D.C. RIOTS (Anonymous Justice Book 3) Read online

  DC Riots

  Anonymous Justice Book 3

  Boyd Craven Jr

  Boyd Craven III

  Contents

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  About the Author

  About the Author

  The characters and circumstances in this story are a product of the authors’ imaginations, and represent no real person, living or dead. Any real public places or names are used only to build atmosphere for the reader’s mind.

  Copyright © 2016

  Boyd Craven, Jr.

  Boyd Craven, III

  All Rights Reserved

  No part of this story may be reproduced in any way without the prior written consent of the author.

  Chapter 1

  Jermane Williams: Atlanta, Georgia 7:00 p.m. Thursday, Jan 14th, 2016

  The well-known national news anchor Jermane Williams, on prime-time TV, had a full 60 minute block for a highly advertised Special Report. He’d done his homework. This could be the story of the year. It began with the camera close-up on him, framing his face in the center of the screen as he said:

  “Tonight we have a special report for you about a topic so volatile, your ears won’t even believe they heard us asking this question, let alone discussing it at length for you:

  Will slavery return to America?

  “To explore that question, we have with us a panel of experts with some widely varied backgrounds. Let me suggest that you grab everyone you can, wherever you are, to see this. Maybe text some of your closest friends, too. No one will want to miss this. Tonight, our panel of experts will discuss this burning issue, help us decide if it’s a real threat or not, and answer our questions about it. It seems as though there is growing support for an organization which intends to do just that: return slavery to America.”

  The camera zooms out, revealing five people sitting around the far side of a large round wooden table, two on either side of Williams. To his immediate right was a male member of the ACLU, and then a female member of Black Lives Matter. To his immediate left was a female Shia Muslim scholar, and then one Professor Langston. Williams introduced each of them, in that order, to his audience.

  “Now, I know what you’re thinking;” he said, “what kind of a question is that? And, why are you even talking about it? That’s not something we talk about!

  “Let me begin by describing just how this question came about, and where I was when it was revealed to me. I’d been hearing about this new social media group that’s leading a movement to overcome our fear of political incorrectness, by talking about, or doing something about situations that threaten us, the silent majority, in our daily lives. Because of my personality, I simply couldn’t pass on the opportunity to check this out for myself. Full disclosure; I am not a member of this group, I simply read a series of posts that absolutely demanded answers. Anonymous Justice, a public group on Facebook, is where I was looking. Anyone can read in a public group, but to comment or ask questions, you must have a valid Facebook account and be accepted as a member.

  “I want to show you two posts in particular which, as a black man, distressed me terribly. Here is an actual screen capture to show you just what it was that I saw:”

  In the Anonymous Justice group:

  [Professor Langston] Absolutely. The Qur’an allows for a man to have multiple wives, and non-Muslim slaves. It’s fine for a man to have sex with any of his wives, or any of his female slaves, at any time. It’s not ok for him to have sex with any other female though. For behavior such as that, the ‘punishment’ is that the man must ‘give up’ some of his female slaves as atonement. That proves that his slaves are considered in the Qur’an to be some of his most valuable possessions. It’s a ‘fine’, so to speak. Those who say that peaceful Muslims are ‘just like us’, referring to other Christians, are very wrong. Muhammad himself bought and sold slaves often. Records show that he bought more than he sold, though. He freed most of them.

  [Shaneen Smith] We don’t do slaves here in America. That shit been gone for a long time!

  “Professor Langston, did you write that?” Williams asks.

  “Indeed I did.”

  “May I ask sir, what is your affiliation with Anonymous Justice?”

  “Certainly. None. I was asked, as an expert on the subject, to answer questions for that group, much the same as you have asked me to do here. My personal feelings on the matter are my own. I had to join the group to be able to answer the questions that were asked, to the best of my understanding, and as I see them.”

  “Can you explain the context of the question that you were answering when you wrote that paragraph?”

  “Certainly. We had just discussed the fact that all Muslims recognize the Prophet Muhammad as God’s last great messenger on Earth, and that they strive to live their life as he lived his. Later, someone asked if Muhammad himself had owned slaves. Thus, that answer.”

  “Interesting,” Williams said, “and can you tell us where to find support for that statement in the Qur’an?”

  “Yes, of course. It can be found in several places, but this particular passage is very clear. I have copied exactly what Sura 23 says in my Qur’an, below. In the verses 5-7 you can read the answer for yourself. Verse 5 in this translation speaks of ‘appetites’, in other translations it says ‘chastity’, or ‘private parts’. Verse 6 says except with their wives, (note the plural tense) or with the slaves that they own. Not slaves belonging to their wives. Only theirs, for in that case, it is ok,” said the Professor.

