To say that the Black Lives Matter movement has caused a lot of tension between the police and citizens would be putting it likely, but it appears that now federal authorities are going the extra mile to try and stop activists.
According to a report by The Guardian, Rakem Balogun was arrested in December of last year and held for 5 months without bail under suspicion of being a "black identity extremist." Balogun is believed to be the first person to ever be prosecuted under the secretive government effort to track and arrest those they think are a threat to the lives of police officers.
However, despite Balogun having made Facebook posts that were filled with anti-police messages, such as "oink oink bang bang" and "the only good pig is a dead pig," the FBI and prosecutors were unable to prove that Balogun had made specific threats against police. In order to help their case, they cited Alex Jones, and his conspiracy theory show, Info Wars, as proof that Balogun was a threat.
"They’re using a conspiracy theorist video as a reason to justify their tyranny?," said Balogun. "That is a big insult."
Balogun claims that he was dismayed about the killings of black men and women by police, and was only mocking the reactions that some people had when Alton Sterling and Philando Castile were killed.
While prosecutors were unable to charge him with a crime, and he's no longer in custody, he lost his house, vehicle, and job while he was detained.
