This is the Story of Nothing / Everything

In the first Part of this essay, Hoover’s quote mentioned a figure who, at the time of his writing, had become the martyr for Civil Rights. We understand this now to be Malcolm X who, only three years earlier, was gunned down by members of the Nation of Islam, a group with whom he had recently cut ties. While in this instance the FBI is not known to have had a hand in the killing, Hoover understood it mattered little. At this point, the FBI’s hands were everywhere, and the people with whom they were at war knew it. 

Malcolm had known it. He’d become accustomed to traveling with armed protection, aware not only of threats made by disgruntled followers of Elijah Muhammad, but also those originating from within the Federal Government. He’d watched as NoI mosques around the country were raided by authorities in many uniforms, seen the writing on the wall. It was his name. He made that explicitly clear to Alex Haley, who penned his autobiography while they sat in restaurant corner booth where Malcolm could watch every entrance.

But with his passing the torch moved to other, more “dangerous” targets. Enter [Redacted (2)] - Martin Luther King Jr. In the years leading up to his assassination (under dubious circumstances), the FBI’s attempts at psychological warfare against King were well documented. Blackmail was commonplace, utilizing evidence of marriage infidelity to bring him to the bargaining table, but there were even letters that accompanied these attempts that argued he should kill himself. Even with his death there was more to come. 

Perhaps the most egregious example is the story of Fred Hampton. 

Hoover’s FBI had reason to target Hampton in particular. From a young age he’d risen quickly through the ranks of the Black Panther Party. He was a charismatic force of nature, able to quickly reason and empathize with the views and feelings of almost everyone he met. Whenever the staunchest opponents within the movement met Hampton, they found themselves more ready and able to cooperate. It seemed if left unchecked Hampton could unite many of these warring factions (often doing so at the hand of the FBI themselves) into an agreed front to challenge the government as one. 

Hoover’s Nightmare Scenario. 

 At 4 am on December 4th, 1969, the Chicago police department, in cooperation with the FBI, raided an apartment building where Hampton and several other panthers were sleeping. After shooting the night guard on sight and killing him instantly, they forced their way into the back room where Hampton, drugged into unconsciousness by an inside informant, was sleeping with his 9-months pregnant fiancee. After dragging her away they fired wildly into the room before the an officer shot him twice in the head at point blank range, remarking thereafter “He’s good as dead now”. 

COINTELPRO resulted in many such false arrests and murders throughout the era. But its affects lived on, long after Hoover died and the program was “shuttered” (supposedly). With their communities wracked and their leaders eliminated through imprisonment or murder, black communities around the nation would take decades to recover. Then, in the 80′s, the crack epidemic, now known to stem from intentional Federal activities, devastated their lives beyond repair. 

This is Hoover’s masterpiece. His dream. A system of oppression so thorough that it barely needs to work at all. With any upstart leaders dead at conception, the Civil Rights movement was dead in the water, and many Americans turned their back on a victory that was never truly won. 

Amidst it all, spurred on by and inspirational of growing dissent, the collection of groups and actions we loosely term the Civil Rights Movement was in full swing. Through marches and sit-ins, boycotts and communal resistance, Black Americans (as well as oft-forgotten LGBTQ, Chicano, and American Indian orgs.) were taking a hard stance against their oppression after centuries of struggle. To even scratch the surface of this history would be impossible if not unfeasible in a few blog posts, but suffice to say it did not end with slavery, and continues even to this day. A systematic suppression. Marked by forced economic dependence, segregation from inalienable rights, and periods of intense violence, both by the state and with its tacit permission. 

All of this, in congruence with the US - Soviet cultural/nuclear standoff, meant the Federal Government’s paranoia had long since been weaponized, and with these newly powerful perceived threats the barrel was pointed inwards at the resistant peoples of this nation.