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All info comes from redacted FBI files made open to the public.
"The FBI's program to destroy Dr. King as the leader of the civil rights movement entailed attempts to discredit him with churches, universities, and the press. Steps were taken to attempt to convince the National Council of Churches, the Baptist World Alliance, and leading Protestant ministers to halt financial support of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and to persuade them that "Negro leaders should completely isolate King and remove him from the role he is now occupying in civil rights activities." 6 When the FBI learned that Dr. King intended to visit the Pope, an agent was dispatched to persuade Francis Cardinal Spellman to warn the Pope about "the likely embarrassment that may result to the Pope should he grant King an audience." 7 The FBI sought to influence universities to withhold honorary degrees from Dr. King. Attempts were made to prevent the publication of articles favorable to Dr. King and to find "friendly" news sources that would print unfavorable articles. The FBI offered to play for reporters tape recordings allegedly made from microphone surveillance of Dr. King's hotel rooms.
The FBI mailed Dr. King a tape recording made from its microphone coverage. According to the Chief of the FBI's Domestic Intelligence Division, the tape was intended to precipitate a separation between Dr. King and his wife in the belief that the separation would reduce Dr. King's stature. 7a The tape recording was accompanied by a note which Dr. King and his advisers interpreted as a threat to release the tape recording unless Dr. King committed suicide. The FBI also made preparations to promote someone "to assume the role of leadership of the Negro people when King has been completely discredited." 8
The campaign against Dr. King included attempts to destroy the Southern Christian Leadership Conference by cutting off its sources of funds. The FBI considered, and on some occasions executed, plans to cut off the support of some of the SCLC's major contributors, including religious organizations, a labor union, and donors of grants such as the Ford Foundation. One FBI field office recommended that the FBI send letters to the SCLC's donors over Dr. King's forged signature warning them that the SCLC was under investigation by the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS files on Dr. King and the SCLC were carefully scrutinized for financial irregularities. For over a year, the FBI unsuccessfully attempted to establish that Dr. King had a secret foreign bank account in which he was sequestering funds."
The extent to which Government officials outside of the FBI must bear responsibility for the FBI's campaign to discredit Dr. King is not clear. Government officials outside of the FBI were not aware of most of the specific FBI actions to discredit Dr. King. Officials in the Justice Department and White House were aware, however, that the FBI was conducting an intelligence investigation, not a criminal investigation, of Dr. King; that the FBI had written authorization from the Attorney General to wiretap Dr. King and the SCLC offices in New York and Washington; and that the FBI reports on Dr. King contained considerable information of a political and personal nature which was "irrelevant and spurious" to the stated reasons for the investigation. 14 Those high executive branch officials were also aware that the FBI was disseminating vicious characterizations of Dr. King within the Government; that the FBI had tape recordings embarrassing to Dr. King which it had offered to play to a White House official and to reporters; and that the FBI had offered to "leak" to reporters highly damaging accusations that some of Dr. King's advisers were communists. Although some of those officials did ask top FBI officials about these charges, they did not inquire further after receiving false denials. In light of what those officials did know about the FBI's conduct toward Dr. King, they were remiss in falling to take appropriate steps to curb the Bureau's behavior. To the extent that their neglect permitted the Bureau's activities to go on unchecked, those officials must share responsibility for what occurred. The FBI now agrees that its efforts to discredit Dr. King were unjustified. The present Deputy Associate Director (Investigation) testified:
Mr. Adams. There were approximately twenty-five incidents of actions taken [to discredit Dr. King] ... I see no statutory basis or no basis of justification for the activity.
The CHAIRMAN. Was Dr. King, in his advocacy of equal rights for black citizens, advocating a course of action that in the opinion of the FBI constituted a crime?
Mr. ADAMS. No, sir.
The CHAIRMAN. He was preaching non-violence was he not, as a method of achieving equal rights for black citizens?
Mr. ADAMS. That's right ... Now as far as the activities which you are asking about, the discrediting, I know of no basis for that and I will not attempt to justify it. 15
The FBI conducted its investigation of Dr. King and the SCLC under an FBI manual provision -- called COMINFIL -- permitting the investigation of legitimate noncommunist organizations, suspected by the FBI of having been infiltrated by communists, to determine the extent, if any, of communist influence. The FBI's investigation was based on its concern that Dr. King was being influenced by two persons -- hereinafter referred to as Adviser A and Adviser B -- that the Bureau believed were members of the Communist Party.
In any event, the FBI has stated that at no time did it have any evidence that Dr. King himself was a communist or connected with the Communist Party. Dr. King repeatedly criticized Marxist philosophies in his writing and speeches. The present Deputy Associate Director of the FBI's Domestic Intelligence Division, when asked by the Committee if the FBI ever concluded that Dr. King was a communist, testified, "No, sir, we did not." 20
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Note: It certainly does appear that hatever the case MLK did infact engage in some kind of "immoral" behavior. The FBI did certainly have tape recordings having personal conversations about women and intended to mail a copy of the recordings to Coretta Scott King, but it ended up getting mailed to King instead with a note telling him to commit suicide:
Copy of the FBI's letter to King trying to blackmail him and get him to committ suicide:
"William Sullivan testified that he could not recall such a letter. 347 The FBI provided the Committee with a copy of a letter which was found in Sullivan's office files following his discharge in 1971. 348 The letter stated in part:
King, look into your heart. You know you are a complete fraud and a greater liability to all of us Negroes. White people in this country have enough frauds of their own but I am sure they don't have one at this time that is any where near your equal. You are no clergyman and you know it. I repeat that you are a colossal fraud and an evil, vicious one at that....
