by Omar Ha-Redeye
Why is there such a lack of leadership in the black community? Why is there so much infighting and division? Why is it any time someone does get a voice, they seem to disappear?
Because the FBI has systematically set out to accomplish these goals in their Counter Intelligence Program. SAC Cartha Deloach claims, “We were engaged in COINTELPRO tactics: to divide, conquer, weaken, in diverse ways, an organization.”
Though Louis Farrakhan had stated, “The die is set and Malcolm shall not escape… Such a man is worthy of death,” Malcolm himself admitted that the harassment he had experienced prior to his death was not within the Nation’s capabilities.
“Recent evidence shows that the ‘assassination’ was a government-orchestrated plot that involved Nation of Islam members,” claims author Monique Camp. Washington Post editor Karl Evanzz contends, “Malcolm and Martin Luther King, Jr., were victims of a conspiracy engineered by the U.S. government.”
FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, who prevented women and minorities from joining the FBI, admitted for the House Subcommittee on Appropriations, “Since the assassination of Little, this organization [Malcolm’s Organization of Afro-American Unity] has been groping in the darkness in a search for leadership,” which eventually led to its collapse.
William Sullivan’s testimony also explained the government’s war on King, “No holds were barred… This is a rough, tough business.”
These tactics were not limited to eliminating leadership. A U.S. Senate Committee to investigate intelligence activities found that the FBI had illegally gathered over 500,000 domestic intelligence files on American citizens, many who were only peaceful political dissidents. Letters were opened, communications were intercepted and buildings were searched.
What differentiated COINTELPRO from other security measures carried out in the past was that this operation was covert. There was no way for the victims to legally challenge the actions, or for the agents to be reviewed and constrained.
The targets of this campaign included, “proponents of racial causes and women’s rights, outspoken apostles of nonviolence and racial harmony, establishment politicians, religious groups and advocates of new life styles.”
This went as far as sending agents to an elementary school Halloween party, monitoring welfare mothers’ organizations and even infiltrating church youth groups and a priest’s conference on birth control. Hardly a threat to national security, but apparently worth monitoring nonetheless.
Strategies included instigating employers to fire employees, concocting rumors to destroy marriages, using tax returns as deterrents, impersonating group leaders and misrepresenting orders, defamation of character and promoting internal strife.
Of special interest were student groups on campus. Activist professors were fired and files were opened on every black student union member and related group so that “the information could be used if they ever applied for a government job.”
The FBI was even involved in collaboration with the media to achieve their goals. They suppressed articles critical of their policies and edited several articles published on King.
Two professors were placed on probation after an anonymous letter exposed their support of an anti-administration student newspaper. They also urged a couple professors to stop funding another student paper to “eliminate what voice the New Left has.” I hope they especially enjoyed this week’s Torch.
Most interesting was the policy of conducting interviews “to enhance the paranoia endemic in these circles” and “get the point across there is an FBI agent behind every mailbox.” Rather than succumb to such paranoia the community should fight to free the wrongfully incarcerated leaders of today such as Imam Jamil Al-Amin and Mumia Abu Jamal, and perhaps many more who are suspected terrorists.
The Italian community has done no less. Joseph Salvati was wrongfully convicted to protect Mafia murders and FBI informants. He was separated from his wife and children for 32 years until 10,000 FBI papers were released under the Freedom of Information Act.
Chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform, Rep. Dan Burton said, “J. Edgar Hoover knew Mr. Salvati was innocent… and his name should not be emblazoned on the FBI’s headquarters. We ought to change the name of that building.”
The Senate investigation concluded, “The Committee is not satisfied with the position that mere exposure of what has occurred in the past will prevent its recurrence. Clear legal standards and effective oversight and controls are necessary to ensure that domestic intelligence activity does not itself undermine the democratic system it is intended to protect.”
Louis Freeh, FBI director until last year, seems to agree. “We are potentially the most dangerous agency in the country if we are not scrutinized carefully,” he said.
The recently passed Patriot Act once again extends the power of the intelligence community.
Those who think that they are immune from its reach or that gross abuses will not take place again will be sadly mistaken.
Resources
Final Report of the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to IntelligenceActivities of the United States Senate, 94th Congress, 2nd Session, 1976: 1967 FBI Appropriation
Testimony of John Edgar Hoover, Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation,Before the House Subcommittee on Appropriations on February 10, 1966
The Judas Factor: The Plot to Kill Malcolm X, by Karl Evanzz "Profiles in Black History: Malcolm X," by Monique Camp, Birmingham World (February 20-24, 1991).
USA Today (May 7, 1993), p. 11A.
Originally published in Ferris State Torch. Reproduced here with author's permission. Opinions experessed are those of author only.
