Shaun King recently raised alarms after receiving death threats from individuals associated with law enforcement. In the private Facebook group, various civil servants conspired to kill him after his recent inflammatory comments.
King has been criticized for saying last week that the narrative and imagery of a blonde-haired and blue-eyed Jesus Christ is a result of white supremacy. Some historians have argued that it is more accurate to depict Jesus with darker skin, based on the bible’s descriptions of his hair of wool and skin of bronze. Specifically, King said “If your religion requires Jesus to be a blonde-haired blue-eyed Jesus, then your religion is not Christianity, but white supremacy.”
Some critics have found his comments to be offensive to Christianity, and even anti-American. This has come on the heels of stiff racial tensions that have ignited since the horrifying murder of George Floyd. Black Lives Matter protests have resulted in the dismantling or defacing of several racist statues nationwide. King emphasized that racism has many faces, and to not stop with the removal of problematic monuments. He then called for images of the European version of Jesus to be dismantled, whether they were murals or stained glass windows.
As a civil rights activist, King has had his fair share of death threats in the past. However, he has admitted he was shocked that the threats have come a long way from anonymous trolls. The group included several professionals using their real names, including a retired officer of the Long Beach Police Department. That person posted a message encouraging retired military, police, and NRA members to mobilize. Other threats mentioned snipers, asked about King’s whereabouts, and had other violent commentary.
The rogue group appears to be an underground group meant to secretly mobilize and exact vigilante justice. In tweets posted about the matter, King questioned who it was safe to turn to in a situation like this. Concern for violence perpetrated by police officers have already been fueling Black Lives Matter protests in every state.
As horrifying as the threats are, King has acknowledged similar threats in other private groups, conservative blogs, and public pages.
If you do come across other threats, Shaun King and his team would love to hear from you. They ask that you report the details of other credible threats to info@grassrootslaw.org, and assure you will be kept confidential/
Since exposing the threats, the FBI and Long Beach Police Department have opened investigations.
