Prominent US Activist Admits He Infiltrated RNC Protest Groups as FBI Informant
Democracy Now | 06.01.2009 23:04 | Repression | Sheffield | World
Following is the transcript of an item from todays Democracy Now, the audio for the show can be found here: 
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/1/6/prominent_austin_activist_admits_he_infiltrated see also the Open Letter from Brandon Darby: http://www.indymedia.org/en/2008/12/918526.shtml
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/1/6/prominent_austin_activist_admits_he_infiltrated see also the Open Letter from Brandon Darby: http://www.indymedia.org/en/2008/12/918526.shtml
An Austin-based activist named Brandon Darby has revealed he worked as an FBI informant in the eighteen months leading up to the Republican National Convention. Darby has admitted to wearing recording devices at planning meetings and wearing a transmitter embedded in his belt during the convention. He is expected to testify on behalf of the government later this month in the trial of two Texas activists who were arrested at the RNC on charges of making and possessing Molotov cocktails.
Guests:
Lisa Fithian, Austin Informant Working Group. She is a longtime organizer and activist based in Austin.
Carly Dickson, Member of the Austin People’s Legal Collective.
Joe England, Family friend of Brandon Darby
AMY GOODMAN: We turn now to a story out of Austin, Texas that’s shocked social justice activists nationwide. A prominent Austin-based activist named Brandon Darby has revealed he worked as an FBI informant in the eighteen months leading up to the Republican convention. Darby has admitted to wearing recording devices at planning meetings and wearing a transmitter embedded in his belt during the convention. He is expected to testify on behalf of the government later this month in the trial of two Texas activists who were arrested at the RNC on charges of making and possessing Molotov cocktails.
In a statement, a group of Austin-based activists called the Austin Informant Working Group condemned Darby. The group says, “[T]he emerging truth about Darby’s malicious involvement in our communities is heart-breaking and utterly ground-shattering to those of us who were closest to him.” The statement goes on to raise suspicions Darby may have gone beyond spying on the accused activists but in fact encouraged and provoked them into breaking the law.
But in an open letter to the activist community, Darby maintained he only acted to prevent violent actions by a small group that he says would have undermined the cause of social justice. Darby writes, “I strongly stand behind my choices in this matter… [W]hen people act out of anger and hatred, and then claim that their actions were part of a movement or somehow tied into the struggle for social justice only after being caught, it’s damaging to the efforts of those who do give of themselves to better this world. The majority of the activists who went to St. Paul did so with pure intentions and simply wanted to express their disagreements with the Republican Party. It’s unfortunate that some used the group as cover for intentions that the rest of the group did not agree with or knew nothing about… I made the choice to have my identity revealed and was well aware of the consequences for doing so. I know that the temptation to silence or ignore the voice of someone who you strongly disagree with can be overwhelming in matters such as this one… I have confidence that there will be a few people interested in discussion and in better understanding views different from their own, especially from one of their own. My sincere hope is that the entire matter results in better understanding for everyone,” he wrote.
Well, Brandon Darby has been involved in several activist groups. He is best known as a founder of the New Orleans-based group Common Ground Relief, which he helped start after Hurricane Katrina. In this clip from a Common Ground-produced documentary, he describes a community rebuilding project in New Orleans.
BRANDON DARBY: The community center, it’s really going to be an adolescent center. It’s going to focus on young men and women. And so, that’s what this place is going to be.
So we’re kind of going around, and we’re doing daycares. We are gutting homes. But the things we’re fixing up are daycares, community centers, churches. Everything in that place is going to come out. All of the furniture, all of the fixtures, all of—everything that was submerged needs to be removed.
They’ve gutted out the community center, and now it’s ready for minor electrical repair and then insulation and sheetrock. Then it will be, you know, pretty much ready to go.
AMY GOODMAN: We asked Brandon Darby to appear on the program, but he’s declined our request, citing the upcoming trial at which he’ll testify.
Today we’ll hear from several people who have known and worked with Brandon Darby. We’re joined in Austin, Texas by three guests. Lisa Fithian is with the Austin Informant Working Group. A longtime organizer and activist, she participated in organizing around the RNC protests in St. Paul, as well as with the Common Ground Relief collective in New Orleans. We’re also joined by Carly Dickson, a member of the Austin People’s Legal Collective. Also in Austin, we’re joined by Joe England. He is a longtime family friend of Brandon Darby’s who is also involved in progressive causes in Austin. He has come out in support of Brandon Darby since he has revealed his involvement in government spying, and when we called Brandon Darby, he said we should speak to Joe England.
We’re going to begin with Lisa Fithian. Your response to this news that has been breaking over the last few months?
LISA FITHIAN: Well, I think this community has really been reeling as a result of this news. We feel sickened. We feel traumatized. We feel as if somebody that we thought actually had good intentions and cared for this community has been a lie.
And, I mean, our greatest concern is, you know, the statement that Brandon made rings so hollow, because this wasn’t a situation of him intervening at the last moment to stop violence and prevent people from being hurt. We’ve seen through these documents, and we know from his experience that he has provoked people in the past to—or encouraged people to do similar things, and he’s been very disruptive. And I think that we’ve also seen that he’s been doing this for at least February 2007, if not longer. So a lot of his statement rings hollow and is just a continuation of the lie that this man’s been living for—we don’t know how many years.
AMY GOODMAN: Lisa Fithian, I just want to understand, are you saying you think he’s a provocateur, not just an informant?
LISA FITHIAN: I have no question that he’s a provocateur. I mean, I’ve worked with Brandon for a long time, and everywhere that Brandon has worked, there has been discord, tension, aggression. We know that—you know, the interesting thing is that now that we know for sure, more and more stories are starting to emerge about what Brandon has asked people to do in the past. So the more I find about these young men, as well, it’s clear to me that—
AMY GOODMAN: Like what?
LISA FITHIAN: Well, that, I mean, they are two young men from Midland, Texas who are angry at our government, who wanted to learn about organizing, and they wanted to make a difference in this world. They are not that experienced, and they were very impressionable. And when you have somebody like Brandon, who has some national notoriety, he’s—they were star-struck. And again, based on the documents—and I know Carly will talk more about this—these documents make it very clear that he was leading these young men down a road that unfortunately got them into a situation that they are now facing very serious consequences, years in prison, as a result of the work of Brandon Darby.
