FBI: Repression,

Spying, and Murder

“There is an entire generation of young people who know
nothing about how viciously the FBI attacked The Black
Panther Party, and why.” - Bobby Seale

Since its inception the FBI has been used as a tool against
unionizing, black liberation, indigenous rights, economic equality,
and other progressive movements. Many people who are now seen
as heroes, from MLK to Cesar Chavez, had FBI files for their
‘subversive activities’. The FBI has spied on anyone working for a
better world, imprisoned activists on fabricated charges, infiltrated
organizations to destroy them from the inside, and even murdered
citizens in cold blood. These are not relics of the past, the FBI
continues in the same direction to this day [1].

Fred Hampton, Black Panther Party Leader,
Murdered December 4, 1969
Fred Hampton was deputy chairman of the Illinois Black Panther
Party. The FBI started their file on him when he was 19 years old.
On December 4, 1969, 21 year old Fred Hampton was drugged by
an FBI informant and assassinated while lying in bed by local police
working under the direction of the FBI [2]. This was one piece in an
organized effort to destroy the Black Panther party. Many
documents from this operation (COINTELPRO) have been
declassified [3]. COINTELPRO outlined the FBI’s plans to stop the
black liberation movement. One of those plans was to “prevent the
rise of a 'messiah' who could unify and electrify the militant black
nationalist movement”, bringing to mind the assassinations of Fred
Hampton, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King [4].
OWS and Dakota Access Pipeline
FBI documents released in 2012 revealed the FBI treated Occupy
Wall Street (OWS) peaceful protesters as a potential terrorist threat
[5]. They formed a joint task force with local police, Homeland
Security, regional fusion centers (state and local anti-terrorism
groups), and private security, working under the name ‘Domestic
Security Alliance Council’. They harvested information about college
students involved in OWS from campus police, met with banks, and
ignored threats against OWS leaders [6]. The Dakota Access
Pipeline protests began in 2016 to protest a pipeline going through
Standing Rock Indian Reservation land. The FBI worked with local
police and TigerSwan private security to violently repress protests,
and is attempting to charge protesters with injuries from an
explosion caused by the police [7,8]. These are modern
continuations of the old COINTELPRO strategies.
FBI to Martin Luther King Jr. “like all frauds
your end is approaching”
In 1964, after years of surveillance, the FBI sent Dr. King a letter in
an attempt to blackmail him into committing suicide. Alleging
“immoral conduct” in King’s sex life, they told King “you are done”,
and “there is only one thing left for you to do. You know what it is.”
They sent ‘evidence’ of his “sexual deviance” to his wife, which she
called “mumbo jumbo” [9]. The FBI also attempted to discredit the
Black Panther Party, releasing a ‘Black Panther Coloring Book’
depicting black people stabbing white people in an attempt to smear
the Black Panther Party as promoting violence [10].
Repression of the American Indian
Movement
The American Indian Movement (AIM) was an organization fighting
for the rights of indigenous people, founded in 1968. The FBI treated
them much like the Black Panther Party, infiltrating the organization
and assassinating and imprisoning leaders [3]. AIM member
Leonard Peltier is still in prison for allegedly aiding and abetting in
the deaths two FBI agents. He was initially charged with murder but
all three witnesses recanted and admitted the FBI forced their
statements, suppressed ballistics tests proved the shots didn’t come
from Peltier’s rifle, and the FBI was following a red truck, which
Peltier didn’t drive [11]. The former lead prosecutor urged clemency
[12]. Peltier is receiving subpar medical care for his cancer.
Strikebreaking and Cesar Chavez
In 1965, as he lead a strike against the brutal labor practices of
California grape growers, César Chávez entered the radar of the
FBI. They opened a file on him and began spying on him and his
union’s activities, and then covered up knowledge of assassination
attempts on Chávez by the farm owners [13]. This was typical of the
FBI’s dealing with unions, as they provided intelligence and
strike-breaking to employers, and even built fraudulent cases
against teamster unionizers [12].
And Much More
These brief profiles of FBI operations are just small pieces in a
terrible picture of what this agency does. The FBI works to stop
those trying to improve the world. The FBI spies on Americans, from
Charlie Chaplin, to Marilyn Monroe, to Norman Mailer. The FBI
carries out political assassinations both in America and abroad. The
FBI partners with white supremacist groups and fights against civil
rights groups. Is this really something you want to be part of?
Sources:
[1] Millies, Stephen: “The FBI is a Racist Sewer”
<www.workers.org/2017/05/18/the-fbi-is-a-racist-sewer/>
[2] Haas, Jeffery: The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police
Murdered a Black Panther
[3] Churchill, Ward and Vander Wall, Jim: Agents of repression: the FBI's secret wars against
the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement
[4] Farley, Jonathan: “Preventing the Rise of a ‘Messiah’”
<www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/apr/04/preventingtheriseofamessi>
[5] Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF): “FBI Documents Reveal Secret Nationwide
Occupy Monitoring” <www.justiceonline.org/fbi_files_ows>
[6] Wolf, Naomi: “Revealed: how the FBI coordinated the crackdown on Occupy”
<www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/dec/29/fbi-coordinated-crackdown-occupy>
[7] Gibbons, Chip: “Why is the FBI in Bed With Shadowy Corporate Spies?”
<rightsanddissent.org/news/fbi-bed-shadowy-corporate-spies/>
[8] Levin, Sam: “Revealed: FBI Terrorism Taskforce Investigating Standing Rock Activists”
<www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/10/standing-rock-fbi-investigation-dakota-
access>
[9] Gage, Beverly: “What an Uncensored Letter to M.L.K. Reveals”
<www.nytimes.com/2014/11/16/magazine/what-an-uncensored-letter-to-mlk-reveals.html>
[10] Lardner Jr., George: “15 Years of Dirty Tricks Bared by the FBI”
[11] Heiss, Jasmine: “Is It Time to Free Native American Activist Leonard Peltier”
<www.newsweek.com/time-free-native-american-activist-leonard-peltier-460866>
[12] Levin, Sam: “Top Prosecutor in Leonard Peltier Case Urges Clemency in 'Extraordinary'
Move” <www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/04/free-leonard-peltier-obama-open-
letter-james-reynolds>
[13] Street, Richard: “The FBI’s Secret File on César Chávez”
<www.jstor.org/stable/41171831>
[14] Dobbs, Farrell: “FBI: Anti-Union Weapon for Bosses Against Teamsters”
<www.themilitant.com/2017/8111/811149.html>