About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

11 Colum. J. Race & L. Forum 1 (2021)

handle is hein.journals/cjrlfm11 and id is 1 raw text is: COLUMBIA JOURNAL OF RACE AND LAW FORUM VOL. 11 FEBRUARY 2021 NO. 1 COMMENT RACIALLY MOTIVATED SPYING PRETEXT: CHALLENGING THE FBI'S NEW REGIME OF RACIALIZED SURVEILLANCE Vinay Patel* This Comment critiques the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) surveillance policies against Black activism following changes in the FBI's threat terminology from 'Black Identity Extremism (BIE) in 2017 to Racially Motivated Violent Extremism (RMVE) in 2020. RMVE is a facially race-neutral category that includes both Black activists protesting racist violence and white supremacists who commit it. This change allowed the FBI to escape criticism of the BIE designation; however, the FBI's narrative that Black activism is dangerous persists, and its surveillance power over Black activists has only increased. To justify this move, the FBI has engaged in the novel practice of counter-profiling. This entails grouping white supremacists and Black activists, then citing the rising threat of white supremacist violence to justify increased surveillance of all RMVEs, including Black activists even though there is no reliable evidence of a violent extremist threat from Black activism. These FBI practices perpetuate a long history of racialized surveillance violating the Fourteenth Amendment because they demonstrate a racially discriminatory intent and use a racial classification that cannot survive strict scrutiny. * Managing Articles Editor, Columbia Journal of Race and Law, Volume 11. J.D. Candidate, Columbia Law School, 2021. The author would like to thank Professor Kimberl6 Crenshaw for sharing her extensive knowledge to guide and develop this piece, as well as the Columbia Journal of Race and Law staff, especially Joella Adia Jones, Michaela Bolden, Jacob Elkin, and Nicol6s Galvan, for their support and input throughout the writing and editing process.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most