The move itself is not only woefully out-of-touch with the current political climate, but also elicits the disturbing practice of surveillance by law enforcement in communities of color, especially of those advocating for racial justice. Black leaders throughout history have been targeted by the FBI including Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Angela Davis. Elbert Howard, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, was tracked by the FBI during his trips abroad and Fred Hampton, the founder of the Black Panther Party’s Illinois chapter was killed by Chicago police officers during a raid involving the FBI. And still today, Black Lives Matter activists are facing many of the same threats as those involved in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and1960s.

The American Civil Liberties Union and MediaJustice filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the FBI in March of last year over the agency’s refusal to provide records related to the 2017 Intelligence Assessment stating a fictional group of so-called “Black Identity Extremists” pose a domestic terror threat. The document—leaked to the press—sheds light on the FBI’s ongoing surveillance and prosecution of people of color pushing for racial equality.

These actions by law enforcement are often perceived as an attempt to discredit Black folks’ activism, and as Shireen Mitchell, a Black woman and founder of Stop Online Violence Against Women, describes, prioritizes the First Amendment rights of bigots over Black lives

“What happens to women of color speaking up about those issues, it is quite clear that we are seen as the attackers, the ones who are more harmful than the people who were causing the harm, the people who are participating in racism, sexism, and death threats,” Mitchell tells Supermaker during a phone conversation. “[The government] is protecting their free speech versus our ability to protect ourselves against them.”

“We still see people who want to say ‘all lives matter,” Mitchell continues. “Erasing what happens to us as if speaking up against the state, speaking up against the country is more violent than the harms that the state is imposing on us.”

Increasingly, technology and law enforcement have worked together to clamp down on activists with facial recognition software and social media monitoring. Despite these attacks, Mitchell doesn’t believe eliminating social media usage is the solution, however.

With the coronavirus outbreak still looming—and disproportionately impacting Black and Brown communities—the protests against systemic racism aren’t losing steam as the risk of death (whether from cops or COVID) is still very much a reality for people of color, especially the Black community. As mobilization efforts continue, Mitchell and other activists encourage alternatives to Zoom, like Signal and Jitsi. These free platforms offer stronger protections but have been viewed as less functional compared to Zoom. Additionally, she advises organizers to collect funds to be used for paid Zoom accounts.

“Organizers need to use technology to amplify their voices, but they also have to be wary of the technology that can cause them more harm down the road, because those who created those technologies, i.e. mostly white males, do not have their best interests at heart,” Mitchell concludes. “It doesn’t mean that you don’t organize. It means that you have to be clear about the weapons against you.”