AMY GOODMAN: And what evidence do you have that Brandon Darby encouraged them? For example, well, they’re being charged with possessing or attempting to use Molotov cocktails.
LISA FITHIAN: Well, the evidence is in the FBI documents. And again, I would like Carly to speak to those a little bit more clearly. But when you look at the profile of the young men, when you look at Brandon’s history and record, and when you look to the documents which reveal, again, his meeting with them at the coffee shop he hangs out with, him training them in martial arts to engage the police, you know, it’s—you see this evolving, or an escalation.
And I think that this case is actually very important to the government, and that’s part of why this happened. And, you know, at some point we need to look at the escalation of the FBI at the RNC, and Homeland Security, all the agencies. And we believe they’ve tried to create situations that would lead to cases like Brad and David’s in order to try and paint this whole movement as a terrorist movement. And it’s just inaccurate. We are a movement that is engaging in First Amendment rights. We’re engaging in nonviolent protest. And it’s a tragedy that Brandon has made the choices that he has made. And a lot of people—
AMY GOODMAN: Lisa, you’re talking about twenty-three-year-old Bradley Crowder and twenty-two-year-old David McKay, each charged with one count of possession of firearms that were not registered to them, facing trial right now.
LISA FITHIAN: That’s right.
AMY GOODMAN: Let’s go to Carly Dickson, member of the Austin People’s Legal Collective. You all have now documents, the testimony of Brandon Darby, the recordings that he made. You have the transcripts of those when he was at meetings. Can you talk further about what you know?
CARLY DICKSON: Sure, that’s correct, Amy. And it is disingenuous for him to say that this was about stopping violence at the last minute. He started informing on his friends and the people he works with—these documents from 2007, he mentions dates in 2006. Some of these are outright lies. Some of these are very mundane facts. And he started reporting to the FBI before he had ever met David or Bradley and then did very much take them under his wings.
We have—the part of these documents that we still need is—we have the text messages they sent him. We have sides of conversations they had with him. We don’t have the information of what he was telling them in each case. And that’s going to be really important, because there is a very, very good case for entrapment here. We’ve got an action that him and David were going to pull off. It’s very clearly in here that they were talking about doing things together. And so, you have to ask the question: if David’s in jail and Bradley’s in jail, why isn’t Brandon Darby in jail for this crime? And the question that we’ve come up with is because he instigated this happening and was the mastermind over these two young men.
AMY GOODMAN: Joe England, you’re a family friend of Brandon Darby. He’s chosen you to be his spokesperson. Your response?
JOE ENGLAND: Yes. I have to go back to my history with Brandon. I have known him since he was a teenager, and I’ve been party to his entire intellectual development as an activist and have had many, many discussions about violent versus nonviolent direct action, you know, what the role of a citizen is, what rights a citizen has to oppose the government, all these things.
Well, what these women are saying is not consistent with his character. He is a man of tremendous principles, and I think he would die before he would become a provocateur or entrap people and be involved in an entrapment case. Lisa said that everywhere that Brandon has worked there has been discord. Well, Brandon is the kind of activist that really goes where things are happening, where there’s tension, where there’s—where the action is. I think it would be impossible for those situations not to be filled with stress and discord because of the pressures on the people that are involved. I don’t think that’s an indictment of his character.
It’s true that historically there are many cases of law enforcement, especially the FBI, being involved in entrapment and provocation, but this is not the case here. I think that—I mean, I know from his character that Brandon did not do these things, that Brandon did not encourage these people to break the law and that they did this of their own volition, if they did.
AMY GOODMAN: And, Joe England, how do you know this?
JOE ENGLAND: Because I know his character very well. I mean, when you’ve known someone for many, many years and been close to them, I think you can say with some surety whether, you know, they would have committed a very serious and duplicitous crime, which it would be if he had actually done this.
If you—one of the things that keeps coming up as a talking point is the idea that since Brandon was involved in this investigation before he had met McKay and Crowder, that this somehow proves that he is a provocateur or a professional informant of some sort. This arose—and this is according—I mean, Brandon has not discussed the internals of this case with me for obvious reasons. I think regardless of what we think about Brandon, these two young men deserve an impartial trial, and it doesn’t serve them well for us to be blabbering our opinions about the trial and witnesses therein. I wouldn’t have even been here, except that—
AMY GOODMAN: Well, let me put that—go ahead. Go ahead, Joe.
JOE ENGLAND: Well, I was just going to say that—
AMY GOODMAN: You wouldn’t have been here, because why?
JOE ENGLAND: Because I think it could only be—this kind of thing can only be detrimental to the trial. And I think it would be—our cause would be much better served if we waited until the trial is over and the facts could be aired, because I think a lot of this debate is taking place over—around a black box, a lot of things that we can’t discuss, because we don’t know or it can’t be discussed.
AMY GOODMAN: Lisa Fithian, your response to that?
LISA FITHIAN: Well, a couple responses. I mean, Joe, Brandon was obviously living a double life, so you might have known one Brandon, but we knew another Brandon. And I have a lot of personal experience. The discord and aggression and violence and abuse are real. I experienced it personally. And a lot of other people have, too, and more stories will come out.
I agree, it’s a shame that this is out, but Brandon is the one that released this publicly, not us. He was the one that released it. And when you tell—when you release something like that, and you say this, and you say some of these things that are lies, you know, we’re not saying that—we’re putting these things out not to say he’s a provocateur about when he started. It’s because he’s lying blatantly in the press.
And yes, it will take years for this stuff to come out. The Freedom of Information Act. We don’t know how long he’s been doing it. But we know that he has showed up at every important organization in this area. He has showed up in the immigrant rights organizations, in the refugee organizations, in the prison organizations, in the antiwar organizations. And there’s a pattern that we see over these years. And so, that’s my response, that, unfortunately, as a result of this man, you know, these two young men are facing serious consequences, and he is walking away was scot-free and coming off as a hero. And that’s just not the truth. It is not the truth.
JOE ENGLAND: Frankly, I mean, this sounds trite, but Brandon is a hero. I think the reason he’s been involved in so many things is because he cares very much and works very, very hard as an activist to fight for social justice.
LISA FITHIAN: But to build his reputation and to make himself a prominent leader and the glory—and the truth is—I want to correct something—he was not a founder of Common Ground. He went down there, but his work at Common Ground was about building his name. The hard work of cleaning those houses and really [inaudible] was done by other people.
JOE ENGLAND: Brandon did a lot of hard work. Brandon has done a great deal of hard work.
