- Wikimedia Commons
- Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum
That will presumably all come out of an investigation Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum is ready to pay $88,000 for. Maybe it will come out sooner. For now, the only person who we know for sure attracted the attention of at least one DOJ criminal investigator is Erious Johnson, the DOJ's director of civil rights.
It's baffling—as everyone's pointed out by now—that the DOJ would single out a racial equity movement like #BlackLivesMatter for criminal scrutiny. It also may have been illegal under Oregon law, a possibility even Rosenblum isn't ruling out.
But for a better idea how ludicrous the DOJ's probing was, let's look at some of the tweets that the department apparently felt merited scrutiny. Johnson is a frequent tweeter, and in the last year has used the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag fairly regularly (along with #mealsonwheels, #blackgirlsrock, #portland, and countless others). It almost always accompanies a link to a news report or opinion piece of some sort. In the most-recent instance, from October 26, Johnson links to a piece about the movie Goosebumps not having any white protagonists.
'Goosebumps' full of fun — but only white heroes https://t.co/uCtO89mF9s #alivewhileblack #blacklivesmatter
— Erious J., Jr. (@EriousEsq) October 26, 2015
There's not a whiff of controversy about any of it, let alone criminality. Yet, according to Johnson's wife, Urban League of Portland President Nkenge Harmon-Johnson, the tweets were enough to merit an investigatory file on Johnson—a file that landed on Rosenblum's desk. She's been frank about calling it "profiling," but we need to know more about the sequence of events. Anyway, here's a sampling, just to drive home how ridiculous it is.
All in 2gether now: Mentoring Is Desparately Needed in the Black Community http://t.co/1Kcnu1l7e3 #blacklivesmatter #alivewhileblack
— Erious J., Jr. (@EriousEsq) September 29, 2015
One for all...Rap's Response to Police Brutality http://t.co/FuiHhsyecc #alivewhileblack #blacklivesmatter #hiphop
— Erious J., Jr. (@EriousEsq) September 8, 2015
42 U.S.C. sec 1983; Look it up: Cop fired after giving Nazi salute at KKK rally http://t.co/B2p4dxFupx #alivewhileblack #blacklivesmatter
— Erious J., Jr. (@EriousEsq) September 3, 2015
Evacuate your sleep...Being an 18 yo Black Man a Year After Mike Brown http://t.co/ttjyza6z3k #alivewhileblack #blacklivesmatter
— Erious J., Jr. (@EriousEsq) August 25, 2015
A Real American, indeed...Hulk Hogan uses n-word (repeatedly), fired by WWE http://t.co/TheVEHalcq @wwe #RacismInAmerica #blacklivesmatter
— Erious J., Jr. (@EriousEsq) July 24, 2015
We Must Not Forget Black Women Are Victims Of Police Brutality, Too http://t.co/dAKJHHbbJC #rekiaboyd #blacklivesmatter #alivewhileblack
— Erious J., Jr. (@EriousEsq) May 1, 2015
And to end on a note of bitter irony....
Wait till they get a load of US...Oregon AG forms police profiling working group http://t.co/QIeQ1F28O9 #straightouttaPDX #Portland
— Erious J., Jr. (@EriousEsq) August 27, 2015