King, like all frauds your end is approaching. You could have been our greatest leader. . . . But you are done. Your "honorary" degrees, your Nobel Prize (what a grim farce) and other awards will not save you. King, I repeat you are done....
The American public, the church organizations that have been helping -- Protestants, Catholics and Jews will know you for what you are -- an evil beast. So will others who have backed you. You are done.
King, there, is only one thing left for you to do. You know what it is. You have just 34 days in which to do (this exact number has been selected for a specific reason, it has definite practical significance). You are done. There is but one way out for you. You better take it before your filthy fraudulent self is bared to the nation."
Posts: 2595 | From: Vicksburg | Registered: Feb 2006
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So when we see a man like Rev Wright making statements showing how and why he and many African Americans do not trust the US Govt.....no need to ask where it is coming from.
This is one example but a very significant one. We know what Dr King meant to African Americans and many Americans in general and what was the US Govt trying to do to this man!
What was in the message from Dr King that was a "Threat" to the US Govt?
What that message may have done for African Americans was the threat.......they must not gain power while being something separate in America.....they must conform to white cultural expectations of them to be accepted.
Such a perception is psychosocial death sentence, that they wish African Americans to continue swallow up as they are now.
Posts: 404 | Registered: Feb 2003
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J Edgar Hoover feared the Messiah would be a USA black and he did everything he could to make ineffective any and every group or person in any kind of influential position among blacks and those sympathetic to blacks.
quote:"Prevent the rise of a 'messiah' who could unify and electrify the militant black nationalist movement. Malcolm X might have been such a 'messiah'... . Martin Luther King, Stokely Carmichael, and [Nation of Islam leader] Elijah Muhammed [sic] all aspire to this position ... . King could be a very real contender for this position should he abandon his supposed 'obedience' to 'white, liberal doctrines' (nonviolence)."
King Alfred Plan and COINTELPRO expose books have been out for a couple of decades now but because blacks do not send their children to black "parochial" schools nor maintain after school or weekend schools to supplement what's missing from "standard education," all of this stuff is new to each succeeding generation or those who have no ethnic political consciousness.
Posts: 8014 | From: the Tekrur in the Western Sahel | Registered: Feb 2006
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All of this is declassified US government released documents. FBI Domestic Intelligence Activities Some parts of it though released to the public due to freedom of information legislation was over written by black magic marker as sensitive to identifying the operatives engaged.
Only a baby in political consciousness would be foolish enough to class this as conspiracy theory material. Obviously you didn't even do the minimal homework of following the link and uncovering the source of the documents: the US government itself.
Here's the tin foil ==> One should remain silent rather than open one's mouth and remove all doubt that one is a fool.Posts: 8014 | From: the Tekrur in the Western Sahel | Registered: Feb 2006
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The below is from PBS and is for doubting political dumb asses. All underlined texts are working links, feel free to click them, but go to the PBS webpage itself for all the links in the article. http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/cointelpro.html
3.05.04 Going Undercover/Criminalizing Dissent?
COINTELPRO Again? From John Adams' Alien and Sedition Acts to the Cold War and Joseph McCarthy, civil liberties and national security have had a delicate and troubled relationship in American history. Notorious among these is the case of the domestic surveillance program run by the FBI between 1956 and 1971 (after the censure of Joseph McCarthy by the Senate) under the name COINTELPRO (counterintelligence program). COINTELPRO was a secret FBI program designed to monitor and "neutralize" domestic groups deemed by the FBI to be a danger to national security. Such groups included anti-war groups and civil rights groups and individuals like Martin Luther King, Jr. and even Eleanor Roosevelt.
Some fear that something like COINTELPRO may again be at hand. There are undercover agents infiltrating peaceful protests in America. Pretending to be political activists, local law enforcement officials are monitoring the activities of advocacy and protest groups based on what one judge calls those organizations’ "political philosophies and conduct protected under the First Amendment." The tactic has come about as a result of the relaxation of guidelines first put into place after the COINTELPRO scandal investigation. Learn more about the history and the new guidelines below.
