Surveillance Influence On Society

Surveillance has many forms and facets. The primary function of surveillance is to collect personal information by “employment, commercial, and administrative agencies, as well as in policing and security” (Boykoff 729). Surveillance has the capacity to create a fully functional society in which “enables people to fully participate in society” (Boykoff 731), but at the same time it can be one of the greatest pitfalls of the nation if used improperly. Surveillance has immensely impacted society for the better with medical surveillance prolonging the life of those that are ill. Nevertheless, there is “conspicuous surveillance” (Boykoff 732) that deviates from its central purpose and serves to harass and intimidate, such as military technology
that targets and attacks specific individuals and group of people. There is a “face of surveillance that channels, constraints and controls behaviors scaring off potential activists and driving those who have already become involved” (Boykoff 732). FBI targeted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership from September 1957 till Dr.
King’s death in 1968 operating through the social mechanism of intimidation collecting information in the suspicion of being involved in a radical political activity (Boykoff 732).
Dr. King was a target of state surveillance as he emerged as an important leader in the Civil Rights Movement. First, FBI discredited King’s character by forging communist connections. There was not strong evidence about the communist connection to continue surveillance, but after JG Kelly, a member of the FBI, found SCLC’s statement against segregation and its promise to combat racial injustice and fighting for voting rights of black people, he asserted that SCLC was a “likely target for communist infiltration” (Boykoff 733). Trivial situations such as King appreciating black Communist Party member
Benjamin Davis after donating blood after King was stabbed in 1958 were seen as dangerous and reason for further surveillance. Furthermore, Dr. King direct contact with Levison, one of King’s closest trusted advisors had to come to an end, because of Levison’s “communist activity.” Even though there was no surveillance information on Levison that linked him to communist activity, pressure from former president, John F. Kennedy led King to take action against Levison, as John. F. Kennedy told King, “They’re communists you got to get rid of them” (Boykoff 736). By forging the communist connections of Dr. King, it discredited his character to the extent that he was “placed in Section A of the Reverse Index and a national emergency” (Boykoff 736). The methods that FBI used were not moral, because there was no substantial evidence of the communist connections. The FBI continued to label Dr. King as a communist and used false evidence to continue surveillance. FBI was attacking his identity and individuality because of racist attitudes in the FBI and because he was a threat to the social norms of white supremacy. All in all, Hoover’s racial bias, dislike for the black people and the Civil Rights Movement, was the driving force for the continued conspicuous surveillance on Dr. King.
The next phase of discrediting Dr.
King’s character was by attacking his reputation as a black man, husband, and father. Surveillance aimed to “besmirch his reputation by bringing his private affairs before the public eye” (Boykoff 737). As Dr. King became a stronger leader, national interest of Civil Rights issues increased, leading Hoover and other FBI members to wiretap King’s hotel rooms to collect information about Dr. King’s personal life “to discredit the effectiveness of Martin Luther King Jr, as a Negro leader” (Boykoff 739). For example, FBI collected audio of King making an offensive comment about President Kenney’s wife and footage of Dr. King with other women than his wife, trying to destroy his trust among the public and his own wife, Correta Scott King. This method restricts Dr. King’s freedom, limiting his ability to speak, think, talk, and do as he pleases. Moreover, FBI’s goal was not to only make the public lose trust in Dr. King, but also to get Dr. King to commit suicide after sending a letter threatening Dr. King: “King, like all frauds your end is approaching. You have turned out to be not a leader, but a dissolute, abnormal moral imbecile. King, I repeat you are done” (Boykoff 741). FBI’s method was to no longer bring down Dr. King as a Civil Rights leader, but as a man. Essentially, the FBI was discrediting Dr. King’s character by breaking him, his self-respect. This is inhumane and
unethical.
Surveillance attacked Dr. King not only as a leader, but as a person. Surveillance discredited Dr. King character by forging connections between King and Communists and using his personal life to discredit King as a Civil Rights leader. Conspicuous surveillance is a form of technology that serves to “institute new, more effective, more pleasant forms of social control and social cohesion” (Boykoff 752). The methods that the FBI used to discredit Dr. King’s character is cruel and vicious, attacking his reputation and his dignity. Nevertheless, despite the harassment and methods of discrediting his character, Dr. King remained as a resilient and powerful Civil Rights leader.