The all-Black, Atlanta-based group ["Not F**king Around Coalition" or NFAC] has grown in size out of frustration during a summer of protests against questionable policing and the deaths of countless Black people at the hands of police, said their founder John Fitzgerald Johnson.
Their presence has caused a stir in the cities they've visited and the group has drawn some criticism after people accidentally fired a weapon during two of their rallies, including the one in Lafayette [Louisiana].
Started in 2017, the group has marched in Stone Mountain, Georgia, calling for the removal of the nation's largest confederate monument; Brunswick, Georgia, for Ahmaud Arbery; Louisville, Kentucky, demanding more transparency in the Breonna Taylor case; and most recently Lafayette, Louisiana, in the name of Trayford Pellerin.
[...]
The all-Black group, Johnson said, intends to protect, self-police and educate Black communities on firearms and their constitutional rights.
"We are not against anyone," said Johnson, who is also known as Grand Master Jay.
[...]
"Nobody says anything when other demographics pick up weapons, decide to arm themselves and confront the government over anything from wearing a mask to being cooped up in the house, but when certain demographics arm themselves all of a sudden people tend to act as if the Constitution doesn't matter," Johnson said.
CNN
The last time we got gun control in this country was when the Black Panthers started something similar in the 60s.
"In one sense it (NFAC) echoes the Black Panthers but they are more heavily armed and more disciplined... So far, they've coordinated with police and avoided engaging with violence," [Thomas Mockaitis, a professor of history at DePaul University] said.
[...]
There's no moral equivalency when comparing NFAC to White armed groups, Mockaitis said.
"The White militia movement is older, larger, probably more heavily armed, certainly more pervasive, it has many more people and it has been violent."
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