Cointelpro's Illegal Acts
COINTELPRO's Illegal Acts and Its Illegal Relationship with the Local Police Forces
Name
Institution
COINTELPRO's Illegal Acts and Its Illegal Relationship with the Local Police Forces
COINTELPRO was a famous name that was used to mean the counterintelligence program that was carried out by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in the United States in the years 1960. The main aim of the program was to undermine and harass the political leaders who had come out to protest the issue of black people oppression in the country. During the 1960’s, the issue of race segregation based on skin color was so high such that the leaders had to come out strong and condemn the issue. Prior rising, the government of the then United …show more content…
States did not want such uprisings since they were mainly inciting the black people against most of their actions and policies that they implemented. Leaders such as Malcolm X and Martin Luther king came out strongly forming political movements that were aimed towards bringing equality in the United States (Hamilton & Ture, 2011).
As a result of their radical activities in the country, the then director of the FBI masterminded the movement which was designed to suppress the leaders of the black people. The revelations of the FBI acts were brought out to the media after the files were discovered in the offices of the department. According to the reports, the FBI was using aggressive methods to make sure the black movement leaders did not get their ideas into the minds of many Americans. They were falsely accused of fake evidence being made against them and taken to the courts. Despite the actions that the FBI used to suppress the uprising of the black movement, the black leaders did not give up on fighting for the dignity and respect of people of all races in the United States (Hamilton & Ture, 2011).
COINTELPRO's Illegal Acts
In the due process of trying to achieve its objectives, the COINTELPRO program did not use the justified means to conduct an investigation on the black leaders.
Their main aim was to make sure that the movement did not gain the popularity it needed to bring changes regarding race respect in the United States of America. Through some of their activities, the FBI highly violated the basic human rights of the black people leaders who were spearheading the fight for race equality. Through the plans of the then FBI director, they used aggressive methods claiming that they were conducting investigations in regards to the political parties that were being formed during the 1960’s. The following were some of the illegal acts that were carried out by the FBI agents in regards to the COINTELPRO program in the United …show more content…
States.
Harassment
As a result of the program taking effect in the United States, the black people leaders faced a lot of harassment from the FBI agents to as to demoralize them from taking part in the black movement for the respect and equality of all races in the country. The FBI used tactics such as violently threatening the leaders. They did this by falsely accusing the leaders on spearheading violence in the country. In fact, the FBI agents went to the extent of making some of the leaders lose their jobs. Whenever they went on the streets to protest the issue of black race mistreatment in the country, the leaders were often arrested without doing any wrong. The arrest was mainly done for the purpose of intimidating the leaders to stop their aggressive acts on the issue of race inequality. Eviction and vandalism were also part of the harassment that the black movements and other American civil rights organization leaders faced. In most cases, their properties could be destroyed by the FBI so as to make them give up on their struggle in the country (Jeffries & Dyson, 2010).
Infiltration
Despite the pure harassment conducted towards the leaders of the black movement, infiltration was another illegal act that the FBI did on the leaders.
The FBI sent out some of its agents to spy on the black movement leaders so as to know all their moves. The agents in most cases used to work undercover in the movements so as to get the plans that they had in their due process of protesting the government’s acts. Whenever the black movement leaders made their plans, they could not succeed due to the spies that were sent to them by the FBI to report on their strategies. The main aim of the FBI was to disrupt and discredit all the activities of the Black Panther Movement in the United States. The FBI and the government of the United States of America knew that if they fully oppressed the leaders of the black movement, they would have demoralized the other common citizens in the country who were for the same ideas. Despite the infiltration, the FBI and the government were surprised that the movement continued becoming stronger since the leaders became more united after the illegal acts on them (Jeffries & Dyson,
2010).
Deception
Besides the harassment and the infiltration on the black leaders, the FBI also used other means of deception to suppress the activities of the black movement. The FBI and the government turned into using the psychologically designed war on the Black Panther Party leaders. For instance, they forged phone calls and said ill matters that would see the leaders go into jail. The main purpose of forging the phone calls was to make the leaders look guilty of planning activities just to intimidate them on their protests on the streets. Also, the FBI used to publish false stories about the leaders on the newspapers to demoralize them on their aggressive fight against black race mistreatment in the country. The false stories were mainly made to tarnish the reputation of the leaders even to their supporters so that they would lose the support of their ideas. Through such, the FBI thought that they would stop the wave of change that was coming in the United States. What surprised them was the fact that the black movement leaders became stronger as time went on due to the hardships that they went through in the due process of fighting for equality in the country (Jeffries & Dyson, 2010).
