I’m a Black staffer at WIRED. My position feels more precarious than ever. There’s a reason for that.

Two Alabama Black Lives Matter activists accused of setting a shopping cart on fire as part of a protest against the fatal police shooting of a young Black man have been charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, in what one supporter calls a “railroading.” The federal charge unveiled as part of a superseding indictment against Mercutio Southall, 41, and Lillian Colburn, 26, alleges that the pair committed terrorism through an arson at a Walmart Supercenter in Homewood, a Birmingham suburb, on Aug. 22. “They’ve been trying to label Black Lives Matter a terrorist movement,” RaShaun Whetstone, a friend of Southall and Colburn, told __Raw Story__. “This is a railroading.” The indictments come as President Donald Trump attempts to paint left-wing activism as “domestic terrorism,” through a _national security memorandum_ that accuses activists of undermining “support for law enforcement” in order “to justify and encourage acts of violent revolution.” This month, Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a _memo_ instructing the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Forces, which include local law enforcement partners, to prioritize investigations of antifascist groups. Echoing Trump’s national security memo, Bondi _claimed_: “These domestic terrorists use violence or the threat of violence to advance political and social agendas, including opposition to law and immigration enforcement; extreme views in favor of mass migration and open borders; adherence to radical gender ideology, anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, or anti-Christianity.” ## ‘Not even Mercutio’s MO’ Luke Baumgartner, a research fellow at the Program on Extremism at George Washington University, told __Raw Story__ the Alabama case is, as far as he knows, the first time the federal government has applied the material support to terrorists charge to Black Lives Matter protesters. Southall and Colburn pleaded not guilty. Whetstone told __Raw Story__ he believes Southall and Colburn to be falsely accused. He said the alleged crime was completely out of character for Southall, who as an early leader of Black Lives Matter became one of the most high-profile racial justice activists in the Birmingham area. Whetstone added that Colburn doesn’t match the person seen in store surveillance video. Homewood has seen protests since June, when an 18-year-old Black man, Jabari Peoples, was fatally shot by an unidentified police officer at a city park. Police said the shooting followed a struggle, after which Peoples attempted to retrieve a handgun from his car, according to _WVTM 13_. Peoples’ family and a young woman who was with him say he was unarmed. Community members have held several protests resulting in multiple arrests, WVTM 13 reported. The news station quoted a leader of the Birmingham chapter of Black Lives Matter as saying they planned to disrupt businesses until their demands, including the release of police body camera video, were met. Homewood police said in a _press release_ shortly after Southall’s arrest on state charges that detectives obtained evidence he attended a protest at the park on the day of the alleged arson. The police allege Southall traveled from the protest to Walmart, and accuse him of filling “a shopping cart full of rags, blankets, charcoal bags, small engine fuel, and paint thinner,” then pre-positioning “the shopping cart in a clothing aisle,” before returning to the protest. Southall was charged in state court with arson and first-degree criminal mischief. The police said at the time they were working with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms “on pursuing federal arson charges.” Colburn was arrested on identical charges. AL.com _reported_ that detectives testified that Colburn accompanied Southall from the protest to Walmart and the two loaded the cart together, then left in a car that investigators determined was registered to Colburn. Later, investigators said, a woman wearing a blond wig, identified as Colburn, returned to the store and ignited the cart. Whetstone told __Raw Story__ he doesn’t buy prosecutors’ claims. “It’s not even Mercutio’s MO,” he said. “Never has he done anything like that. Being who he is, he’s going to set a shopping cart on fire? What the hell kind of sense does that make?” Federal prosecutors obtained an indictment for arson in late October. A month later, a grand jury returned a superseding indictment adding the charge of material support to terrorists. Southall and Colburn could not be reached for comment. An announcement by the FBI’s Birmingham office last week did not mention the defendants’ ties to Black Lives Matter, but characterized them as “violent actors.” “Let it be clear: While peaceful protesting is a protected right, arson and destruction of property are violent crimes that will not be tolerated in our community,” Special Agent in Charge Dave Fitzgibbons _said_. Baumgartner told __Raw Story__ : “It’s not surprising they would levy this charge given that their focus has shifted [to the left]. They’re focusing on these left-wing or anarchist groups. Coming at them with all the tools in their toolkits is definitely in