LISA FITHIAN: Yeah, he’s done some work, and he can be credited for some of the stuff.
JOE ENGLAND: Brandon has not claimed to be a founder of Common Ground.
LISA FITHIAN: Good.
JOE ENGLAND: I mean, this was something that was said—who said that, anyway? That’s not part of this debate.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, we’re going to end with Malik Rahim, who is the founder of Common Ground Relief collective.
LISA FITHIAN: Great.
JOE ENGLAND: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: Your feelings today, as we speak to you in New Orleans—you worked very closely with Brandon Darby—as you heard from his own testimony, his own letter to the community, that he has been an FBI informant?
MALIK RAHIM: I’m going to tell you, Amy, it broke my heart. It broke my heart. It literally broke my heart, because from the time that we founded—and I hate to—because Lisa is also a person that I love and respect, but Brandon was here from the very beginning. He was one of the founders of Common Ground. He was here. When we started Common Ground, Brandon was right here. He was out trying to find kin.
I don’t know what happened. It was a lot of animosity. It was a lot of things that we had to deal with, like Lisa said, and always Brandon was at the forefront in it. You know, I feel—I mean, in retrospect, as I look back at it now, you know, I feel guilty about a lot of things. One, I sent him over to Venezuela, and I’ve seen the mess that that turned out to be. And I put him in a position of authority that was manipulated by others that refused to come to me with it, because they knew how close I was with Brandon. And maybe that was manipulated by him.
And I knew from the very beginning that Homeland Security had infiltrated us. I knew that when I realized that to be critical of FEMA response as it related to Katrina, on the aftermath of Katrina, we took upon the wrath of Homeland Security. I was looking at it coming from many different ways. But God knows I didn’t think it would be from Brandon. And that part of it has literally—it has literally broken my heart, again, you know, that this has happened.
I know that there’s been many people that left from Common Ground in frustration, and many of it was due in part because of Brandon. Many young ladies, many individuals that he literally ran off, you know? It just tackles me. I couldn’t read the whole letter. You know, I haven’t been able to read it, because of the fact that every time I do, it breaks me down into tears.
AMY GOODMAN: Malik Rahim and Lisa Fithian, I want to thank you both for being with us. I also want to thank Joe England, a family friend of Brandon Darby, and Carly Dickson, member of the Austin People’s Legal Collective, speaking to us from Austin.
Guests:
Lisa Fithian, Austin Informant Working Group. She is a longtime organizer and activist based in Austin.
Carly Dickson, Member of the Austin People’s Legal Collective.
Joe England, Family friend of Brandon Darby
AMY GOODMAN: We turn now to a story out of Austin, Texas that’s shocked social justice activists nationwide. A prominent Austin-based activist named Brandon Darby has revealed he worked as an FBI informant in the eighteen months leading up to the Republican convention. Darby has admitted to wearing recording devices at planning meetings and wearing a transmitter embedded in his belt during the convention. He is expected to testify on behalf of the government later this month in the trial of two Texas activists who were arrested at the RNC on charges of making and possessing Molotov cocktails.
In a statement, a group of Austin-based activists called the Austin Informant Working Group condemned Darby. The group says, “[T]he emerging truth about Darby’s malicious involvement in our communities is heart-breaking and utterly ground-shattering to those of us who were closest to him.” The statement goes on to raise suspicions Darby may have gone beyond spying on the accused activists but in fact encouraged and provoked them into breaking the law.
But in an open letter to the activist community, Darby maintained he only acted to prevent violent actions by a small group that he says would have undermined the cause of social justice. Darby writes, “I strongly stand behind my choices in this matter… [W]hen people act out of anger and hatred, and then claim that their actions were part of a movement or somehow tied into the struggle for social justice only after being caught, it’s damaging to the efforts of those who do give of themselves to better this world. The majority of the activists who went to St. Paul did so with pure intentions and simply wanted to express their disagreements with the Republican Party. It’s unfortunate that some used the group as cover for intentions that the rest of the group did not agree with or knew nothing about… I made the choice to have my identity revealed and was well aware of the consequences for doing so. I know that the temptation to silence or ignore the voice of someone who you strongly disagree with can be overwhelming in matters such as this one… I have confidence that there will be a few people interested in discussion and in better understanding views different from their own, especially from one of their own. My sincere hope is that the entire matter results in better understanding for everyone,” he wrote.
Well, Brandon Darby has been involved in several activist groups. He is best known as a founder of the New Orleans-based group Common Ground Relief, which he helped start after Hurricane Katrina. In this clip from a Common Ground-produced documentary, he describes a community rebuilding project in New Orleans.
BRANDON DARBY: The community center, it’s really going to be an adolescent center. It’s going to focus on young men and women. And so, that’s what this place is going to be.
So we’re kind of going around, and we’re doing daycares. We are gutting homes. But the things we’re fixing up are daycares, community centers, churches. Everything in that place is going to come out. All of the furniture, all of the fixtures, all of—everything that was submerged needs to be removed.
They’ve gutted out the community center, and now it’s ready for minor electrical repair and then insulation and sheetrock. Then it will be, you know, pretty much ready to go.
AMY GOODMAN: We asked Brandon Darby to appear on the program, but he’s declined our request, citing the upcoming trial at which he’ll testify.
Today we’ll hear from several people who have known and worked with Brandon Darby. We’re joined in Austin, Texas by three guests. Lisa Fithian is with the Austin Informant Working Group. A longtime organizer and activist, she participated in organizing around the RNC protests in St. Paul, as well as with the Common Ground Relief collective in New Orleans. We’re also joined by Carly Dickson, a member of the Austin People’s Legal Collective. Also in Austin, we’re joined by Joe England. He is a longtime family friend of Brandon Darby’s who is also involved in progressive causes in Austin. He has come out in support of Brandon Darby since he has revealed his involvement in government spying, and when we called Brandon Darby, he said we should speak to Joe England.
We’re going to begin with Lisa Fithian. Your response to this news that has been breaking over the last few months?
LISA FITHIAN: Well, I think this community has really been reeling as a result of this news. We feel sickened. We feel traumatized. We feel as if somebody that we thought actually had good intentions and cared for this community has been a lie.
