Publish to Newswire
Add an EventFrom the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature
Brandon Darby (informant) writes article about ACORN
Brandon Darby was a volunteer at New Orleans Common Ground, noted for his aggressive personality and leadership qualities. He became a federal informant after encouraging two friends to make studded shields for the Republican National Convention. During the trial, it became clear that he had decided to work as an informant for the FBI for many months before this. ( review http://www.democracynow.org/2009/1/6/prominent_austin_activist_admits_he_infiltrated )
Now, Darby has published an article critical of ACORN organization, and
Now, Darby has published an article critical of ACORN organization, and
I first experienced ACORN in post-Katrina New Orleans. I was part of a relief organization, Common Ground Relief, which had been delivering much needed aid to the 9th Ward, an area that had been hit especially hard by the flood waters and by neglect. Rumors immediately began surfacing, questioning our motives and intentions. I was very confused by these rumors. Who was behind them? How could anyone question the vital work we were doing in the community? We lived and worked in the 9th Ward. We suspended our regular lives and, in many cases, left our families to travel to New Orleans to help those affected by Katrina and poverty. We slept on dirty plywood floors and shared everything we had with the residents. Most of us were white. Was our skin color the issue? I knew from personal experience that the majority of the Black 9th ward residents didn’t care what color our skin was. It took me awhile to get over the hurt I felt at such allegations and to find out where they were coming from.
common-ground-relief-in-the-lowe-2604-20070507-22
In the following weeks, I was made aware of the fact that ACORN had reopened its New Orleans office (several months after the storm). Various groups from around the city informed me that Acorn was upset with us because we were in “their” community and had not sought approval from ACORN to operate there. I was told that ACORN said that we were “privileged white people who had come to a Black community as saviors and we refused to work with local Black leadership.”
The more I pondered the matter, the more I realized what was happening. As usual in marginalized and impoverished communities, a small group of radical self-proclaimed leaders was insisting that all local aid and relief came through them—even if they were AWOL for several months. Though the majority of residents either hadn’t heard of ACORN or simply disagreed with their politics- ACORN insisted that they were THE Black leaders. This was upsetting to me. Sure, the local pastor we worked most closely with was Black; but that didn’t matter to ACORN. It was as if Pastor Johnson didn’t count because he didn’t evoke the name of Elijah Mohammed or Malcolm X. It was as if Pastor Johnson didn’t count because he didn’t submit to ACORN’s mandate that ACORN was the sole leadership of Black New Orleanians.
As then director of Common Ground Relief’s 9th Ward project, I was warned by many that ACORN would ruin me politically if I didn’t submit to their leadership. I believed in what I was doing and how I was doing it. I refused to submit. The political fallout was almost unbearable. I just kept my eyes on meeting the needs of the community. When confronted by adherents to ACORN’s brand of race analysis, I pointed out that ACORN was not there immediately after the storm, so I could not have sought their leadership even if I had wanted to.
Over the following years, that particular style of political attack was prominent in New Orleans. Anytime that ACORN was displeased, the other party was deemed a racist. If the other party disagreed with the label or with ACORN’s agenda- they were met with “of course you feel that way. You are a racist.” Though it is clearly woefully inaccurate and unethical to use such an accusation as a political attack and as a means of shutting down philosophical debate and discourse, some at ACORN didn’t let that stop them. I refused to submit to it. I believed in listening to the majority of the community, who were desperate for our help, and not only to the self-proclaimed leaders. I paid a dear price for it.
I returned to Texas after a couple of years adminst the political quagmire of post-Katrina New Orleans. My experience there with various groups was educational and life-changing, though some of these groups concerned me. Eventually I began to see some of them as dangerous and deceitful about their missions. This, along with a growing appreciation of my country helped lead me to work with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.
I was as proud of this new era in my life as I was of my time in New Orleans. I had the privilege of participating in efforts where lives were saved; both in the United States and in Israel. While working undercover with the FBI at the Republican National Convention in Minnesota, I helped to uncover a bomb plot. Two men had made firebombs with a homemade napalm mixture of gasoline and oil. Their initial targets were Republican delegates. These bomb-makers (domestic terrorists) later decided to attack a staging area for the Secret Service and other law-enforcement agencies. Fortunately, they were stopped and arrested.
