In perhaps the most threatening move to date in the Ferguson situation, a militant group is offering rewards for information on the whereabouts of Officer Darren Wilson and each “close family” member, many of whom are in hiding.
The group, calling itself “RbG Black Rebels” and led by a man who goes by the name “Zulu Gaddafi” (whose symbol and message are shown below), is offering $5,000 cash for the location of Wilson and $1,000 for that of a family member. As most Americans know, Wilson is the policeman who shot 300-lb robbery suspect Michael Brown in an apparent act of self-defense in Ferguson, Missouri, on August 9. The story has since captivated the nation and sparked protests and riots, which have included Molotov-cocktail-wielding thugs; more unrest is anticipated in the wake of the grand-jury announcement — expected this week — regarding whether or not Wilson will be indicted for the shooting.
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And the Black Rebels’ reward appears no idle threat. As the Daily Mail reports:
[I]n one of a series of incendiary tweets the RbG Black Rebels have stated … “Real $, no joke, no crime we just wana get his photo an ask him a few questions.”
And though the RbG Black Rebels insist this is not a bounty on the officer’s head, the chilling offer is set in the context of a stream of violent online posts boasting of ‘combat experience’, ‘stockpiling’ ammunition, cleaning out gun stores and being #WarReady.
The tweets are shown below.
Another of these tweets states “7.62cal will solve a lot of problems.” This refers to the caliber of ammunition used in the AK-47 rifle, the choice weapon of guerrilla groups the world over.
While the Michael Brown shot-pattern evidence and eyewitness testimonials appear to point to Officer Wilson’s innocence, this carries no weight with agitators thirsting for bloodshed. As the Mail also wrote, “Typical of the response elicited by the [monetary] offer is one follower’s demand, ‘@BlackRebels_Stl@OpFerguson Yank that bastard off the street. He is a murderer running free still.’”
In fact, the Ferguson area is so imperiled that Missouri governor Jay Nixon has declared a State of Emergency and called in the National Guard. Yet these official actions may not change the unofficial reality, expressed anonymously by a law enforcement officer who warned, “If you do not have a gun, get one and get one soon. We will not be able to protect you or your family.” This was posted at the online forum “St Louis Cop Talk” by a poster using the handle “A Concerned Cop,” reports the Mail. The officer ominously concluded, “Our gutless commanders and politicians have neutered us. I’m serious, get a gun, get more than one, and keep one with you at all times.”
And people are heeding this advice. As the Washington Post tells us, “Steve King, owner of Metro Shooting Supplies in Bridgeton about 15 minutes west of Ferguson, said the store sold 225-250 guns last weekend. Typical weekend sales are 30-40 guns. ‘One hundred percent of them are buying them because of Ferguson,’ King said. ‘These people are afraid.’” Other regional firearms dealers have seen a similar uptick in business.
Given that one of the white Ferguson agitators was recently quoted as saying “[W]e’re not going to get change in this society unless white people are just a little bit afraid,” it seems the protesters are getting what they want (insofar as the fear goes, anyway; the change may be not what they expect). But it seems as if no one has to encourage the Black Rebels in this regard. As Examiner.com’s Jim Kouri wrote, providing more examples of threatening language:
According to messages the group posted on its Twitter account, the group said they plan to keep warm by igniting a [sic] fires, but they don’t need firewood to burn. Gaddafi and his group also advised the protesters who plan to “take to the streets” when the grand jury’s decision is announced that they should “pack sidearms.” Also included on their Twitter messages is a link to a video on building bombs using household items, according to reports. [Emphasis added.]
Moreover, when reporters inquired as to what the group’s reaction would be if Wilson were not indicted — as leaks indicate will be the case — Gaddafi replied, “I’ll leave that to your imagination,” reports Kouri.
Yet these protests are not motivated solely by racial division. And they seem far from a grassroots phenomenon. For example, Jim Hoft at Progressives Today did report on Monday that Ferguson activists intend to single out white areas, with one black “trainer” saying he wanted to target people who “don’t look like me.” Yet it turns out this individual’s superior is a woman who is training many hundreds of agitators. Her name is Lisa Fithian.
And she’s an anarchist.
As to her background, Hoft tells us, “Lisa Fithian was a key organizer of the violent demonstrations that caused the shutdown of the 1999 WTO meetings in Seattle, Washington. She is an anti-capitalist revolutionary.”
This helps explain why a published map of protest targets provided by No Indictment.org includes entities — many of them businesses — that have nothing to do with the Mike Brown shooting. As Hoft writes at Gateway Pundit:
Most telling thing is the mark for Emerson Electric. Emerson has been in Ferguson for at least 50 years, long before Ferguson became a minority municipality. Yet not only do they mark Emerson they make note of the CEO’s salary. Maybe they’re mutating into an extortion group straight out of the playbook of Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Push Coalition?
The map also includes Olin Corporation Headquarters, the Clayton School District Office, Monsanto Headquarters, Anheuser-Busch Headquarters, the Ritz Carlton, and a business called Six Stars Market, among dozens of other targets. The list had initially included hospitals as well, but they’ve since been removed, presumably over fears involving bad press.
But while bad press may be rare in the politically correct media, bad will there and elsewhere is a different matter. Hoft also reports the Mike Brown protesters as saying, “Rioting and looting are the tools of those without a voice. The rioting and looting…was necessary. Without it we would not be standing here today.”
How long our Republic can stand in the face of such attitudes, and the failure to act by those who stand for them, is an open question.
Photo: Officer Darren Wilson