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Editorial/Column
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During the red scare of the 1950s the F.B.I. cre- ated a counterintelligence program, more commonly known as COINTELPRO, as a way to monitor the perceived communist threat. It was the brainchild of former Bureau Director J. Edgar Hoover.
The operation relied on a number of surveillance tech- niques to investigate, infil- trate and subvert any organization deemed capable of disrupting the American way of life. And, by the time the 1960s rolled around, there was nothing more con- cerning to the U. S. govern- ment than the cultural change being promoted by groups who advocated for equal freedoms for the Black populace.
While COINTELPRO was allegedly brought into exis- tence to thwart Russian in- cursion and combat organized crime, the F.B.I. fo- cused a large majority of the resources from the program toward undermining the ef- forts of groups like the N.A.A.C.P., The Nation of Islam, The S.C.L.C., C.O.R.E and, most rigorously, those of the Black Panther Party of Self Defense.
In fact, according to a Congressional hearing in 1971, the agency dedicated less than 20% of its intelli- gence gathering to tracking the activities of organizations like the KKK and the Italian Mafia or to solving crimes re- lated to bank robberies, mur- ders, rapes and interstate thefts.
It seems that halting any amount of Black political or economic progress took precedence over everything else.
Though all civil rights groups of that era received their fair share of harass- ment, none received more at-
tention or scrutiny than the Black Panthers. Out of the 295 files the F.B.I. compiled on organizations believed to be a part of the Black Free- dom movement, 233 con- tained information about the Panthers.
In an F.B.I. document dis- covered from 1968, under the freedom of information act, it was revealed that the assis- tant F.B.I director believed the Panthers could cause a potential insurgency compa- rable to the Mau Mau anti- colonial uprising in Kenya.
In light of that concern, the memo also stated that one of COINTELPRO's objectives was to prevent the rise of a "Black Messiah" who could "electrify" the Black National- ist Movement and cause a similar revolution in the United States.
To accomplish their goal the F.B.I. went on to system- atically destroy the Panther Party by killing 28 of its high- ranking members (including 21-year-old Fred Hampton, who was shot over 90 times in his bed by Chicago police officers), sabotaging its breakfast program, manufac- turing violent false flags events attributed to the Pan- thers in an effort to minimize their corporate support and imprisoning 750 other Pan- thers across the country.
As a result of this unre- lenting attack, by the mid 1970s, the Black Panthers were only fragile shells of their former selves. And in the 40+ years since those tac- tics were first implemented the "Black Messiah," who they worked so hard to abort, never once made an appear- ance. In the end, COINTEL- PRO proved to be as efficient as they hoped.
I bring all of this up be- cause, whenever I hear dis- cussions about the threat White Nationalists present to
this country every time one of its ilk commits a mass shoot- ing, I can't help but wonder why the feds never applied the same methods, that they used to squash the Panthers, on the groups that exist today who have proven time and time again their proclivity for violence?
I mean, they shut down the Panthers for giving away free meals to poor children. Surely any organization that engages in the kind of racist ideology that inspired the likes of Timothy McVeigh (Oklahoma City Bomber) and Dylan Roof (South Carolina church shooter) deserves to be disbanded just as thor- oughly, right?
The only reason I can come up with that would ex- plain why the government has allowed these types of fringe groups to function for so many years may be due to the fact that bringing them down would be akin to turn- ing against their own fami- lies. Since it has been reported that white national- ists have deeply imbedded themselves within police de- partments, the military, fire departments, several differ- ent federal law enforcement agencies as well as numerous judicial chambers, it would be impossible to remove all of the corrupted threads while keeping the fabric of the sys- tem in one piece.
Instead of employing the same meticulous strategy that was so effective in disman- tling groups during the decade of Civil Rights and ending the bloodshed, for the sake of appearances, leader- ship within the U. S. govern- ment seems willing to allow the death toll to rise by sim- ply looking the other way and pretending that mass killings, provoked by racial hatred, is a problem they have no power to fix. It is a lie, I imag- ine, they'll continue to tell us and themselves until one of those chickens, who they keep allowing to roost, finally lays an egg on the head of someone they love.
Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bul- letin Publishing Com- pany. You can contact Mr. Barr at: cbar- ronice@gmail.com.
Feds Look Away While Killers Keep Spraying
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Reparations: When And How
lthough the 2019 Commission to Study and Develop
Reparations For African Americans has been estab- lished, don’t wait for a check in the mail any time soon. There has been such commissions since the first one was estab- lished in 1987, and we are no closer today than we were then.
While we are appreciative of the 114 legislators in Con- gress who support the bill (HR40) submitted by Congress- woman Sheila Lee Jackson (Texas), and several 2020 presidential candidates favor reparations, hundreds more legislators need to sign on to the bill before anything beyond talking takes place.
The approval of reparations for the descendants of former slaves in the United States has too many moving parts. Pay- ing the slave descendants for the labor of heir ancestors has been projected as an amount well over $8 trillion dollars, which can continue to grow until they have settled on a true cost.
Moreover, issues as to the amount and form of repara- tions for each eligible heir needs to be determined – cash, land, or free college/technical career training.
Even though each Japanese-American was paid $20,000 for their relocation and internment reparations during World War II, we doubt if Black people will receive any- where near that amount. Remember, there were only 110,000 to 120,000 Japanese eligible for reparations.
There are more than 40 million African Americans in the United States who are native-born. Black immigrants or for- eign born Blacks will be excluded and should lobby for repa- rations from their respective country such as Brazil, France, Portugal, United Kingdom, Haiti, Spain, The Dutch Empire, (Netherlands), Jamaica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Hon- duras and others.
Nonetheless, the last projected amount for payment to African Americans for $250,000 each will no doubt, remain a projection. Let’s not kid ourselves, there are too many ze- roes behind 40 million times $250,000. Such payment would bankrupt America, or take years to pay.
Meanwhile, we will wait to see what the commission does.
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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2019 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 5-A