line with their stated strategy.” The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Northern Alabama did not respond to a question about whether AG Bondi played any role in the decision to charge the defendants with terrorism. A spokesperson said the office did not comment on ongoing litigation. ## ‘Federal crime of terrorism’ Federal _statute_ makes it a crime to act in support of “an offense identified as a federal crime of terrorism.” Federal prosecutors have applied the material support to terrorists charge to white supremacist groups and activists, recently including _Dallas Erin Humber_, the leader of Terrorgram Collective, who is linked to a mass shooting targeting LGBTQ+ people in Slovakia and a deadly school shooting in Brazil, in addition to plots to assassinate politicians and attack the power grid. The _United States_, _Canada_ and _New Zealand_ have all designated Terrorgram as a terrorist entity. In _another case_, in 2022, four white supremacists pleaded guilty to material support to terrorists, for plotting to carry out coordinated attacks on the power grid in an attempt to instigate race war. The charge is also being used to pursue violent nihilist groups. Writing with Barry Jonas, Baumgartner _noted_ in the journal __Just Security__ that in October, for the first time, federal prosecutors indicted a leader of 764, a nihilist network, for conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists. The government alleges that 764 leader Baron Martin manipulated child victims to self-harm. Baumgartner and Jonas wrote: “By charging Martin with conspiring to provide material support for terrorists, the shift represents a long-overdue recognition that such conduct is not just depraved — it is terrorism.” Last week, Canada _became_ the first country to _list_ 764 as a terrorist entity. A closely related and better-known statute making it a crime to knowingly support “a foreign terrorist organization” has been used frequently since the Sept. 11 attacks to prosecute American citizens who attempted to join jihadist groups such as al-Qaida and ISIS. Baumgartner said federal prosecutors now appear to be utilizing the material support charge with increasing frequency against defendants across the ideological spectrum. Last month, prosecutors in Texas obtained an indictment against eight defendants for providing material support for terrorists, regarding an attack on an ICE facility. The government has named one defendant as firing a weapon at law enforcement, while _alleging_ others ignited fireworks, destroyed a surveillance camera, and vandalized vehicles and a shed. ## ‘Cause of justice’ Birmingham is a Southern city known as a cradle of the Civil Rights movement, where the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. launched a massive desegregation campaign in 1963, in which child marchers were met with police dogs and firehoses. In his famous _“Letter from Birmingham Jail,”_ King excoriated “the white moderate” and called himself an “extremist for the cause of justice.” Martin Luther King, Jr. (Wikimedia Commons) Of the two activists now facing federal charges, Southall has a long history of activism — which has seen him singled out by Trump for verbal abuse. In November 2015, the activist was forcibly ejected from a Trump rally in Birmingham. After Southall disrupted the event by chanting, “Black lives matter,” the __Washington Post__ _reported_ that video showed him falling amid a throng of white men who appeared to kick and punch him. A __Post__ reporter observed a man put his hands on Southall’s neck and a female onlooker shout, “Don’t choke him!” “They said, ‘Go home, n-----, and somebody punched me,” Southall _told_ Al.com. Speaking to Fox News, Trump _reportedly_ said: “Maybe he should have been roughed up, because it was absolutely disgusting what he was doing. “I have a lot of fans, and they were not happy about it. And this was a very obnoxious guy who was a troublemaker who was looking to make trouble.” ## ‘Untethered from reality’ Despite Trump’s hostility, conservative efforts to get Black Lives Matter designated as a terrorist group did not gain traction in his first term. In 2017, the FBI drew criticism for an internal _assessment_ that appeared to classify BLM activists as “Black Identity Extremists” who posed a threat of lethal violence. Three years later, a _law enforcement training group_ characterized BLM protesters as “terrorists.” It also drew rebuke, one advocate for police reform calling the characterization “untethered from reality” and worrying that it could lead “to people dying unnecessarily.” In the South, the Ku Klux Klan long waged a campaign of terror which succeeded in intimidating Black people from exercising their right to vote and ousting multiracial governments. Whetstone noted that the U.S. government has never designated the Klan as a terrorist organization. “Black Lives Matter ruffles a few feathers, and they want to call us terrorists,” he said. “This is just one small step in how they normalize punishing anyone who is associated with any liberation movement. They’re trying to criminalize it.”

The dad was stabbed to death after a 999 call handler classed him low risk, an inquest has found

The marker within Oakwood Cemetery honors James T.S. Taylor.