I was asked, and agreed, to testify against them. As was expected, the more radical elements of the media began to attack both me as an individual and the FBI as a whole. One of the men accused plead guilty; the other hired an expensive defense attorney and concocted a story about the FBI building these bombs to “set up left-wing activists” and stop dissent. But once the facts became clear, the defense changed their story and instead tried to blame the FBI for ”influencing” the terrorists. Thankfully, after one hung jury and many months of intense media attacks against me, the other bomb-maker (domestic terrorist) decided to come clean and admitted to the judge that he had invented the whole story.
What does any of this have to do with ACORN? I wondered the same thing on January 31st of 2009 when I was reading an ACORN blog that is run by Wade Rathke (the man who claims credit for founding ACORN). He devoted an entire page to my work with the FBI. How did he describe the FBI’s effort and success in preventing innocent Americans, local police and federal agents from being burned, maimed and/or possibly killed by firebombs? He wrote that it’s “one thing to disagree, but it’s a whole different thing to rat on folks.” That is what ACORN’s founder had to say about my role in stopping a bomb plot.
I was even more shocked as I continued reading the article. ACORN’s “founder” went on to mention that another self-proclaimed “radical” activist who had worked closely with him was also involved in my story. Her name is Lisa Fithian. I first encountered Ms. Fithian in New Orleans. She came to town after Common Ground Relief had started operations. She assumed a position of prominence and continuously challenged my work and leadership. During the RNC bombing trial, she cooperated with the defense of the bomb plotters and led media attacks on me and the FBI.
Ms. Fithian has been quoted in various mainstream news articles as saying, “Nonviolence is a strategy. Civil disobedience is a tactic,” and “Direct action is a strategy. Throwing rocks is a tactic.” She is also quoted as stating that “When people ask me, ‘What do you do?’ I say, ‘I create crisis’, because crisis is that edge where change is possible.”
ACORN receives tens of millions of dollars from taxpayers to promote their agenda. Free speech is sacred, of course. However, it is clear that ACORN has made a practice of blurring the lines between free speech and tax-payer-funded activism. Fortunately, our federal government is adept at investigating and identifying the misuse of federal funds. It will be interesting in the near future to see how Mr. Rathke and his ACORN associates stand up to the same scrutiny they have focused on our military, the FBI and other governmental groups and agencies.
Comments (146)
at url:
common-ground-relief-in-the-lowe-2604-20070507-22
In the following weeks, I was made aware of the fact that ACORN had reopened its New Orleans office (several months after the storm). Various groups from around the city informed me that Acorn was upset with us because we were in “their” community and had not sought approval from ACORN to operate there. I was told that ACORN said that we were “privileged white people who had come to a Black community as saviors and we refused to work with local Black leadership.”
The more I pondered the matter, the more I realized what was happening. As usual in marginalized and impoverished communities, a small group of radical self-proclaimed leaders was insisting that all local aid and relief came through them—even if they were AWOL for several months. Though the majority of residents either hadn’t heard of ACORN or simply disagreed with their politics- ACORN insisted that they were THE Black leaders. This was upsetting to me. Sure, the local pastor we worked most closely with was Black; but that didn’t matter to ACORN. It was as if Pastor Johnson didn’t count because he didn’t evoke the name of Elijah Mohammed or Malcolm X. It was as if Pastor Johnson didn’t count because he didn’t submit to ACORN’s mandate that ACORN was the sole leadership of Black New Orleanians.
As then director of Common Ground Relief’s 9th Ward project, I was warned by many that ACORN would ruin me politically if I didn’t submit to their leadership. I believed in what I was doing and how I was doing it. I refused to submit. The political fallout was almost unbearable. I just kept my eyes on meeting the needs of the community. When confronted by adherents to ACORN’s brand of race analysis, I pointed out that ACORN was not there immediately after the storm, so I could not have sought their leadership even if I had wanted to.
Over the following years, that particular style of political attack was prominent in New Orleans. Anytime that ACORN was displeased, the other party was deemed a racist. If the other party disagreed with the label or with ACORN’s agenda- they were met with “of course you feel that way. You are a racist.” Though it is clearly woefully inaccurate and unethical to use such an accusation as a political attack and as a means of shutting down philosophical debate and discourse, some at ACORN didn’t let that stop them. I refused to submit to it. I believed in listening to the majority of the community, who were desperate for our help, and not only to the self-proclaimed leaders. I paid a dear price for it.
I returned to Texas after a couple of years adminst the political quagmire of post-Katrina New Orleans. My experience there with various groups was educational and life-changing, though some of these groups concerned me. Eventually I began to see some of them as dangerous and deceitful about their missions. This, along with a growing appreciation of my country helped lead me to work with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.