And, I mean, our greatest concern is, you know, the statement that Brandon made rings so hollow, because this wasn’t a situation of him intervening at the last moment to stop violence and prevent people from being hurt. We’ve seen through these documents, and we know from his experience that he has provoked people in the past to—or encouraged people to do similar things, and he’s been very disruptive. And I think that we’ve also seen that he’s been doing this for at least February 2007, if not longer. So a lot of his statement rings hollow and is just a continuation of the lie that this man’s been living for—we don’t know how many years.
AMY GOODMAN: Lisa Fithian, I just want to understand, are you saying you think he’s a provocateur, not just an informant?
LISA FITHIAN: I have no question that he’s a provocateur. I mean, I’ve worked with Brandon for a long time, and everywhere that Brandon has worked, there has been discord, tension, aggression. We know that—you know, the interesting thing is that now that we know for sure, more and more stories are starting to emerge about what Brandon has asked people to do in the past. So the more I find about these young men, as well, it’s clear to me that—
AMY GOODMAN: Like what?
LISA FITHIAN: Well, that, I mean, they are two young men from Midland, Texas who are angry at our government, who wanted to learn about organizing, and they wanted to make a difference in this world. They are not that experienced, and they were very impressionable. And when you have somebody like Brandon, who has some national notoriety, he’s—they were star-struck. And again, based on the documents—and I know Carly will talk more about this—these documents make it very clear that he was leading these young men down a road that unfortunately got them into a situation that they are now facing very serious consequences, years in prison, as a result of the work of Brandon Darby.
AMY GOODMAN: And what evidence do you have that Brandon Darby encouraged them? For example, well, they’re being charged with possessing or attempting to use Molotov cocktails.
LISA FITHIAN: Well, the evidence is in the FBI documents. And again, I would like Carly to speak to those a little bit more clearly. But when you look at the profile of the young men, when you look at Brandon’s history and record, and when you look to the documents which reveal, again, his meeting with them at the coffee shop he hangs out with, him training them in martial arts to engage the police, you know, it’s—you see this evolving, or an escalation.
And I think that this case is actually very important to the government, and that’s part of why this happened. And, you know, at some point we need to look at the escalation of the FBI at the RNC, and Homeland Security, all the agencies. And we believe they’ve tried to create situations that would lead to cases like Brad and David’s in order to try and paint this whole movement as a terrorist movement. And it’s just inaccurate. We are a movement that is engaging in First Amendment rights. We’re engaging in nonviolent protest. And it’s a tragedy that Brandon has made the choices that he has made. And a lot of people—
AMY GOODMAN: Lisa, you’re talking about twenty-three-year-old Bradley Crowder and twenty-two-year-old David McKay, each charged with one count of possession of firearms that were not registered to them, facing trial right now.
LISA FITHIAN: That’s right.
AMY GOODMAN: Let’s go to Carly Dickson, member of the Austin People’s Legal Collective. You all have now documents, the testimony of Brandon Darby, the recordings that he made. You have the transcripts of those when he was at meetings. Can you talk further about what you know?
CARLY DICKSON: Sure, that’s correct, Amy. And it is disingenuous for him to say that this was about stopping violence at the last minute. He started informing on his friends and the people he works with—these documents from 2007, he mentions dates in 2006. Some of these are outright lies. Some of these are very mundane facts. And he started reporting to the FBI before he had ever met David or Bradley and then did very much take them under his wings.
We have—the part of these documents that we still need is—we have the text messages they sent him. We have sides of conversations they had with him. We don’t have the information of what he was telling them in each case. And that’s going to be really important, because there is a very, very good case for entrapment here. We’ve got an action that him and David were going to pull off. It’s very clearly in here that they were talking about doing things together. And so, you have to ask the question: if David’s in jail and Bradley’s in jail, why isn’t Brandon Darby in jail for this crime? And the question that we’ve come up with is because he instigated this happening and was the mastermind over these two young men.
AMY GOODMAN: Joe England, you’re a family friend of Brandon Darby. He’s chosen you to be his spokesperson. Your response?
JOE ENGLAND: Yes. I have to go back to my history with Brandon. I have known him since he was a teenager, and I’ve been party to his entire intellectual development as an activist and have had many, many discussions about violent versus nonviolent direct action, you know, what the role of a citizen is, what rights a citizen has to oppose the government, all these things.
Well, what these women are saying is not consistent with his character. He is a man of tremendous principles, and I think he would die before he would become a provocateur or entrap people and be involved in an entrapment case. Lisa said that everywhere that Brandon has worked there has been discord. Well, Brandon is the kind of activist that really goes where things are happening, where there’s tension, where there’s—where the action is. I think it would be impossible for those situations not to be filled with stress and discord because of the pressures on the people that are involved. I don’t think that’s an indictment of his character.
It’s true that historically there are many cases of law enforcement, especially the FBI, being involved in entrapment and provocation, but this is not the case here. I think that—I mean, I know from his character that Brandon did not do these things, that Brandon did not encourage these people to break the law and that they did this of their own volition, if they did.
AMY GOODMAN: And, Joe England, how do you know this?
JOE ENGLAND: Because I know his character very well. I mean, when you’ve known someone for many, many years and been close to them, I think you can say with some surety whether, you know, they would have committed a very serious and duplicitous crime, which it would be if he had actually done this.
If you—one of the things that keeps coming up as a talking point is the idea that since Brandon was involved in this investigation before he had met McKay and Crowder, that this somehow proves that he is a provocateur or a professional informant of some sort. This arose—and this is according—I mean, Brandon has not discussed the internals of this case with me for obvious reasons. I think regardless of what we think about Brandon, these two young men deserve an impartial trial, and it doesn’t serve them well for us to be blabbering our opinions about the trial and witnesses therein. I wouldn’t have even been here, except that—
AMY GOODMAN: Well, let me put that—go ahead. Go ahead, Joe.
JOE ENGLAND: Well, I was just going to say that—
AMY GOODMAN: You wouldn’t have been here, because why?
JOE ENGLAND: Because I think it could only be—this kind of thing can only be detrimental to the trial. And I think it would be—our cause would be much better served if we waited until the trial is over and the facts could be aired, because I think a lot of this debate is taking place over—around a black box, a lot of things that we can’t discuss, because we don’t know or it can’t be discussed.
AMY GOODMAN: Lisa Fithian, your response to that?
LISA FITHIAN: Well, a couple responses. I mean, Joe, Brandon was obviously living a double life, so you might have known one Brandon, but we knew another Brandon. And I have a lot of personal experience. The discord and aggression and violence and abuse are real. I experienced it personally. And a lot of other people have, too, and more stories will come out.
