Black History Month Day 20: Surveillance Has a Long Memory

Julie Bolejack

21 Feb 2026 — 1 min read

Black History Fact:
The FBI’s COINTELPRO program targeted Black leaders and organizations in the 1950s–70s, surveilling, infiltrating, and destabilizing movements for racial justice.

Black history reminds us that activism has always been monitored.

Movements are labeled dangerous not because they are violent—but because they are effective. Surveillance becomes a tool of suppression when justice threatens power.

Today’s digital monitoring, data collection, and protest policing continue that legacy.

History teaches us that scrutiny is rarely applied evenly.

And dissent is rarely welcomed by those who benefit from silence.

Yours truly has been warned — yes, a 73-year-old woman apparently dangerous because she exercises freedom of speech. I’m fully aware I get to say these things standing on ground padded by privilege. I appreciate the hell out of my white privilege, not as comfort but as responsibility. Some Americans speak and get an eye-roll. Others speak and get consequences. Black history keeps the receipts.

Not staying silent, EVER!

Julie Bolejack, MBA

Permission

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I’m not done about this..

There is a certain tone people use when they talk about protests now. You know it. You’ve heard it. “Performative.” “Pointless.” “Nothing changes.” “A waste of time.” “My favorite is the casual shrug dressed up as wisdom: If it mattered, it would look different. Or the more aggressive versions:

March 28, 2026

A Saturday that, on paper, probably looked like any other. Coffee. Errands. Maybe a walk if the weather cooperated. Except it wasn’t. Because while one man, Donald Trump, spent the day tucked safely behind the gates of Mar-a-Lago, eight million Americans stepped out of their homes and into the

There are moments in a country’s life when silence feels easier.

You stay home. You shake your head at the news. You say to yourself, “This isn’t right,” and then you move on with your day. No judgment. We’ve all done it. But there are other moments—rarer, more consequential—when silence starts to feel like something else. Like

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Permission

I’m not done about this..

March 28, 2026

There are moments in a country’s life when silence feels easier.