COINTELPRO's Illegal relationship with the local police forces
In the due process of achieving its objectives, the COINTELPRO program highly used the local police to carry out their ill-fated activities. Without the local police, some of the plans made by the FBI agents would not have been done properly. According to the plans of the government, the FBI was not supposed to be noticed as the mastermind planners of the harassment that the black movement leaders faced in the due process of fighting for equality in the country. For instance, when there was the need to make a false arrest on the black movement leaders, the FBI would give directives to the local police to perform the act. The local police were made aware that the victims had not done any wrong but it was for the purpose of silencing them to give up on the fight for equality in the country (Lee, 1996).
Also, the local police were used by the FBI to disrupt the meetings that they planned with their supporters. The police would come in and cause commotions which made the supporters to run from the meeting place thus making the meeting not to achieve its desired end. Also, the police were used by the FBI to publish wrong accusations on the black movement leaders in the United States. The local police did the publications knowing well that they were false and just made up for the purpose of intimidating the leaders. Besides, the local police were used to kill some of the aggressive supporters and leaders of the Black Panther Movement in the country. The killings were done based on the directives that were issued by the FBI agents. Therefore, the local police had an illegal relationship with the COINTELPRO program which was designed to oppress the weak for fighting for their rights in the United States of America in the 1960’s.
References
Hamilton, C., & Ture, K. (2011). Black power: Politics of liberation in America. Vintage.
Jeffries, J. L., & Dyson, O. L. (2010). Nobody Knows My Name: The Marginalization of Mark Clark in America's Collective Consciousness. International Social Science Review, 85(3/4), 124-139.
Lee, L. L. (1996). All Power to the People. The Black Panther Party and Beyond. New York: Filmmakers Library.
Name
Institution
COINTELPRO's Illegal Acts and Its Illegal Relationship with the Local Police Forces
COINTELPRO was a famous name that was used to mean the counterintelligence program that was carried out by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in the United States in the years 1960. The main aim of the program was to undermine and harass the political leaders who had come out to protest the issue of black people oppression in the country. During the 1960’s, the issue of race segregation based on skin color was so high such that the leaders had to come out strong and condemn the issue. Prior rising, the government of the then United …show more content…
States did not want such uprisings since they were mainly inciting the black people against most of their actions and policies that they implemented. Leaders such as Malcolm X and Martin Luther king came out strongly forming political movements that were aimed towards bringing equality in the United States (Hamilton & Ture, 2011).
As a result of their radical activities in the country, the then director of the FBI masterminded the movement which was designed to suppress the leaders of the black people. The revelations of the FBI acts were brought out to the media after the files were discovered in the offices of the department. According to the reports, the FBI was using aggressive methods to make sure the black movement leaders did not get their ideas into the minds of many Americans. They were falsely accused of fake evidence being made against them and taken to the courts. Despite the actions that the FBI used to suppress the uprising of the black movement, the black leaders did not give up on fighting for the dignity and respect of people of all races in the United States (Hamilton & Ture, 2011).
COINTELPRO's Illegal Acts
In the due process of trying to achieve its objectives, the COINTELPRO program did not use the justified means to conduct an investigation on the black leaders.
Their main aim was to make sure that the movement did not gain the popularity it needed to bring changes regarding race respect in the United States of America. Through some of their activities, the FBI highly violated the basic human rights of the black people leaders who were spearheading the fight for race equality. Through the plans of the then FBI director, they used aggressive methods claiming that they were conducting investigations in regards to the political parties that were being formed during the 1960’s. The following were some of the illegal acts that were carried out by the FBI agents in regards to the COINTELPRO program in the United …show more content…
States.
