David Safi

Cointelpro

4/7

One of the goals of the FBIs COINTELPRO program was to prevent the rise of a black

Messiah like figure who could unify and inspire an armed black nationalist movement. Wanting

to keep society intact, President Hoover utilized the FBI to administer COINTELPRO- which

targeted many black leaders. Assassinations were among the many tactics employed by the

COINTELPRO project. Evidence that has surfaced has pointed to the assassination of Malcom X

and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. being in the interests of the FBI. Whether an FBI agent actually

pulled the trigger is not known for certain. What we do know is that Fred Hampton was

assassinated by the FBI (1). Hampton was a black revolutionary who belonged to the Black

Panther Party. There were multiple Black nationalist groups in the 1960s-1970s (Symbionese

Liberation Army, Black Liberation Army, etc) but the Black Panthers became a focal point of

COINNTELPRO.

Aside from assassination itself, COINTELPRO sought to instill fear into possible black

leaders through these assassinations. The FBI didnt have to kill all black leaders, but the fear

instilled through these murders discourages possible future leaders. Imprisonment was also used.

Almost every black leader-Malcom X, Martin Luther King Jr, Bobby Seale, Huey Newton,

Geronimo Pratt, etc- was jailed, oftentimes without due process. The FBI also illegally spied on

these black leaders, damaged their public perceptions through media, and attempted to instigate

rivalries between their organizations through false information.

 COINTELPRO goals, I suspect, are still implemented today. However, these goals are

implemented indirectly through subtle cultural manipulation. In order for a black nationalist

militant group to form, there must be a mixture of certain social ingredients. For one, there must

be a sense of shared common struggle. Therefore, there must be a sense of unity in the black

community. A goal must be present for such a group to militarize- a strong and meaningful one.

The epidemic of underperforming schools in black communities, which inevitably lead to less

opportunity and equivocally lead to a smaller chance of making it out of poverty, can serve as a

motivator. The lack of funding to black neighborhoods leads to underperforming schools, which

inevitably contribute to the cycle of poverty that many blacks are stuck in.

So, why has there not been some radical black movement? The tools that can change the

social standing of African-Americans in America are not receiving funding. There are obviously

many police involved deaths where the African-American victim is not armed. One would

assume that all of the ingredients for a Black led reformation are present. It is likely due to

cultural manipulation. Many in the black community are not focused on education. They are not

focused on the long withstanding route of education. They dont see these as options.

This attitude is not innate in the African-American. It has been ingrained in the African-

American through media. When you turn on Black Entertainment Television you see Hip Hop

music. Hip Hop glorifies violent actions and fast money. Lifestyles of drug dealers are often

glamorized. Black children are indoctrinated into this fantasy lifestyle from a young age. What is

even more dangerous is that many Hip Hop artists come from the same backgrounds and share

the same social experience as their young black audience. Within the media, Hip Hop Culture-

being in essence a caricature of black culture, is being used to portray black people. The result

may be a whole generation of black youth with poor self-esteem.

 The result is a generation of young black males who look up to Hip Hop artists living a

financial fantasy fiction. Not only is a lifestyle of fast money, drugs, and violence statistically

unlikely to lead to a stable lifestyle; it will actually lead to institutionalization and imprisonment.

However, Hip Hop music even glorifies prison. This psychological manipulation is not solely

present in music, movies and television shows with black characters often portray drug dealers,

gang members, pimps, etc (2). The ripple effect is created when vulnerable communities become

engulfed in the lifestyle. When you grow up worshipping an ideal on television, and in the real-

world members of your community are following that lifestyle, you are in danger of following

the same footsteps. Young black adolescents and children are indoctrinated into a constructed

fictional dead-end lifestyle by American media. It extends beyond simply Black Entertainment

Television (which is owned by a white male), blacks in movies and TV shows on many networks

are often portrayed as thugs, drug dealers, and criminals.

Aside from gangsters and criminals, athletics seem to be a popular aspiration among

African-Americans. Although seemingly not as bad, professional sports are an unlikely venture.

Not just unlikely, it shares a dangerous characteristic similar to the criminal lifestyle-it isnt

intellectual. When the interests of young African-Americans arent intellectual in nature they will

not be able to tap into their true intellectual potential. The reason for the lack of black doctors,

lawyers, and engineers isnt because they are not capable, it is because they arent interested.

They dont have role models in these professions. All their glorified role models happen to be hip

hop artists, criminals, and athletes.

Negative portrayal of African-Americans go beyond the realm of simply occupations.

The manner in which African-Americans are addressed by news outlets serve as a clue.

American Media often refer to African-American criminals with dehumanizing terms, such as
Thugs or Animals. A long culture of dehumanizing rhetoric has made it so that even African-

Americans themselves have been conditioned to develop these same racial biases towards each

other. (3) These racial biases, negative media representations, and an uneducated culture are

likely to be constructed. COINTELPRO may have formally ended on paper, but I believe there is

a deliberate psychological scheme against young black males perpetrated on an institutional level

in the United States today.

 Works Cited

1. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/g-flint-taylor/the-fbi-cointelpro-

progra_b_4375527.html
2. http://www.theroot.com/throw-away-the-script-how-media-bias-is-killing-

black-1790860024
3. https://web.stanford.edu/class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/mediarace/negative.h

tm