I agree, it’s a shame that this is out, but Brandon is the one that released this publicly, not us. He was the one that released it. And when you tell—when you release something like that, and you say this, and you say some of these things that are lies, you know, we’re not saying that—we’re putting these things out not to say he’s a provocateur about when he started. It’s because he’s lying blatantly in the press.
And yes, it will take years for this stuff to come out. The Freedom of Information Act. We don’t know how long he’s been doing it. But we know that he has showed up at every important organization in this area. He has showed up in the immigrant rights organizations, in the refugee organizations, in the prison organizations, in the antiwar organizations. And there’s a pattern that we see over these years. And so, that’s my response, that, unfortunately, as a result of this man, you know, these two young men are facing serious consequences, and he is walking away was scot-free and coming off as a hero. And that’s just not the truth. It is not the truth.
JOE ENGLAND: Frankly, I mean, this sounds trite, but Brandon is a hero. I think the reason he’s been involved in so many things is because he cares very much and works very, very hard as an activist to fight for social justice.
LISA FITHIAN: But to build his reputation and to make himself a prominent leader and the glory—and the truth is—I want to correct something—he was not a founder of Common Ground. He went down there, but his work at Common Ground was about building his name. The hard work of cleaning those houses and really [inaudible] was done by other people.
JOE ENGLAND: Brandon did a lot of hard work. Brandon has done a great deal of hard work.
LISA FITHIAN: Yeah, he’s done some work, and he can be credited for some of the stuff.
JOE ENGLAND: Brandon has not claimed to be a founder of Common Ground.
LISA FITHIAN: Good.
JOE ENGLAND: I mean, this was something that was said—who said that, anyway? That’s not part of this debate.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, we’re going to end with Malik Rahim, who is the founder of Common Ground Relief collective.
LISA FITHIAN: Great.
JOE ENGLAND: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: Your feelings today, as we speak to you in New Orleans—you worked very closely with Brandon Darby—as you heard from his own testimony, his own letter to the community, that he has been an FBI informant?
MALIK RAHIM: I’m going to tell you, Amy, it broke my heart. It broke my heart. It literally broke my heart, because from the time that we founded—and I hate to—because Lisa is also a person that I love and respect, but Brandon was here from the very beginning. He was one of the founders of Common Ground. He was here. When we started Common Ground, Brandon was right here. He was out trying to find kin.
I don’t know what happened. It was a lot of animosity. It was a lot of things that we had to deal with, like Lisa said, and always Brandon was at the forefront in it. You know, I feel—I mean, in retrospect, as I look back at it now, you know, I feel guilty about a lot of things. One, I sent him over to Venezuela, and I’ve seen the mess that that turned out to be. And I put him in a position of authority that was manipulated by others that refused to come to me with it, because they knew how close I was with Brandon. And maybe that was manipulated by him.
And I knew from the very beginning that Homeland Security had infiltrated us. I knew that when I realized that to be critical of FEMA response as it related to Katrina, on the aftermath of Katrina, we took upon the wrath of Homeland Security. I was looking at it coming from many different ways. But God knows I didn’t think it would be from Brandon. And that part of it has literally—it has literally broken my heart, again, you know, that this has happened.
I know that there’s been many people that left from Common Ground in frustration, and many of it was due in part because of Brandon. Many young ladies, many individuals that he literally ran off, you know? It just tackles me. I couldn’t read the whole letter. You know, I haven’t been able to read it, because of the fact that every time I do, it breaks me down into tears.
AMY GOODMAN: Malik Rahim and Lisa Fithian, I want to thank you both for being with us. I also want to thank Joe England, a family friend of Brandon Darby, and Carly Dickson, member of the Austin People’s Legal Collective, speaking to us from Austin.
Democracy Now
Homepage:
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/1/6/prominent_austin_activist_admits_he_infiltrated
Additions
Statement on Brandon Darby, the 'Unnamed' Informant/ Provocateur in the "Texas 2
06.01.2009 23:17
Below is a statement by a group of Austin-based community organizers that documents that a local activist, Brandon Michael Darby of Austin, is a government informant/provocateur.
Dear friends and allies,
Below is a statement by a group of Austin-based community organizers that documents that a local activist, Brandon Michael Darby of Austin, is a government informant/provocateur.
Brandon now publicly acknowledges that he is working with the FBI and has been for some time.
Sometimes You Wake Up and It's Different: Statement on Brandon Darby, the 'Unnamed' Informant/Provocateur in the "Texas 2" Case from Austin, Texas
As part of the wave of government repression against activists protesting at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota in September, 2008, the FBI arrested two men from Texas, Bradley Crowder (22) and David McKay (23), and indicted them for allegedly possessing molotov cocktails. Crowder and McKay have been in jail since the RNC. They have not been granted bail and their trial has been postponed indefinitely. They are facing 7 to 10 years in federal prison.
As outlined in the affidavit against Crowder and McKay (found here: http://media.houston.indymedia.org/uploads/2008/09/090808_mckay_affidavit.pdf), the case was built almost entirely on the statements of two informants covertly working with the FBI, identified in the affidavit as "Confidential Human Sources" or just "CHS".
One of these informants was working in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area ("CHS 2" in the affidavit) and has been previously identified as Andy/Panda by people familiar with the situation and the informant. This statement ends speculation and anticipation concern about the identity of the other informant who was operating in Texas and Minnesota.
Using FBI documents previously unknown to us, but recently provided by one of the defendant's defense teams, we have positively confirmed the identity of the unnamed informant ("CHS 1" in the affidavit) as Brandon Michael Darby of Austin, Texas, based on the following evidence:
1) The FBI documents detail private conversations between Darby and several individuals named in the documents, including scott crow and Lisa Fithian, who have closely reviewed the documents and confirmed that they had the conversations in question with only Darby. In addition they can confirm his participation in events reported in the documents.
2) In verbatim reports from the informant to the FBI, the language, personality, skills, and interests of Darby are readily apparent to those who know him.
3) Cross-referencing the time line provided by the FBI in the documents with people familiar with the situation and course of events shows that Darby was in a position to have the incriminating conversations with McKay referenced in the affidavit.
4) In all of the documents Brandon Darby's name is conspicuously absent from any and all meetings and events which he attended and was involved in. In fact Darby's name only appears at the end of all the documents in a confession made by David McKay upon his arrest in Minnesota.