  SURA 23Qualities of The Believers (1-11)

  (1) Happy now the Believers,

  (2) Who humble them in their prayer,

  (3) And who keep aloof from vain words,

  (4) And who are doers of alms deeds,

  (5) And who restrain their appetites,

  (6) (Save with their wives, or with the slaves whom their right hand possess: for in that case they shall be free from blame:

  (7) But they whose desires reach further than this are transgressors:

  (8) And who tend well their trusts and their covenants,

  (9) And who keep them strictly to their prayers:

  (10) These shall be the heritors,

  (11) Who shall inherit the Paradise, to abide therein for ever.

  “Seated next to me here, is a woman whose name we will not use, per her request, for obvious reasons. She is a Shia Muslim, and is also a scholar of the Qur'an, as they interpret it. What do you have to say ma’am, about what the professor just said?”

  She paused for just a second, reflecting before answering. “We adhere to a more progressive interpretation of the Qur’an, continually updated to match the times. We consider those verses to be in past tense, meaning that’s how it used to be done.”

  “So you do not believe in keeping slaves?” he asked.

  “No, we do not. Those Muslims who adhere to a fundamental or literal translation however, believe that that is how it should be today, as it was in the time of the Prophet.”

  “And which group or groups would that be?” he asked.

  “That would be those of the Salafi Movement,” she answered. “Salafi is derived from the Arabic phrase, ‘as-salaf as-saliheen’. Salafism is a movement encouraging the return of Islam to the model of the Salaf, which in
cludes only three generations of Muslims that begin with the Prophet and his companions. They believe that later generations have not understood the meanings of the Qur’an and the Sunna correctly. They point to Sahih Bukhari 76:437 where Muhammad himself was witnessed as saying,

  “The best people are those of my generation, and then those who will come after them, and then those who will come after them, and then after them, there will come people whose witness will precede their oaths, and whose oaths will precede their witness.”

  “Meaning, they say, that these three generations are the best people to model one’s behavior after. Salafism advocates living the life of Muhammad literally, and as closely as possible. They are the fastest growing Sunni subsect in Syria and Europe. Salafi-jihadists are one of three components of Salafism. The most talked about Salafi-jihadist group today, is ISIS.”

  “This question is for everyone,” Williams said, looking right and then left. “Does the First Amendment protect the Salafi Movement here in the United States?”

  “This is a much debated question, and has been since day one,” the ACLU man said. “In my view, the Supreme Court’s clause of ‘Clear and Present Danger’ vilifies that movement as both a threat to the government itself, and to the freedoms of every other citizen not of their beliefs.”

  “Professor Langston? Your response?” Williams asked.

  “I must agree wholeheartedly. In fact, looking at this in that light, and considering its current predicament, that clause may vilify Sunni Islam in its entirety, in the United States. It may create great hardships for Shia Islam as well.”

  “How so?” the Shiite scholar asked.

  “The most obvious way, of course, is that here in the United States, Shiites represent only approximately 15% of the Muslim community. Consequently, in almost all cases, you share their mosques and Islamic centers with them, as the minority,” he responded.

  “This is true,” she admitted.

  “So, I’ve been quiet until this point, just listening,” the woman from BLM said. “But now I have a question. I have a lot of questions actually, but sticking to just this one for now: how do I know which Muslims want to overthrow our government, and make slaves out of black people, and which ones don’t?”

  “Oh, not just black people, madam,” Professor Langston said. “Islam recognizes no race as superior. That would apply to the families of all non-Muslims who oppose them. Were Salafism to sweep this nation, their practice would be to kill the men who refuse subjugation, to make concubines of their wives, and to sell their children as slaves.”

  “Well I call bullshit on that right now!” the BLM woman said.

  “As do I,” the ACLU man declared.

  “The truthful answer to that question madame, is that you cannot, by looking at them. They dress the same, they use the same Qur’an, they attend the same establishments, and they sound the same,” the professor stated.

  The panel became silent for a long moment. Jermane Williams was receiving warnings from producers and the legal team in his earpiece to watch what he said in response very carefully. He began getting very uncomfortable himself, and felt a bead of sweat run right down the middle of his back.

  “Only by verbally questioning each Muslim publicly, as to whether they are Shia or Sunni, could you tell. They could not lie about that, but that in itself would violate their First Amendment rights, would it not?” asked the Shiite woman.

  “Yes, it most certainly would,” said the ACLU man.

  “Therein lies the problem,” Professor Langston said. “Not only would that be politically incorrect of them to do so, it would be outright illegal for any member of government anywhere, to ask that question.”

  “Maybe so,” said the BLM woman, “but it sure as hell wouldn’t stop the people from asking it!”

  Jermane Williams suddenly wished that his full hour block of time for this discussion was a whole lot shorter, as multiple beads of sweat ran down his back, and the voices in his ear became more agitated...