I was as proud of this new era in my life as I was of my time in New Orleans. I had the privilege of participating in efforts where lives were saved; both in the United States and in Israel. While working undercover with the FBI at the Republican National Convention in Minnesota, I helped to uncover a bomb plot. Two men had made firebombs with a homemade napalm mixture of gasoline and oil. Their initial targets were Republican delegates. These bomb-makers (domestic terrorists) later decided to attack a staging area for the Secret Service and other law-enforcement agencies. Fortunately, they were stopped and arrested.
I was asked, and agreed, to testify against them. As was expected, the more radical elements of the media began to attack both me as an individual and the FBI as a whole. One of the men accused plead guilty; the other hired an expensive defense attorney and concocted a story about the FBI building these bombs to “set up left-wing activists” and stop dissent. But once the facts became clear, the defense changed their story and instead tried to blame the FBI for ”influencing” the terrorists. Thankfully, after one hung jury and many months of intense media attacks against me, the other bomb-maker (domestic terrorist) decided to come clean and admitted to the judge that he had invented the whole story.
What does any of this have to do with ACORN? I wondered the same thing on January 31st of 2009 when I was reading an ACORN blog that is run by Wade Rathke (the man who claims credit for founding ACORN). He devoted an entire page to my work with the FBI. How did he describe the FBI’s effort and success in preventing innocent Americans, local police and federal agents from being burned, maimed and/or possibly killed by firebombs? He wrote that it’s “one thing to disagree, but it’s a whole different thing to rat on folks.” That is what ACORN’s founder had to say about my role in stopping a bomb plot.
I was even more shocked as I continued reading the article. ACORN’s “founder” went on to mention that another self-proclaimed “radical” activist who had worked closely with him was also involved in my story. Her name is Lisa Fithian. I first encountered Ms. Fithian in New Orleans. She came to town after Common Ground Relief had started operations. She assumed a position of prominence and continuously challenged my work and leadership. During the RNC bombing trial, she cooperated with the defense of the bomb plotters and led media attacks on me and the FBI.
Ms. Fithian has been quoted in various mainstream news articles as saying, “Nonviolence is a strategy. Civil disobedience is a tactic,” and “Direct action is a strategy. Throwing rocks is a tactic.” She is also quoted as stating that “When people ask me, ‘What do you do?’ I say, ‘I create crisis’, because crisis is that edge where change is possible.”
ACORN receives tens of millions of dollars from taxpayers to promote their agenda. Free speech is sacred, of course. However, it is clear that ACORN has made a practice of blurring the lines between free speech and tax-payer-funded activism. Fortunately, our federal government is adept at investigating and identifying the misuse of federal funds. It will be interesting in the near future to see how Mr. Rathke and his ACORN associates stand up to the same scrutiny they have focused on our military, the FBI and other governmental groups and agencies.
Comments (146)
at url:
For more information:
http://biggovernment.com/2009/09/12/former...
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!
Donate
$135.00 donated
in the past month
Get Involved
If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.
Publish
Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.
Topics
More
Search Indybay's Archives
Advanced Search
►
▼
IMC Network
Katyanne Marie Kibby, 25, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Austin, Texas, in June on suspicion of retaliating against Brandon Darby, the community activist-turned-informant who helped federal prosecutors win convictions against two Texas men who planned to bomb the Republican National Convention in St. Paul last year.
The alleged e-mail threat was made Jan. 10. That was two days after one of the men, Bradley Neal Crowder, reached a plea bargain with federal prosecutors in Minneapolis for his role in the plot to build Molotov cocktails and attack the GOP convention in September 2008.
Crowder, 24, and David Guy McKay, 23, were part of an Austin-based group of activists who came to the Twin Cities to take part in street demonstrations. Unbeknownst to them at the time, the FBI had infiltrated the group with Darby, nationally known for his community activism.
Crowder and McKay built eight Molotov cocktails but didn't use them, a fact law enforcement officials credited to Darby. However, members of the Austin protest community heaped scorn on Darby, claiming he had betrayed longtime friends and colleagues.
Kibby, who now lives in Houston, is free on a $10,000 unsecured bond. She could not be reached for comment.
She has her own colorful history in the Twin Cities: In 2006, she was one of seven
people arrested in Minneapolis as part of a "Zombie Dance Party," people who dressed as zombies and alternately danced and lurched through downtown in a satire of mindless consumerism.
No charges were filed, but Kibby and the others sued the city and Hennepin County over their arrests. A federal judge threw out the suit, but the group has appealed to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
In the retaliation case, federal prosecutors in Texas and Kibby's public defender have until next week to reach a plea agreement. If they don't, her trial is to begin Aug. 31 in U.S. District Court in Austin.