Numerous people familiar with both Brandon Darby and the legal situation of Crowder and McKay have verified this information.
Over the years Brandon Darby has established strong ties with individuals in many different radical communities across the United States. While it is not yet clear how long or to what extent Darby has been acting as an informant, the emerging truth about Darby's malicious involvement in our communities is heart-breaking and utterly ground-shattering to those of us who were closest to him.
Darby operated in and around the Austin community for about 6 years, and this is the same Brandon Darby who participated in the Common Ground Collective in New Orleans during 2005-2006. Based on the evidence we have, Brandon has been giving the state information since at least November 2007, but there is also information that suggests his informant activities may go back further, at least to 2006 or earlier. In the documents, Darby makes numerous remarks that are inflammatory and often untrue or grossly taken out of context. There is also compelling evidence to suggest that Darby, more than just reporting on Crowder and McKay's activities, was actively encouraging, enabling, and provoking the two men to take illegal action.
We recognize that suspicions and accusations of Darby have been circulating for some time now, including one corporate media article by David Hanners in the St. Paul Pioneer Press on October 29, 2008. Our aim in releasing this information is to clear the confusion that has circulated in the last few months.
We want to point out that while the conclusions of these suspicions and accusations turned out to be correct, these conclusions were not based on any verifiable facts, and thus, their public airing was inappropriate and irresponsible. When these accusations surfaced, we did what we could to quash them, trusting what we believed to be true about people in the absence of any compelling evidence to the contrary. Having been presented with new evidence, we are acting on it promptly and deliberately.
Through the history of our struggles for a better world, infiltrators and informants have acted as tools for the forces of misery in disrupting and derailing our movements. However, even more dangerous to our communities than setting people up, turning them in, or gathering information, informants sow seeds of fear, paranoia, and distrust that fester and grow in paralyzing and destructive ways. We must be forever vigilante against deceptive, malicious and manipulative actors, while we defend the trust and openness that give our communities cohesion and power.
Now we must get on with the work of supporting the "Texas 2". In light of these revelations and what we know about Brandon Darby, we believe they were set up and that the charges should be dropped. We urge you to join us in a campaign to "Free the Texas 2"
In solidarity,
The Austin Informant Working Group
For questions , comments or concerns please contact us:
texas.solidarity@gmail.com
Dear friends and allies,
Below is a statement by a group of Austin-based community organizers that documents that a local activist, Brandon Michael Darby of Austin, is a government informant/provocateur.
Brandon now publicly acknowledges that he is working with the FBI and has been for some time.
Sometimes You Wake Up and It's Different: Statement on Brandon Darby, the 'Unnamed' Informant/Provocateur in the "Texas 2" Case from Austin, Texas
As part of the wave of government repression against activists protesting at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota in September, 2008, the FBI arrested two men from Texas, Bradley Crowder (22) and David McKay (23), and indicted them for allegedly possessing molotov cocktails. Crowder and McKay have been in jail since the RNC. They have not been granted bail and their trial has been postponed indefinitely. They are facing 7 to 10 years in federal prison.
As outlined in the affidavit against Crowder and McKay (found here:
http://media.houston.indymedia.org/uploads/2008/09/090808_mckay_affidavit.pdf), the case was built almost entirely on the statements of two informants covertly working with the FBI, identified in the affidavit as "Confidential Human Sources" or just "CHS". One of these informants was working in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area ("CHS 2" in the affidavit) and has been previously identified as Andy/Panda by people familiar with the situation and the informant. This statement ends speculation and anticipation concern about the identity of the other informant who was operating in Texas and Minnesota.
Using FBI documents previously unknown to us, but recently provided by one of the defendant's defense teams, we have positively confirmed the identity of the unnamed informant ("CHS 1" in the affidavit) as Brandon Michael Darby of Austin, Texas, based on the following evidence:
1) The FBI documents detail private conversations between Darby and several individuals named in the documents, including scott crow and Lisa Fithian, who have closely reviewed the documents and confirmed that they had the conversations in question with only Darby. In addition they can confirm his participation in events reported in the documents.
2) In verbatim reports from the informant to the FBI, the language, personality, skills, and interests of Darby are readily apparent to those who know him.
3) Cross-referencing the time line provided by the FBI in the documents with people familiar with the situation and course of events shows that Darby was in a position to have the incriminating conversations with McKay referenced in the affidavit.
4) In all of the documents Brandon Darby's name is conspicuously absent from any and all meetings and events which he attended and was involved in. In fact Darby's name only appears at the end of all the documents in a confession made by David McKay upon his arrest in Minnesota.
Numerous people familiar with both Brandon Darby and the legal situation of Crowder and McKay have verified this information.
Over the years Brandon Darby has established strong ties with individuals in many different radical communities across the United States. While it is not yet clear how long or to what extent Darby has been acting as an informant, the emerging truth about Darby's malicious involvement in our communities is heart-breaking and utterly ground-shattering to those of us who were closest to him.
Darby operated in and around the Austin community for about 6 years, and this is the same Brandon Darby who participated in the Common Ground Collective in New Orleans during 2005-2006. Based on the evidence we have, Brandon has been giving the state information since at least November 2007, but there is also information that suggests his informant activities may go back further, at least to 2006 or earlier. In the documents, Darby makes numerous remarks that are inflammatory and often untrue or grossly taken out of context. There is also compelling evidence to suggest that Darby, more than just reporting on Crowder and McKay's activities, was actively encouraging, enabling, and provoking the two men to take illegal action.
We recognize that suspicions and accusations of Darby have been circulating for some time now, including one corporate media article by David Hanners in the St. Paul Pioneer Press on October 29, 2008. Our aim in releasing this information is to clear the confusion that has circulated in the last few months.
We want to point out that while the conclusions of these suspicions and accusations turned out to be correct, these conclusions were not based on any verifiable facts, and thus, their public airing was inappropriate and irresponsible. When these accusations surfaced, we did what we could to quash them, trusting what we believed to be true about people in the absence of any compelling evidence to the contrary. Having been presented with new evidence, we are acting on it promptly and deliberately.
Through the history of our struggles for a better world, infiltrators and informants have acted as tools for the forces of misery in disrupting and derailing our movements. However, even more dangerous to our communities than setting people up, turning them in, or gathering information, informants sow seeds of fear, paranoia, and distrust that fester and grow in paralyzing and destructive ways. We must be forever vigilante against deceptive, malicious and manipulative actors, while we defend the trust and openness that give our communities cohesion and power.
