Alicia Garza Says FBI Foiled Plot

One of the co-founders of the Black Lives Matters movement says she was notified by federal authorities about a possible violent plot targeting her. Alicia Garza tweeted Friday afternoon about the potential threat to her life and others and used it as a rallying call for voters to help get Donald Trump out of the White House.

The news followed recent reports of foiled plans to kidnap governors and overthrow state governments just days ahead of a presidential election that has a nation braced for an outpouring of anger no matter who wins.

Garza, who along with Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi founded Black Lives Matter in 2013, tweeted that the FBI paid her a visit to tell her the federal law enforcement agency had arrested a suspected white supremacist who was armed and has her name on a list.

 

 

“They arrested a man in Idaho on weapons charges who they believe was affiliated with white supremacist groups,” Garza tweeted. “They found my name on a list in his home, alongside others.”

There were no details about who else was on the list and what the people on the list had in common, if anything. But the news seemed to be the latest instance of the president — who infamously refused to denounce white supremacy and called on a far-right group with a history of violence to “stand by” during a debate earlier this month — inspiring vigilantes to plot politically motivated violence.

Garza made that same connection in a subsequent tweet that blamed Trump for the apparent threat against her life.

“This is why this President is so dangerous,” Garza tweeted in part. “He is stoking fires he has no intention of controlling.”

She said she was “ok” but the circumstances were not.

“Vote this muthafucka out,” she added. “For real.”

 

The FBI’s visit to Garza came a little more than a week after it was reported that members of an extremist militia plotted to kidnap the Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, both Democrats. Northam reacted similarly to Garza and placed the blame squarely on Trump.

“These threats and this rhetoric is not coming from another country,” he said Oct. 13. “It’s coming from Washington.”

Garza is currently the principal of the Black Futures Lab, a nonprofit political organization that recently released the results of its poll which confirmed that Black voters are more than ready for Trump to be voted out of office.

“We are voting for our lives this November. Black voters are saying loudly and clearly that they are unhappy with the country on every single level — with the direction of this country, Trump’s presidency, and overall economic conditions — and that their votes can help to put our country on the path toward progress,” Garza said as the poll’s results were released Oct. 6.

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