J. Edgar Hoover and Dissent: FBI director Hoover had long placed the domestic battle against Communism in the forefront of the FBI's concerns. How he defined the threat illustrates the philosophy behind the COINTELPRO and previous surveillance programs. Below is an excerpt of Hoover's 1958 publication MASTERS OF DECEIT: THE STORY OF COMMUNISM IN AMERICA AND HOW TO FIGHT IT:
Thus the Party, through its specialized and immediate demands, is able to gain entree into various groups and create favorable working conditions for future revolutionary action. Very quickly, for example:
a veterans' meeting endorses "peace." a nationality festival passes a resolution for "peace." a youth affair favors "peace." a neighborhood group comes out for "peace." a women's rally fights for "peace." Whatever its composition, the group, once under communist control, is switched to the Party line. The feigned interest in legitimate demands is merely a trap. Even holidays are used to enhance the Party's aims. For example, the Daily Worker once headlined a story "Mothers' Day to Be Marked by Peace Tables..." Postcards should be distributed on Mother's Day, the story continued, "declaring the deepest need of all American mothers to be a ban on A and H-bombs..."
COINTELPRO and The Church Commission: The domestic surveillance programs of COINTELPRO were only brought to light in early 1970s after a Senate Committee was created to investigate the FBI and the involvement of other intelligence agencies in political repression. The Committee was named for its Chairman, Idaho Senator Frank Church. It's findings were voluminous and, to many, worrying:
The resolution creating this Committee placed greatest emphasis on whether intelligence activities threaten the "rights of American citizens." The critical question before the Committee was to determine how the fundamental liberties of the people can be maintained in the course of the Government's effort to protect their security. The delicate balance between these basic goals of our system of government is often difficult to strike, but it can, and must, be achieved. We reject the view that the traditional American principles of justice and fair play have no place in our struggle against the enemies of freedom. Moreover, our investigation has established that the targets of intelligence activity have ranged far beyond persons who could properly be characterized as enemies of freedom and have extended to a wide array of citizens engaging in lawful activity. --The Church Committee Reports INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES AND THE RIGHTS OF AMERICANS
The Attorney General's Guidelines As a result of the Church Commission's findings then Attorney General Edward Levi drew up a series of guidelines to govern domestic investigations. Key among these rules was that investigations could only be brought where "specific and articulable facts" indicated criminal activity. The guidelines also attemped to make sure that the abuses of COINTELPRO were not repeated by requiring that such investigations be reported to the attorney general.
The Revised Guidelines: Levi's guidelines were modified by several subsequent attorney generals. However, it was not until Attorney General John Ashcroft substantially altered them in the wake of September 11 that civil rights and privacy advocates began a vocal campaign to return to the post-COINTELPRO guidelines. In announcing his revisions, Attorney General Ashcroft cited new terror concerns:
FBI men and women in the field are frustrated because many of our own internal restrictions have hampered our ability to fight terrorism. The current investigative guidelines have contributed to that frustration. In many instances, the guidelines bar FBI field agents from taking the initiative to detect and prevent future terrorist acts unless the FBI learns of possible criminal activity from external sources. -- Attorney General John Ashcroft, May 30, 2002 The revised guidelines reduce the requirements of a clear indication of criminal activity and allow for longer "preliminary" investigations without such proof of criminal intent. And "for the purpose of detecting or preventing terrorist activities, the FBI is authorized to visit any place and attend any event that is open to the public." Read the revised guidelines for General Crimes, Racketeering and Terrorism Investigations, May 30, 2002 (PDF file) Read the previous guidelines for General Crimes, Racketeering Enterprise and Domestic Security/Terrorism Investigations, March 2, 1994 Read the Attorney General's guidelines on FBI Undercover Operations, May 30, 2002 (PDF file) Read the previous guidelines on Undercover and Sensitive Operations Unit, Attorney General's Guidelines on FBI Undercover Operations, November 13, 1992
The Ongoing Debate: Of course the revision of the Attorney General's guidelines is a matter of vigorous debate. Read arguments from both sides below and then speak your mind on our message boards.
The new FBI will be able to investigate Americans who pose a threat to national security -- and that's a good thing. While Muslim terrorists penetrate our borders with surface-to-air missiles and make every air traveler a potential target, and while INS screw-ups show daily that we have no borders and no real ability to keep any of our enemies out, a surreal battle is taking place within the ranks of our hostage population itself. The debate is whether Attorney General John Ashcroft and the FBI should have given agents license to keep an eye on suspected terrorists and their ideological supporters if they have not yet blown up a plane. --"COINTELPRO's overdue return," David Horowitz, Salon.com, June 4, 2002
The problem that the Levi guidelines were intended to solve — and that the new guidelines will exacerbate — relates to the purpose for which the public information is gathered and utilized, not so much with the privacy of the information itself... Magnifying the problem is the fact that the intelligence gathering activities may now be directed at political meetings — particularly unpopular political meetings. Imagine FBI agents taking notes on a pastor's sermon, a rabbi's lecture, a priest's homily — and noting the names and license plate numbers of attendees. Your "Greenpeace" bumper sticker, publicly displayed, becomes sufficient cause for the FBI to open a file on you. --Mark D. Rasch, J.D., is a former head of the Justice Department's computer crime unit.
Sources: The Federal Bureau of Investigation; The Attorney General of the United States FOIA Reading Room; MASTERS OF DECEIT: THE STORY OF COMMUNISM IN AMERICA AND HOW TO FIGHT IT, by J. Edgar Hoover, 1958; The Church Committee Reports INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES AND THE RIGHTS OF AMERICANS.
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