Harassment
As a result of the program taking effect in the United States, the black people leaders faced a lot of harassment from the FBI agents to as to demoralize them from taking part in the black movement for the respect and equality of all races in the country. The FBI used tactics such as violently threatening the leaders. They did this by falsely accusing the leaders on spearheading violence in the country. In fact, the FBI agents went to the extent of making some of the leaders lose their jobs. Whenever they went on the streets to protest the issue of black race mistreatment in the country, the leaders were often arrested without doing any wrong. The arrest was mainly done for the purpose of intimidating the leaders to stop their aggressive acts on the issue of race inequality. Eviction and vandalism were also part of the harassment that the black movements and other American civil rights organization leaders faced. In most cases, their properties could be destroyed by the FBI so as to make them give up on their struggle in the country (Jeffries & Dyson, 2010).
Infiltration
Despite the pure harassment conducted towards the leaders of the black movement, infiltration was another illegal act that the FBI did on the leaders.
The FBI sent out some of its agents to spy on the black movement leaders so as to know all their moves. The agents in most cases used to work undercover in the movements so as to get the plans that they had in their due process of protesting the government’s acts. Whenever the black movement leaders made their plans, they could not succeed due to the spies that were sent to them by the FBI to report on their strategies. The main aim of the FBI was to disrupt and discredit all the activities of the Black Panther Movement in the United States. The FBI and the government of the United States of America knew that if they fully oppressed the leaders of the black movement, they would have demoralized the other common citizens in the country who were for the same ideas. Despite the infiltration, the FBI and the government were surprised that the movement continued becoming stronger since the leaders became more united after the illegal acts on them (Jeffries & Dyson,
2010).
Deception
Besides the harassment and the infiltration on the black leaders, the FBI also used other means of deception to suppress the activities of the black movement. The FBI and the government turned into using the psychologically designed war on the Black Panther Party leaders. For instance, they forged phone calls and said ill matters that would see the leaders go into jail. The main purpose of forging the phone calls was to make the leaders look guilty of planning activities just to intimidate them on their protests on the streets. Also, the FBI used to publish false stories about the leaders on the newspapers to demoralize them on their aggressive fight against black race mistreatment in the country. The false stories were mainly made to tarnish the reputation of the leaders even to their supporters so that they would lose the support of their ideas. Through such, the FBI thought that they would stop the wave of change that was coming in the United States. What surprised them was the fact that the black movement leaders became stronger as time went on due to the hardships that they went through in the due process of fighting for equality in the country (Jeffries & Dyson, 2010).
COINTELPRO's Illegal relationship with the local police forces
In the due process of achieving its objectives, the COINTELPRO program highly used the local police to carry out their ill-fated activities. Without the local police, some of the plans made by the FBI agents would not have been done properly. According to the plans of the government, the FBI was not supposed to be noticed as the mastermind planners of the harassment that the black movement leaders faced in the due process of fighting for equality in the country. For instance, when there was the need to make a false arrest on the black movement leaders, the FBI would give directives to the local police to perform the act. The local police were made aware that the victims had not done any wrong but it was for the purpose of silencing them to give up on the fight for equality in the country (Lee, 1996).
Also, the local police were used by the FBI to disrupt the meetings that they planned with their supporters. The police would come in and cause commotions which made the supporters to run from the meeting place thus making the meeting not to achieve its desired end. Also, the police were used by the FBI to publish wrong accusations on the black movement leaders in the United States. The local police did the publications knowing well that they were false and just made up for the purpose of intimidating the leaders. Besides, the local police were used to kill some of the aggressive supporters and leaders of the Black Panther Movement in the country. The killings were done based on the directives that were issued by the FBI agents. Therefore, the local police had an illegal relationship with the COINTELPRO program which was designed to oppress the weak for fighting for their rights in the United States of America in the 1960’s.
References
Hamilton, C., & Ture, K. (2011). Black power: Politics of liberation in America. Vintage.
Jeffries, J. L., & Dyson, O. L. (2010). Nobody Knows My Name: The Marginalization of Mark Clark in America's Collective Consciousness. International Social Science Review, 85(3/4), 124-139.
Lee, L. L. (1996). All Power to the People. The Black Panther Party and Beyond. New York: Filmmakers Library.