Kibby's attorney, Jose Gonzalez-Falla, did not return a call Monday for comment; nor did Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregg Sofer.
Darby, who lives near Austin, also did not return a call for comment.
The single-count indictment says Kibby "did knowingly engage in conduct threatening bodily injury" to Darby. It says she sent an e-mail that threatened his life ""for giving information to a law enforcement officer," namely the FBI.
The indictment doesn't say what was in the e-mail.
No-Contact Order / Darby, originally from Houston, had earned a national reputation as an activist in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005. He was a co-founder of the Common Ground Collective, a group of volunteers that delivered food, water, supplies and medical care to people in the flood-ravaged city.
But he said he grew disenchanted with some of the beliefs and tactics more-radical activists used. That disenchantment led him to contacts with the FBI, and in November 2007, agents asked him to work as an undercover informant.
Federal agents asked him to infiltrate a loose-knit group of activists in Austin that included McKay, who did part-time graphic design work at an ad agency, and Crowder, who worked in a sandwich shop. In the months leading up to the GOP convention in St. Paul, the FBI was concerned that some groups planning to converge on St. Paul planned something other than peaceful demonstrations.
Darby accompanied the group to St. Paul. McKay and Crowder later built the Molotov cocktails and alternately planned to bomb either a truck with a large television screen or a parking lot law enforcement officers used, according to later testimony.
McKay and Crowder were charged in September 2008. A little over a month later, Darby's work as an informant was first disclosed by the Pioneer Press.
Crowder pleaded guilty in a plea bargain with prosecutors, but McKay took his case to trial. Darby was the key witness against him.
When McKay testified in his own defense, he claimed Darby entrapped him. He told jurors that had it not been for Darby's urgings, he never would have built the Molotov cocktails.
The jury couldn't reach a verdict and a judge declared a mistrial. Before his second trial was to begin, federal prosecutors said Crowder would be called as a witness against McKay. McKay accepted a plea bargain, averting a retrial.
Crowder was sentenced to two years in prison and is scheduled for release next May. McKay was sentenced to four years in prison, and is due to get out in April 2012.
The retaliation charge was handed up by a federal grand jury in Austin, the Texas capital. The public court file does not indicate how Kibby might have known Darby, but among the conditions of her pretrial release was that she had to avoid any contact with the man or anyone else who may be a potential victim or witness in the case.
She was released to the custody of her father, identified in court papers as Joe S. Kibby, and a federal magistrate told her she had to undergo any "mental health treatment/ counseling" that the U.S. Pretrial Services office deems necessary.
If found guilty, Kibby could face 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
'Zombie In Spirit' / Kibby and her younger brother, Kyle Kibby, were among a group of people arrested July 22, 2006, in downtown Minneapolis. They had applied pasty white makeup and fake blood to their faces, dressed in black, rigged backpacks with boomboxes and gone downtown during the Aquatennial parade. (In a later deposition, Kibby said she didn't wear the makeup but was a "zombie in spirit.")
Members of the group said they intended the display as performance art and social commentary on "what they believed to be the mindless nature of consumer culture," U.S. District Judge Joan Ericksen later wrote in a court ruling. They used their sound system to broadcast "silly mock advertisements like 'brain check on aisle five,' 'get your brains here,' and 'brains,' " Ericksen wrote.
When an assistant city attorney took Kibby's deposition, he asked her how zombies walked.
"If I remember correctly in the police report and in the media, they use the term 'lurching,' " she replied. "And I think that's traditionally what you would refer to as a zombie walk is 'lurch.' Have I lurched before in my life? Yes. In this instance, perhaps."
Police originally told them to turn down their music, but the confrontation escalated into arrests. The zombies were taken into custody for alleged disorderly conduct and for allegedly violating a law passed after the 9/11 terrorist attacks that made it a crime to alarm the public with simulated weapons of mass destruction.
They were never charged, but they sued the city and Hennepin County for false imprisonment, assault, battery and defamation. The city and county moved to have the case dismissed.
In a ruling last September, Ericksen wrote that while she doubted the arrests "were strictly necessary," the plaintiffs didn't have a case on some charges and the defendants had immunity on the others. She granted a summary judgment in the city and county's favor.
Kibby and the others filed a notice of appeal. The case was argued before a panel of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals on June 9, seven days after Kibby was indicted in Texas. A ruling has not yet been handed down.
http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_13148370