  Chapter 2

  Washington D.C. 1:00 p.m. Friday, Jan 15th, 2016

  18 hours later:

  The national organization Black Lives Matter had called for legal, peaceful protests by all of their chapters, outside of every mosque or Islamic center in America. They called for them to continue, until representatives of BLM were allowed entrance and were able to record sermons or lessons at will, like they could at any other church. They demanded that each mosque or Islamic center explain their stance on the subject of slavery. They demanded that each individual establishment either denounce such practices, or be closed down.

  * * *

  In the Anonymous Justice group:

  [AJ] There’s been an interesting development, everyone. I have just learned that, as a result of last night’s news event, Black Lives Matter is planning nation-wide protesting at mosques and Islamic centers.

  [Kelly Bertram] Wouldn’t it be cool if we had people inside BLM, so we’d know what they know?

  [AJ] Who said that we don’t? That’s where a little bit of Hacktivism comes in handy.

  [Kelly Bertram] Ahhh! Even better!

  [RU American] Also remember, Kelly Bertram, that there are likely members of BLM reading what we’re typing here. This is a public group.

  [AJ] By design, RU American. By design. Law enforcement is here too, you can count on it. We have no beef with either of them, so follow the suggested etiquette to protect yourself, and all will be well.

  [Kelly Bertram] Gotcha

  [AJ] Those that can, try to attend the events nearest you. Don’t put yourself in harm’s way. Just gather intelligence that may help us understand what they’re thinking, and report back here.

  * * *

  All over America, BLM chapters had begun the process of obtaining permits to protest, assisted where necessary by legal representation from the ACLU and the NAACP.

  As each permit was issued, according to procedure, alerts were going out to corresponding police departments, all over the country. The police, in turn, notified each establishment that a permit had been issued, and that it would be happening legally.

  * * *

  The President was apprised of the situation, and communicated his dislike of these actions to his staff. He reminded his staff that mosques were supposed to be protected, by authority of the Sensitive Operations Review Committee that he’d created in October of 2011. He was reminded in turn, that that order only prevented the FBI and other law enforcement agencies from spying inside mosques, by Executive Order. It had nothing to do however, with private citizens acting legally within their First Amendment rights. That pissed him off good, and the FBI and DHS were put on alert as a result. No one knew what, if anything, to expect.

  * * *

  The national news network that had aired the inflammatory topic had already been chastised by the President’s staff, but they’d just brushed it off, asserting their First Amendment rights. If anything, the chastisement had made them more determined to continue their coverage. They knew that they’d hit a nerve, and were going to have all of the eyes of the nation, and probably the world, on them! They notified Jermane Williams that he and his crew were to be ready to go on a moment’s notice, wherever it led them.

  * * *

  In the District of Columbia, (Washington D.C.) groups of very organized protesters had obtained permits for, and were already gathered outside of, each of the five Islamic establishments. They carried signs that said, ‘Black Lives Matter’, ‘Say No to Slavery’, and ‘Down with Radical Islam’. They chanted those slogans over and over, growing especially loud as anyone came in or went out. This, of course, caused concern for the Muslim individuals and small groups that were coming to work, or to pray. It angered others visibly, but they all held their tongues, kept their heads down, and walked quickly on their way.

  TV news crews flocked to each of the locations, eager for a story, and seemingly expecting trouble. The media actually had greater numbers present th
an the protesters did at this point, and were definitely more of a nuisance to the pedestrian traffic. They were also frustrated in their efforts to talk to individual protesters, as only the designated spokesperson would say anything at all, and even then, would only list their demands. The patrons and employees of each establishment had also obviously been coached, because they never acknowledged the presence of the throngs of reporters shouting questions at them, but simply walked right past them, either to the sidewalk or the parking lot.

  Local law enforcement was present, but stayed in the background, as there wasn’t really any trouble at all. They had been alerted by City Hall when the permits were issued, and had been instructed by their superiors not to speak to reporters, or to show any kind of emotion either way on the issue.

  “We have hard questions about Islam in the United States that deserve truthful answers,” the black female leader of the protest said into the megaphone, from the middle of the crowd.

  She was the one who had secured the permit for the local BLM chapter. She enunciated her words clearly through the megaphone, which wasn’t easy, and spoke with little to no discernable accent. It was obvious that she had done this kind of thing before. The crowd was quiet at exactly the right moments for her to speak. They had clearly been educated or had prior experience at protesting with her. There was zero unruliness. It was clearly the ‘dog and pony show’ portion of their protest, performed for the benefit of the news media. She even faced the cameras as she spoke, with her back to the mosque, getting their message out on national TV.

  “We are here today, and will remain here every day, rain or shine, until these questions are answered on national TV! We demand to know this location’s position on Islam’s attempts to implement Sharia law here in the United States!