February 10, 2024

How the FBI Infiltrated Denver’s Racial Justice Movement

The latest episode of Reveal looks at the FBI’s attempt to undermine Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.

People protest for racial justice near the Colorado State Capitol on June 6, 2020.Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images

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In case you missed it, Mother Jones has officially merged with the nonprofit investigative news outlet Reveal. Among many other exciting changes, this means that going forward we’ll be bringing our readers more hard-hitting audio journalism from Reveal‘s award-winning podcast and radio show. This week’s episode, a partnership with Western Sound and Alphabet Boys, uncovers the FBI’s efforts to infiltrate Denver’s 2020 racial justice protests using a paid informant. Reporter Trevor Aaronson obtained secret recordings that show how informant Mickey Windecker kept tabs on racial justice activists and tried to enlist two protesters in a plot to assassinate the Colorado attorney general. 

Listen to the full episode of Reveal below, and check out the full season of Alphabet Boys here.

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The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

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AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

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