[Peace-discuss] Spies of Mississippi: The True Story of the Spy Network that Tried to Destroy the Civil Rights Movement

[David Johnson]

" The remaining 15% of COINTELPRO resources were expended to marginalize and subvert white hate groups, including the Ku Klux Klan and the National States' Rights Party.[12] "

The other 85 % of FBI resources were used against the " Left ". Including certain Congressmen and Senators as well as journalists and civil rights activists, and even Albert Einstein.

I guess the question is, was the reason the FBI for a few years worked against violent racist groups in the South because of the Kennedy administration or was it that the murders were " too much " and that if there were to be any murders conducted, than the FBI were the only ones who were going to do it ( Pine Ridge Indian Reservation FBI death squads and murders of Black Panther members ) ?

See Below... 



COINTELPRO (an acronym for COunter INTELligence PROgram) was a series of covert, and at times illegal,[1] projects conducted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) aimed at surveying, infiltrating, discrediting, and disrupting domestic political organizations.[2] National Security Agency operation Project MINARET targeted the personal communications of leading Americans, including Senators Frank Church and Howard Baker, civil rights leaders, including Dr. Martin Luther King, journalists and athletes who criticized the Vietnam War.[3][4]

The FBI has used covert operations against domestic political groups since its inception; however, covert operations under the official COINTELPRO label took place between 1956 and 1971.[5] COINTELPRO tactics are still used to this day, and have been alleged to include discrediting targets through psychological warfare; smearing individuals and groups using forged documents and by planting false reports in the media; harassment; wrongful imprisonment; and illegal violence, including assassination.[6][7][8] The FBI's stated motivation was "protecting national security, preventing violence, and maintaining the existing social and political order.[sic.]"[9]

FBI records show that 85% of COINTELPRO resources targeted groups and individuals that the FBI deemed "subversive",[10] including communist and socialist organizations; organizations and individuals associated with the Civil Rights Movement, including Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and others associated with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the Congress of Racial Equality and other civil rights organizations; black nationalist groups; the American Indian Movement; a broad range of organizations labeled "New Left", including Students for a Democratic Society and the Weathermen; almost all groups protesting the Vietnam War, as well as individual student demonstrators with no group affiliation; the National Lawyers Guild; organizations and individuals associated with the women's rights movement; nationalist groups such as those seeking independence for Puerto Rico, United Ireland,  —even Albert Einstein, who was a socialist and a member of several civil rights groups, came under FBI surveillance during the years just before COINTELPRO's official inauguration.[11] The remaining 15% of COINTELPRO resources were expended to marginalize and subvert white hate groups, including the Ku Klux Klan and the National States' Rights Party.[12]

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Karen Medina 
  To: David Johnson 
  Cc: Peace-discuss 
  Sent: Monday, March 10, 2014 6:08 PM
  Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Spies of Mississippi: The True Story of the Spy Network that Tried to Destroy the Civil Rights Movement


  David Johnson wrote: > Was this part of the FBI's cointelpro program ?


  The Mississippi Sovereignty Commission started completely as a state of Mississippi entity. But it lasted over, three possibly four governor's terms. The FBI had nothing to do with it at first. The FBI entered the scene in 1964 when the 3 "Freedom Summer" campaign volunteers disappeared. The FBI was investigating the disappearance -- so they were working on the opposite side from the commission.   


  Later, toward the end of the commission's long life, there were people who were paid by the commission who were also sharing information with the FBI -- the commission was paying police officers who served "the public", the Klan, and the commission. They shared reports.


  At least that is the way I understand it. 


  -karen



      I just enjoyed a book:
      "Spies of Mississippi: The True Story of the Spy Network that Tried to Destroy the Civil Rights Movement"
      by Rick Bowers 


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