We have to stop "Black Identity Extremist" police trainings at all costs.

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    We have to stop "Black Identity Extremist" police trainings at all costs.

    Police are now officially training on how to target the FBI's new label for Black activists--"Black Identity Extremists." On Nov. 2 St. Paul police are gathering for a "Domestic Terrorism and Extremist Groups" training conflating white supremacists with those fighting for Black people's right to live. It's no different than the FBI's COINTELPRO operation to take down the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements and we have to stop it at all costs. 

    While the term "Black Identity Extremist" is new, this tactic and training are not. Leaked documents from 5 years ago detail the falsehoods taught to police in this exact same "Domestic Terrorism and Extremist Groups" training, but instead of "Black Identity Extremist" they labeled us as "Black separatists." A recent training description from a year ago in Chicago even went so far as to name "Black Lives Matter" directly as the threat. 

    Minnesota has already come under fire for trainings that cause militaristic and paranoid policing practices. Last year, they faced controversy around a "Bulletproof Warrior" training that Philando Castile's killer actually attended. Houston police won't even pay for their officers to receive the training because it was too violent. This "Black Identity Extremist" training is no different--teaching police to see activists as terror threats as opposed to civilians practicing their 1st Amendment right to protest. 

    We cannot allow this misinformation to be taught to police and paid for by taxpayers. That's why we're calling on the Mayor of St. Paul and head of St. Paul Police Department to cancel the training and reject any further trainings that target our movement. Will you sign the petition?

    This is the message we'll send to St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and St. Paul Police Department: 

    Here is the Petition:
    "Black Identity Extremist" is a made-up term to target activists, not terrorists. Please cancel the Nov. 2nd "Domestic Terrorism and Extremist Groups" training and reject any future trainings that encourage police to target and surveil non-violent Black activist movements.