Introduction

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On March 8, 1971, the Citizens Commission to Investigate the FBI broke into an FBI field office in Media, Pennsylvania. They retrieved documents that would go on to reveal an FBI "Counter Intelligence Program," commonly referred to as COINTELPRO. The Counter Intelligence Program was a covert, joint operation between the FBI, CIA, and other agencies. In addition to Civil Rights activists and leaders, they targeted the American Indian Movement, anti-war activists, feminist groups, animal rights activists, communists, and a host of others who were deemed a threat to the status quo.

As part of COINTELPRO, the federal government openly murdered Black activists, wrote letters encouraging people to kill themselves, tried to break up relationships, intentionally sowed conflict and chaos, and discredited activists through tactics including smear campaigns and psychological warfare.

Since the revelation of these "counterintelligence" operations in 1971, the federal government has claimed that it no longer uses such tactics. The state makes public partnerships with marketable activists. It invites activists to speak at political conventions. It tweets celebratory rhetoric on the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, who was assassinated by the state.

But leaked FBI documents from 2017 revealed a BLM-era program called "Iron Fist" was targeting so-called "Black identity extremists." Once this information was revealed, the FBI claimed to have discontinued the "Black identity extremist" label as well. (This label is not anomaly. Canadian police surveilled First Nations leaders and activists for decades as part of their covert “native extremism program.”)

Despite claims that there is no modern-day "counterintelligence program," ever since Ferguson, a number of people who the feds and police have identified as local BLM leaders have been tracked by the FBI, or have died under questionable circumstances. Still others have been separated from community, or experienced apparent "mental health problems."

We said the names of people killed by police, yet the movement has failed to say our names as well. It just moved on to a different death in a different city.

This is my story:

In June of 2020, while living and protesting in Seattle, I was given a tape that concerned an elected Democrat and an offer of $1 million to shut down the BLM protest I was participating in. After receiving this tape, the feds began trying to entrap me in crimes via other "activists" as well as a family member. I moved to Philadelphia at the end of 2020. I continued to try to tell the story of what really happened to us in Seattle that summer, at an encampment that made international headlines. By 2023, I found myself living the life of a whistleblower, complete with intimidation, vehicle malfunctions, hacking, surveillance, and unambiguous psychological warfare. There is evidence that Philadelphia police are involved in this harassment.

I made a statement in June of 2025 about what's happening to me. The next morning, I opened my front door to find one of my locks had been tampered with. Other forms of harassment followed. I have not spoken publicly since.

There is, most certainly, still an Iron Fist, and it has wrapped around me. These essays will provide further information about my lived experience with a counterintelligence campaign.

Please understand that this is a call to action to seek justice on my behalf, in case I do not see the day where I can do so for myself. I'm writing this because I cannot let the state pen my obituary. I am therefore writing because I must.