2020. United States. George Floyd's Murder and Black Lives Matter Protests. (In Progress)
Russia Is A Terrorist State Part 5 (2020 - 2021)
2020. United States. George Floyd's Murder and Black Lives Matter Protests. (In Progress)
“Black Lives Matter Mural San Francisco by Christopher Michel” by Cmichel67 under CC BY-SA 4.0
In September 2017, The Guardian reported that Russian operatives used Facebook to create fake accounts posing as black activists to sow division in the United States during the 2016 presidential election. The article revealed that a Russian Facebook page called “Blacktivist” was used to organize and promote real-life protests and rallies related to the Black Lives Matter movement. The Russian Facebook page, which has since been taken down, had over 360,000 likes and over 300 posts. The content of the posts, which included videos of police violence and racial inequality, aimed to stoke racial tensions and sow discord in the United States.
In October 2017, The Washington Post published an opinion piece warning that the use of fake social media accounts by Russia to spread disinformation and manipulate public opinion was not limited to the Black Lives Matter movement. The article argued that any group or cause that has the potential to create division in the United States could be targeted by Russian operatives seeking to disrupt the democratic process.
In the same month, NPR reported that Russian operatives had been targeting racial divisions in the United States for years before the 2016 election. The article highlighted a report by the cybersecurity firm FireEye, which revealed that Russian hackers had been attempting to infiltrate the email accounts of civil rights organizations, including the NAACP and the National Urban League, since 2015.
In May 2018, Slate published an article detailing how Russian trolls used social media to exploit racial tensions in the United States during the 2016 election. The article cited research by cybersecurity firm New Knowledge, which found that Russian trolls had created and promoted fake Facebook pages with names like “Black Matters US” and “Blacktivist” to spread disinformation and amplify existing divisions among racial groups in the United States.
In December 2018, Vox published an in-depth article analyzing how Russia exploited racial tensions in America during the 2016 elections. The article cited research by cybersecurity firms and congressional investigations that found Russian operatives created fake social media accounts to impersonate activists, amplify divisive issues, and sow discord. The article argued that the Russian campaign was part of a broader effort by the Kremlin to undermine American democracy and destabilize the country.
In October 2019, the BBC reported that Russian trolls' chief target in the 2016 election was black US voters. The article cited research by cybersecurity firms and the US Senate Intelligence Committee, which found that the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a Russian troll farm, had created hundreds of fake social media accounts targeting black voters with divisive content, such as posts encouraging them not to vote or to support third-party candidates. The article also noted that the IRA had created fake Black Lives Matter Facebook pages to organize real-world protests and rallies.
The death of George Floyd, a Black man who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes, sparked protests across the United States and around the world in May 2020. While some protests remained peaceful, others erupted into violence and looting. In response to the unrest, President Donald Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, which would allow him to deploy military forces to quell the protests. He also criticized governors for being weak in their response to the protests.
White instigators were blamed for some of the violence and looting that occurred during the protests. According to local officials, these instigators were not part of the peaceful demonstrations and were likely members of extremist groups seeking to incite violence. In addition to local actors, foreign countries such as Russia, China, and Iran used social media to exploit the unrest and stir up further discord in the United States.
Despite evidence that the vast majority of protests were peaceful, President Trump continued to focus on Black Lives Matter as a target of derision and violence. He referred to the group as a symbol of hate and toxic propaganda and went after it and other related movements in schools. Trump's focus on the protesters and his threats to use military force only served to escalate tensions and increase the likelihood of violence.
Research conducted in the months following the protests found that the vast majority of protests were peaceful and that most of those arrested were not leftist radicals. In fact, a report by the Pew Research Center found that a majority of Americans believed news coverage of the protests had been good and that Trump's public message was wrong. Nevertheless, false narratives such as the "thug" label were used to discredit civil rights movements.
The protests following George Floyd's death highlighted the deep racial divides that still exist in the United States. They also demonstrated the potential for both domestic and foreign actors to exploit these divides and incite violence. Despite efforts to paint the protests as violent and radical, research has shown that they were overwhelmingly peaceful and that most participants were motivated by a desire for racial justice and equality.
The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement gained significant momentum in 2020 following the death of George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer. In response, millions of people across the United States took to the streets to demand justice and police reform. However, the response of law enforcement to these protests was often heavy-handed, with police deploying tear gas, rubber bullets, and other aggressive tactics to disperse protesters.
In contrast, the police response to the storming of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021, was notably subdued. Many commentators noted the stark contrast between the police response to the BLM protests and the Capitol riot, with police appearing to be caught off guard by the latter despite ample warning of potential violence.
Former President Trump also drew criticism for his comments regarding the two events. While he referred to BLM protesters as "thugs" and "anarchists," he described the Capitol rioters as "very special people" and "patriots." Russian President Vladimir Putin also weighed in on the debate, criticizing the "disorder" of the BLM protests and questioning the arrests of Capitol rioters.
In the months that followed, researchers and advocates worked to combat disinformation about the BLM movement, which had become a target of Russian propaganda efforts. Despite claims by some conservative politicians and media outlets that the BLM protests were violent and destructive, data showed that the vast majority of protests were peaceful.
In August 2021, a report by the Department of Justice's Inspector General found that the Trump administration had "deliberately targeted" BLM protesters and other demonstrators with aggressive law enforcement tactics. The report also criticized the administration for its use of tear gas and other crowd control measures against peaceful protesters in Washington, D.C. in June 2020.
Despite these findings, some supporters of the Capitol rioters continued to draw false equivalencies between the two events, with some even arguing that BLM protesters should face similar criminal charges. However, records released in August 2021 showed that the vast majority of Capitol rioters were not facing serious charges, and that the Justice Department had not been unfairly lenient towards them.
In May 2022, a former defense secretary alleged that Trump had privately called for BLM protesters to be shot during the 2020 protests, while in December 2021, Trump claimed that the movement's original message was "kill the police." These comments underscored the ongoing politicization of the BLM movement and the deep divides in American society over issues of race and policing.
Written with ChatGPT on April 30, 2023