Chi Ossé, a 27-year-old Black gay member of the New York City Council, has filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission for a potential run for the U.S. House of Representatives, challenging Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in the Democratic primary in New York’s Eighth Congressional District, based in Brooklyn. “The Democratic Party’s leadership is not only failing to effectively fight back against Donald Trump, they have also failed to deliver a vision that we can all believe in,” Ossé said in a statement to _Axios,_ which was the first to report the news of his filing. “These failures are some of the many reasons why I am currently exploring a potential run for New York’s 8th Congressional District.” So who is Chi Ossé? ## BLM organizer to youngest NYC Council member Ossé was elected to the council in 2021 at age 23, making him the youngest member and the only one from Generation Z. He represents the 36th District, which covers the Bedford-Stuyvesant and North Crown Heights neighborhoods of Brooklyn, and is up for reelection in November. He is cochair of the Brooklyn delegation. He was previously an organizer with the Black Lives Matter movement. **Related:** NYC Elects Record Six Out City Council Members “When George Floyd was murdered, it stirred something different in me — as it did in a lot of people, Ossé told _Vogue_ in 2022. “Obviously, I’ve seen Black folks killed by law enforcement before; however, this was different. I took to the streets and started protesting and was seeing the violence that the police were lashing out against nonviolent protesters. And that gave me this passion to continue going out every single day after that and organize with other people.” So a run for public office was a logical next step for him. The _Vogue_ interview came about because Ossé is known for his fashion sense and has appeared at the Met Gala. He often wears clothing from Black designers and businesses. “My identity is with me through everything that I put on and how I wear what I wear,” he told _Vogue._ “I like to dress my age and dress my sexuality and dress my race.” ## His priority issues On the City Council, Ossé has emphasized what his website calls “innovative and human-centered public safety solutions” and affordable housing. He has won passage of a law to provide anti-overdose medication at nightclubs, legislation to fight rat infestation, and the Fairness in Apartment Rental Expenses Act. The latter ends the practice of charging broker fees to tenants even if they found the apartment without a broker. He recently joined the Democratic Socialists of America, of which newly elected NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani is a member. “I joined DSA earlier this year because the movement surge that carried Zohran into office must grow into a tidal wave,” Ossé wrote in _Jacobin. _He continued, “DSA is unbought and unbossed. We wholeheartedly believe that the world can look different, that there can be enough to go around, and that we can make that our reality. Our power comes from building solidarity across the working class of every background and showing that when we fight together, we win.” “Socialism offers not just a structural strength to resist fascism but also a positive vision worth fighting _for,_ ” he added, while “Democratic Party leaders seem asleep at the wheel” in fighting Donald Trump. Ossé often uses TikTok and Instagram to explain his progressive policies. ## His relationship with Mamdani: It's complicated Ossé initially donated to two other candidates in the mayoral race, City Comptroller Brad Lander and state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, but he endorsed Mamdani in May. He was disinvited from Mamdani’s Election Night party, however, because it already known that Ossé was considering a run against Jeffries, who had finally endorsed Mamdani in October. “Mamdani has privately tried to discourage Ossé] from running,” _[The New York Times_ reported last week. “The mayor-elect and his team fear that another high-profile challenge from the left might compromise his own bid to push the Democratic establishment to support his affordability agenda.” **Related:** Here is New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's LGBTQ+ rights record Ossé plans to seek the endorsement of the Democratic Socialists of America. Mamdani has said he won’t necessarily follow all DSA endorsements, though. Mamdani also told reporters Monday, “I believe that there are many ways right here in New York City to both deliver on an affordability agenda and take on the authoritarian administration in the White House.” Some other progressives have cautioned against Ossé's run. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who represents New York's 14th Congressional District, told _Axios_ Monday that she wasn't aware of Ossé's candidacy, but added, "I certainly don't think a primary challenge to the leader is a good idea right now." Adam Green, cofounder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, told _The Hill, _“Especially at this moment, just after Mamdani’s big victory and House Democrats holding firm during the shutdown fight, it is not the right moment to launch a primary challenge to Hakeem Jeffries.” . Jeffries, first elected to Congress in 2012, has seldom had a primary challenger since then. He decisively defeated activist Queen Johnson in the 2022 Democratic primary. He was elected Democratic leader in November 2022. He has a record of perfect or near-perfect scores on the Human Rights Campaign’s Congressional Scorecard. Jeffries and his team “welcome this primary challenge” from Ossé and “look forward to a rigorous debate,” Justin Chermol, a spokesperson for Jeffries, told ABC News Monday. Another candidate, Vance Bostic, has announced a primary challenge to Jeffries for 2026, but little has been heard from him. He has completed a questionnaire for Ballotpedia, however. ## Following in the footsteps of ... The other Black gay members of the U.S. House, both Democrats, have come from New York City and the surrounding area. Ritchie Torres, from the Bronx-based 15th Congressional District, is in his third term. Mondaire Jones won a seat representing the 17th District, located in the NYC suburbs, in 2020, the same year Torres was first elected. After redistricting, he lost the Democratic primary in the 10th District in 2022, and he lost another bid to return to the House in 2024. In the U.S. Senate, Black lesbian Laphonza Butler of California was appointed in 2023 to fill the remainder of the late Dianne Feinstein’s term, but she did not run for the office in 2024. She is the only LGBTQ+ person of color to have served in the Senate.