Dallas shooter was affiliated with anti-Semitic group
Micah Xavier Johnson was also loosely connected with Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam
JTA — Investigators may never know with certainty what combination of factors led Micah Xavier Johnson to methodically fire upon police officers in Dallas. Five white officers were killed in the attack, which came during a peaceful rally protesting the shooting deaths of young black men by law enforcement in other cities.
Johnson has been variously portrayed as a follower of the Black Lives Matter movement who was pushed to the edge by recent police shootings, a loner who not only was unaffiliated with various black nationalists organizations but was even shunned by them, and a disgruntled veteran who left the military under a cloud of suspicion for sexual harassment.
Reports now say he was linked as well to several black power and other confrontational groups, some of which are labeled as anti-Semitic.
According to local reports, Johnson was a member of the New Black Panther Party’s Houston chapter for about six months a few years ago. He “liked” the group on Facebook and, according to The Daily Beast, he attended multiple NBPP protests and events.
The Southern Poverty Law Center calls the NBPP, which is not connected to the original Black Panther Party, a “virulently racist and anti-Semitic organization whose leaders have encouraged violence against whites, Jews and law enforcement officers.” The Anti-Defamation League says it is the “largest organized anti-Semitic and racist Black militant group in America.”
The Daily Beast also reported that Johnson was “loosely affiliated” with several other groups, including South Dallas’ Muhammad Mosque No. 48, which is run by members of Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam — which both the Southern Poverty Law Center and ADL labeled an anti-Semitic hate group. He had also liked Facebook pages related to Elijah Muhammad, an early Nation of Islam leader.
