallas, following a march organized by the group, a lone gunman with no affiliation to the movement, killed five police officers before perishing himself at the hands of law enforcement.
The wave of violence and emotional cries from around the nation sparked concern. This, coupled with sometimes violent and vitriolic exchange on cable news and social media raised eyebrows among federal investigators leading up the convention in Cleveland.
Reports from citizens in Ohio and other states have surfaced claiming that prominent Black Lives Matter activists have received “door knocks” and phone calls from the FBI warning them to stay away from the convention.
A report originating in the Washington Post stated that at least six prominent Black Lives Matter members were contacted recently by federal investigators.
According to Sam Sinyangwe, a member of Black Lives Matter who resides in San Francisco, said he was contacted by the FBI and that:
“basically [they] told me not to go to Cleveland.”
Sinyangwe elaborated in a Tweet:
He asked me whether I had any plans to go to Cleveland for the GOP Convention, and then warned me not to go.
— Samuel Sinyangwe (@samswey) July 14, 2016
The Washington Post’s Wesley Lowery reported on Twitter how one grandmother of an activist was visited and how she responded to a visit by the FBI:
https://twitter.com/WesleyLowery/status/753378041720627201
Johnetta Elzie responded by confirming her feeling that this was clearly an “intimidation” tactic. She responded on Twitter as well by saying:
I felt it was important to be honest + let the world know that this was happening to us. History is repeating itself in real time.
— Johnetta Elzie (@Nettaaaaaaaa) July 14, 2016
Featured image from Awakened Cincinnatians on Facebook.
