An online petition to U.S President Barack Obama to categorise ‘Black Lives Matter’ campaign and movement as a terrorist organization has gathered over 100,000 signatures.
This comes in the wake of 5 Police officers being killed as retaliation after two Black men Alton Sterling and Philando Castille were shot to death by Police officers last week even when they posed no threats or committed no crimes.
The petition, hosted on the whitehouse.gov website, was created one day before the attack on police in Dallas, but has picked up steam in its wake.
Read what the petition states:
‘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. 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.”
Petitions on the White House website need to reach 100,000 signatures in order to receive an official response. Consequently, at time of writing, over 100,000 signatures have been made.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson declined to define the massacre of 5 white police officers by a Black man as a hate crime, and said that it is not reflective of movements like Black Lives Matter.
“At a time like this when tensions are high, in the wake of events in Dallas and Baton Rouge and Minnesota and elsewhere, it’s important to remember that just as the shooter on Thursday night is not reflective of the broader movement to bring about change in police practices that any police officer who engages in excessive force is not representative of the larger law enforcement community, which with increasing frequency, reflects the community at large,” Johnson said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
