Two Black men were allegedly to be indicted in a bomb and assassination plot following a grand jury’s decision not to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the death of unarmed teen Michael Brown, but the grand jury’s decision to only indict the men on federal gun charges indicated there wasn’t enough evidence to support claims of a terroristic plot.
Brandon Orlando Baldwin and Olajuwon Ali Davis, members of the New Black Panther Party, were indicted in November on federal gun charges, but since then some media outlets have expressed outrage, claiming the men deserved much more serious charges.
The calls for charges related to terroristic threats comes from speculation and rumors that the two men were planning to blow up the St. Louis Gateway Arch and assassinate Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson and the county’s prosecuting attorney Bob McCulloch.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch ran reports that the men allegedly purchased a pipe bomb during an undercover sting by law enforcements.
Throughout the report, the Post-Dispatch attributes information to an anonymous source, but outside of nameless he-said, she-said there doesn’t seem to be much evidence to support claims that either of the men were planning a major terroristic plot such as assassinating two prominent figures and blowing up the Gateway Arch.
The same anonymous source also claim that the men wanted to buy more bombs but had to wait for one of their girlfriend’s EBT cards to be replenished.
Despite the story’s lack of evidence, it painted the perfect portrait of Black violence and exploitation of the welfare system that fueled many conservative outlets.
Much of the speculation arose from the fact that Davis openly condemned the judicial system in what many considered a radical tone following Brown’s death.
In an “affidavit of fact” posted on the official Washington University website, Davis wrote that the city of Ferguson was charged with the murder of “Aboriginal Indigenous American Michael Brown Jr.” and that the young teen was “assassinated by European colonial powers acting under the guise of corporate names including but not limited to: City of Ferguson, City of St. Louis, St. Louis County, City of Jennings, Delwood, Florissant, etc.”
Davis also proclaimed himself to be the chairman of the St. Louis chapter of the New Black Panther Party, which original Black Panther members say is not actually associated with their party.
Either way, both of the men’s affiliation with the party was enough to deem them terrorists in the eyes of the media and extreme right-wing conservatives.