Now we must get on with the work of supporting the "Texas 2". In light of these revelations and what we know about Brandon Darby, we believe they were set up and that the charges should be dropped. We urge you to join us in a campaign to "Free the Texas 2"
In solidarity,
The Austin Informant Working Group
For questions , comments or concerns please contact us:
texas.solidarity@gmail.com
The Austin Informant Working Group
Homepage:
http://houston.indymedia.org/news/2008/12/66041.php
details and picture of FBI snitch Brandon Darby
06.01.2009 23:39
Brandon Darby
http://brandondarby.com/ Brandon Darby: Proud Snitch
Brandon Darby of Austin, Texas was an activist in the global struggle against capitalist neoliberalism.
Brandon Darby was also working undercover as a snitch for the FBI.
Suprisingly, he's proud to be an informant and has come out in the open about it.
This website intends to be a clearinghouse of information about Brandon Darby. We will continue to post more information as we can. Our goal is to spread as much information about Brandon Darby and his actions as we can in order to alert activists about this snitch, alert activists about the need for security culture within the movement and contribute as much as we can to the Stop Snitching campaign.
anon
Austin RNC Informant Brandon Darby is Provocateur Not Hero
06.01.2009 23:43
For Immediate Release
January 6, 2009
Austin RNC Informant is Provocateur Not Hero
Austin, TX – A group of Austin activists today released their conclusions from reviewing over 70 pages of FBI documents obtained through a legal case regarding alleged actions to protest the Republican National Convention (RNC). From reading the documents, and from their own experience with him, these activists have concluded that the FBI informant Brandon Darby did not heroically intervene to stop violence. Rather it appears that he actively sought out people that he could manipulate and entrap. The two Texas men that Darby was most closely associated with during the convention, Bradley Crowder and David McKay, are accused of making Molotov cocktails and have been in jail since early September. Their trial is set for January 26. The disclosure of Brandon Darby as the informant casts further doubt on the charges against these two men.
According to the FBI's documents, Darby, posing as an activist, had been covertly gathering information for the FBI since at least February 2007, twelve months before he ever met Crowder or McKay or knew of any plans for the RNC. "As an older seasoned activist, Darby had a lot of sway over Crowder and McKay, making them susceptible to his often militant rhetoric," said Gabby Hicks, who was in St. Paul with Darby during the Convention. "He was always the one to suggest violence, when the rest of us clearly disagreed with those strategies."
Darby has been characterized by many people who have known and worked with him as both persuasive and manipulative, with a history of provocation, instigation, and incitement. According to Lisa Fithian, who worked with Darby for years, "Brandon was always provoking discord and aggression, in the anti-war movement in Austin in 2003, in protests in Houston against Halliburton, and in disaster relief at Common Ground in New Orleans. I worked with Darby in all of those places and saw the disruption he caused."
The FBI documents make it clear that Darby did not restrict his informing to people he alleges were planning illegal activities. He also gathered information on numerous people who were engaged in lawful activism; including some who had no plans to attend the Republican Convention. "The wider net cast by Darby in his information gathering shows that he was part of an FBI campaign to suppress political dissent and activism," said Will Potter, an award-winning independent journalist. "By gathering information on law abiding activists and then defending his actions as stopping violence, Darby contributes to the public perception that political dissent is criminal, which has a chilling effect on free speech."
Because of Darby's leadership role and his militant rhetoric, two impressionable young men, who have been held without bail since September, now face 7 to 10 years in prison. As the prosecution prepares for trial, friends and family of McKay and Crowder are hoping for a not guilty verdict. "We miss him a lot," said Mckay's father. "Every night David calls – at this point those calls mean everything to me."
For more information contact the Austin Informant Working Group at texas.solidarity@gmail.com. People in this community are also available to speak to the media about their experiences with Darby and the results of his malicious actions.
Gabby Hicks traveled to St. Paul with Darby for the RNC and is named in the documents.
Lisa Fithian is local long-time organizer named in the documents and worked with Brandon in Austin, Houston, and NOLA.
Carly Dickson was a longtime friend of Brandon, represents Austin People's Legal Collective
Brent Purdue is a local activist who worked with Brandon.
Heather Mitchell is a local activist.
Scott Crow is a local long-time organizer named in the documents and a long-time friend of Brandon's.
January 6, 2009
Austin RNC Informant is Provocateur Not Hero
Austin, TX – A group of Austin activists today released their conclusions from reviewing over 70 pages of FBI documents obtained through a legal case regarding alleged actions to protest the Republican National Convention (RNC). From reading the documents, and from their own experience with him, these activists have concluded that the FBI informant Brandon Darby did not heroically intervene to stop violence. Rather it appears that he actively sought out people that he could manipulate and entrap. The two Texas men that Darby was most closely associated with during the convention, Bradley Crowder and David McKay, are accused of making Molotov cocktails and have been in jail since early September. Their trial is set for January 26. The disclosure of Brandon Darby as the informant casts further doubt on the charges against these two men.
According to the FBI's documents, Darby, posing as an activist, had been covertly gathering information for the FBI since at least February 2007, twelve months before he ever met Crowder or McKay or knew of any plans for the RNC. "As an older seasoned activist, Darby had a lot of sway over Crowder and McKay, making them susceptible to his often militant rhetoric," said Gabby Hicks, who was in St. Paul with Darby during the Convention. "He was always the one to suggest violence, when the rest of us clearly disagreed with those strategies."
Darby has been characterized by many people who have known and worked with him as both persuasive and manipulative, with a history of provocation, instigation, and incitement. According to Lisa Fithian, who worked with Darby for years, "Brandon was always provoking discord and aggression, in the anti-war movement in Austin in 2003, in protests in Houston against Halliburton, and in disaster relief at Common Ground in New Orleans. I worked with Darby in all of those places and saw the disruption he caused."
The FBI documents make it clear that Darby did not restrict his informing to people he alleges were planning illegal activities. He also gathered information on numerous people who were engaged in lawful activism; including some who had no plans to attend the Republican Convention. "The wider net cast by Darby in his information gathering shows that he was part of an FBI campaign to suppress political dissent and activism," said Will Potter, an award-winning independent journalist. "By gathering information on law abiding activists and then defending his actions as stopping violence, Darby contributes to the public perception that political dissent is criminal, which has a chilling effect on free speech."
