A petition to officially designate Black Lives Matter as a terrorist organization has gathered over 90,000 signatures on the White House website. It seems certain to exceed the 100,000-signature threshold by August 5 to compel a formal response.
“Terrorism is defined as ‘the use of violence and intimidation in pursuit of political aims.’ This definition is the same definition used to declare ISIS and other groups, as terrorist organizations,” writes the petition’s author, identified as “Y.S.” The petition continues:
Black Lives Matter has earned this title due to its actions in Ferguson, Baltimore, and even at a Bernie Sanders rally, as well as all over the United States and Canada. It is time for the Pentagon to be consistent in its actions — and just as they rightfully declared ISIS a terror group, they must declare Black Lives Matter a terror group — on the grounds of principle, integrity, morality, and safety.
International Business Times reports the petition, filed on July 6, was up to 4,000 signatures on the day of the Dallas shootings, after which tens of thousands of new signatures were swiftly added.
IBT also quotes “controversial radio host Rush Limbaugh echoing the petition’s sentiments,” saying Black Lives Matter is “quickly becoming a terrorist group committing hate crimes.”
The International Business Times article quotes some backlash against the petition from BLM supporters and also uncritically repeats their propaganda that black men are “killed in disproportionate numbers” by the police.
In reality, as John Hinderaker of PowerLine observes, “the percentage of blacks fatally shot by police officers (26%) is almost exactly equal to the percentage of blacks committing violent crimes (24%).”
Hinderaker concludes:
In short, the data on police shootings show that blacks are involved in such incidents just about exactly as often as one would expect, given their violent crime rate. Slicing and dicing the numbers is interesting, but doesn’t generate any obviously relevant correlations that would change that finding. Which means that, unless someone can make a compelling argument based on the data, which we have not yet seen, the Black Lives Matter movement is founded on a lie.
This is the kind of statistical analysis media organizations are usually very excited about when it supports narratives they favor.
Of course, hitting the 100,000-signature mark will only oblige the White House to respond to the petition, not comply with it. The response will almost certainly include the assertion that Black Lives Matter is firewalled from all violence perpetrated in its name, in a circular logic chain similar to the left’s ideological firewall between Islam and terrorism: No true BLM believer would commit violence, therefore anyone who commits violence is not a true BLM believer.
Black Lives Matter laid the foundation for this firewall with a statement that Inquisitr describes as an effort to “distance the movement itself away from [Dallas shooter Micah Xavier] Johnson’s actions”:
In the last few days, this country witnessed the recorded murders of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile at the hands of police, the latest victims in this country’s failed policing system. As we have done for decades, we marched and protested to highlight the urgent need to transform policing in America, to call for justice, transparency and accountability, and to demand that Black Lives Matter.
In Dallas, many gathered to do the same, joining in a day of action with friends, family, and co-workers. Their efforts were cut short when a lone gunman targeted and attacked 11 police officers, killing five. This is a tragedy—both for those who have been impacted by yesterday’s attack and for our democracy. There are some who would use these events to stifle a movement for change and quicken the demise of a vibrant discourse on the human rights of Black Americans. We should reject all of this.
Black activists have raised the call for an end to violence, not an escalation of it. Yesterday’s attack was the result of the actions of a lone gunman. To assign the actions of one person to an entire movement is dangerous and irresponsible. We continue our efforts to bring about a better world for all of us.
The White House will expect Americans to forget that this administration has portrayed conservative groups as incipient terrorists for its entire existence, as with the infamous Department of Homeland Security threat assessment predicting a wave of violence from “right-wing extremists” and military veterans.
Obama supporters will be instructed to erase all memories of the “Climate of Hate” hysteria that gripped the left and dominated media coverage after the Tucson shootings. There are no climates of hate anymore, not while left-wing protest groups are holding demonstrations where police officers are injured or killed.
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