'1619 Project' writer pushes conspiracy theory that the government uses fireworks to disrupt black communities

Prominent New York Times reporter, Nikole Hannah-Jones, promoted a conspiracy theory that government officials have been handing out fireworks to minorities in New York City in an effort to keep "black and brown people" from sleeping and to desensitize them for when the government uses artillery on them.

Hannah-Jones recently took to Twitter to offer her support of a thread written by Twitter user @SonofBaldwin that suggests that government officials have been giving minorities in New York City fireworks to shoot off in the middle of the night to keep black people from being able to sleep.

The thread began with @SonofBaldwin tweeting: "Reporting from Brooklyn, there was yet another night of extremely loud fireworks starting at 8 pm. and ending at 2 a.m. This is the second week straight of this; every night during the same time period, like clockwork.

And the thread continued with an unsubstantiated theory that the cause of the fireworks was not just "Black and Brown kids blowing off steam," but rather it was part "of a coordinated attack on Black and Brown communities by government forces—an attack meant to disorient and destabilize the #BlackLivesMatter movement."

The tweeter even felt as if they had a good idea as to the objectives of the so-called government psychological operation, tweeting that it may be used as form of "sleep deprivation as a means to create confusion and stoke tension between Black and Brown peoples."

Further, the claim was made that the government would do this to desensitize black and brown people "as a means to get us so used to the sounds of firecrackers and other fireworks that when they start using their real artillery on us we won't know the difference. It's meant to sound like a war zone because a war zone is what it's about to become."  

And:

Hannah-Jones not only expressed support for the thread by telling her followers to read it, but she also recently communicated to her followers that it would be an "honor" if the riots that have spread destruction and mayhem across the US would be called the "1619 riots"—a historical date that is widely considered to be the beginning of slavery on American soil.

She has also claimed that "America isn't burning," despite the nightly fires raging in American cities since the death of George Floyd.

Hannah-Jones' "1619 Project" won a Pulitzer Prize despite being criticized by historians for inaccuracies and errors. She deleted her Twitter account briefly after pushing this latest conspiracy and then returned after deleting the tweet in question.

The Post Millennial has reached out The New York Times for comment but has not heard back by the time of publication.