Because of Darby's leadership role and his militant rhetoric, two impressionable young men, who have been held without bail since September, now face 7 to 10 years in prison. As the prosecution prepares for trial, friends and family of McKay and Crowder are hoping for a not guilty verdict. "We miss him a lot," said Mckay's father. "Every night David calls – at this point those calls mean everything to me."
For more information contact the Austin Informant Working Group at
texas.solidarity@gmail.com. People in this community are also available to speak to the media about their experiences with Darby and the results of his malicious actions. Gabby Hicks traveled to St. Paul with Darby for the RNC and is named in the documents.
Lisa Fithian is local long-time organizer named in the documents and worked with Brandon in Austin, Houston, and NOLA.
Carly Dickson was a longtime friend of Brandon, represents Austin People's Legal Collective
Brent Purdue is a local activist who worked with Brandon.
Heather Mitchell is a local activist.
Scott Crow is a local long-time organizer named in the documents and a long-time friend of Brandon's.
Austin Informant Working Group
Homepage:
http://houston.indymedia.org/news/2009/01/66155.php
Brandon Darby is Delusional, Self Serving and Vicious
06.01.2009 23:56
In a statement written to justify his activities as an FBI informant Brandon Darby opined, "It is very dangerous when a few individuals engage in or act on a belief system in which they feel they know the real truth and that all others are ignorant and therefore have no right to meet and express their political views." Yet this is the exact activity in which Darby engaged. Through his actions, Darby helped to create a narrative by police that activists/protesters are dangerous. That narrative allowed police to justify obscene expenditures on weaponry, touched off pre-emptive raids and detentions of people who had committed no crimes, and unleashed vicious assaults on people attempting to exercise our First Amendment rights during the RNC. Rather than "protecting the movement" as he implies in his statement, Darby brought down the wrath of the cops on thousands of activists and on the movement as a whole.
By a number of accounts, Darby instigated and encouraged conversations about illegal activities. Perhaps he will try to justify this as "smoking out 'bad' activists" but he is, in fact, an agent provocateur whose actions manufacture crimes where none exist. Further, he seems incapable of understanding the difference between hyperbolic expressions of bravado ("smack talk") and actions taken on such talk. His own actions are self-serving, delusional and depraved. His claimed alliances with social justice movements are farcical. Darby stopped being "one of us" the day he strapped on a microphone. He turned himself into just another cop wannabe posing as an activist.
Darby's level of self-deception is evident in his ignorance of the historical role of the FBI in this country. The FBI has long acted to destroy social justice movements. The FBI's Counterintelligence Program (COINTELPRO), which operated from 1956 to 1971, used everything from psychological dirty tricks to murder to "expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize" the activities of many social justice and liberation groups and individuals including the Black Panther Party, American Indian Movement, various women's rights organizations, NAACP, National Lawyers Guild, Dr. Martin Luther King and others. For more information, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO Further, it was an FBI informant who arranged and helped to perpetrate the massacre of five anti-racist union activists in Greensboro, NC in 1979. But one need not dig that far back into history to find FBI interference in social justice movements. Darby's own activities are but one example of recent FBI spying on anti-war activists and others who dare to challenge this government. If he is as concerned about violence as he claims, Darby should have steered clear of the FBI.
Darby expresses great concern about the conversations of activists yet he raises no similar concerns about the actual lawlessness and mass death and destruction wrought by the Bush regime. Despite ample proof that BushCo illegally spied on Americans, lied to bring us into the war in Iraq, engaged in torture, and committed a whole host of crimes against humanity, Darby focuses his energies on a few young activists whose only "crime" is loose talk. If Darby was sincerely concerned about proposed actions by some activists, he should have raised this with those individuals and within the group. The social justice movement is surprisingly good at self policing, but he never gave it that chance.
Brandon Darby betrayed the movement and the movement must reject his attempts to justify his actions and the tremendous damage they have caused. We must redouble our efforts to defend those who face the brunt of this legal system as a result of Darby's irresponsible and outrageous conduct.
Michelle Gross is president of Communities United Against Police Brutality and is active in providing legal and political support for people arrested during the RNC.
By a number of accounts, Darby instigated and encouraged conversations about illegal activities. Perhaps he will try to justify this as "smoking out 'bad' activists" but he is, in fact, an agent provocateur whose actions manufacture crimes where none exist. Further, he seems incapable of understanding the difference between hyperbolic expressions of bravado ("smack talk") and actions taken on such talk. His own actions are self-serving, delusional and depraved. His claimed alliances with social justice movements are farcical. Darby stopped being "one of us" the day he strapped on a microphone. He turned himself into just another cop wannabe posing as an activist.
Darby's level of self-deception is evident in his ignorance of the historical role of the FBI in this country. The FBI has long acted to destroy social justice movements. The FBI's Counterintelligence Program (COINTELPRO), which operated from 1956 to 1971, used everything from psychological dirty tricks to murder to "expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize" the activities of many social justice and liberation groups and individuals including the Black Panther Party, American Indian Movement, various women's rights organizations, NAACP, National Lawyers Guild, Dr. Martin Luther King and others. For more information, see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO Further, it was an FBI informant who arranged and helped to perpetrate the massacre of five anti-racist union activists in Greensboro, NC in 1979. But one need not dig that far back into history to find FBI interference in social justice movements. Darby's own activities are but one example of recent FBI spying on anti-war activists and others who dare to challenge this government. If he is as concerned about violence as he claims, Darby should have steered clear of the FBI. Darby expresses great concern about the conversations of activists yet he raises no similar concerns about the actual lawlessness and mass death and destruction wrought by the Bush regime. Despite ample proof that BushCo illegally spied on Americans, lied to bring us into the war in Iraq, engaged in torture, and committed a whole host of crimes against humanity, Darby focuses his energies on a few young activists whose only "crime" is loose talk. If Darby was sincerely concerned about proposed actions by some activists, he should have raised this with those individuals and within the group. The social justice movement is surprisingly good at self policing, but he never gave it that chance.
Brandon Darby betrayed the movement and the movement must reject his attempts to justify his actions and the tremendous damage they have caused. We must redouble our efforts to defend those who face the brunt of this legal system as a result of Darby's irresponsible and outrageous conduct.
Michelle Gross is president of Communities United Against Police Brutality and is active in providing legal and political support for people arrested during the RNC.
Michelle Gross
Homepage:
http://houston.indymedia.org/news/2009/01/66152.php
