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Black Lives Matter

Source: Michael B. Thomas / Stringer / Getty

A Department of Justice investigator is under fire after being caught using surveillance to target Black Lives Matter leaders.

Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum confirmed the staff member’s involvement. His name has not been released to the public yet.

‘They were looking for anti-police sentiments, potential threats to police,’ Rosenblum said in a statement.

The agent had complied files of information about BLM activists, using social media hashtags like #blacklivesmatter to guide his search, AKA witch hunt.

The rogue sleuth would have gotten away with it, if it wasn’t for Urban League of Portland’s president Nkenge Harmon Johnson.

In an ironic twist, a member of Rosenblum’s cabinet, who happens to be married to Johnson, was profiled in the search. An alert was raised, and Johnson sent a letter to Rosenblum’s office.

‘It is improper and potentially unlawful for the Oregon Department of Justice to conduct surveillance and investigations on an Oregonian merely for expressing a viewpoint or being a part of a social movement,’ Johnson explained to the Huffington Post.

‘We are convened that such unwarranted investigations are racially motivated and create a chilling effect on social justice advocates, political activists and others who wish to engage in discourse about the issues of our time,’ she continued.

None of us are naive to the fact that Big Brother is real, especially in this age of viral video and social media, but it’s offensive that this guy thought of the equality group as a threat.

It comes as no surprise though, since any group of empowered young black people has always been considered, in the eyes of the law, to be dangerous.

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