Extent Was COINTELPRO Responsible For The Dismantling Of The Black Panther

The SDS’s main issue revolved around the Vietnam War and particularly about matters relating to war, for instance, the drafting of students. The organization essentially wanted to create a “New Left” (Document 7). The Black Panther Party originally wanted to protect African Americans from acts of police brutality. However, along with putting an end to police brutality, they soon developed into a group who also wanted the release of all African Americans from jail and compensation for exploitation by white Americans (Document 8). The United Farm Workers ultimately wanted to improve migrant farmworkers wages and working conditions (Document 9).

Cointelpro was a counterintelligence movement directed by Edgar Hoover. It was a series of illegal projects conducted by the United States of America, Federal Bureau of Investigation, to manipulate and disrupt political and social organizations in the 1960s. The purpose was to surveille , infiltrate, discredit, harassass through legal means, and use extra legal force and violence to suppress social movements . The FBI target all social movement, but their primary target where black nationalist leaders and a groups (Bassiri, 2017). Post 9/11, the same tactics were used against Muslim in the United States; their were subjected to unequal treatment with public policy change and unjust arrests.

Since it’s very beginning the United States has been a nation founded on the principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Yet, a system of segregation existed in the states that denied these basic principles to the African American population. So organizations such as Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) were created in order to combat this inequality. Yet, as the civil rights movement changed so too did SNCC; transforming itself from a local grass-roots project to an organized nation-wide project.

I plan to pursue researching how the radical shift from the philosophy of nonviolence to Black Power caused the downfall of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. I want to further research how SNCC’s shift to Black Power led to a rift within the organization, lack of funding, loss of members, and loss of influence. Supporters quit providing SNCC with money because of disagreements on Black Power. SNCC lost annual income and members after ejecting white members from the organization. SNCC was eventually overshadowed by other organizations such as the Black Panthers.

The Seattle branch of the Black Panther Party was one of the first chapters to be established outside of the original headquarters of California. Aaron Dixon, the founder of this branch, recounts his time as a panther in the book My People Are Rising. In this book, Dixon describes his experiences as having been a constant emotional roller coaster. One day everything would go according to plan, and the next the party would be under heavy attack. the Seattle Black Panther Party branch was one of the strongest, most well organized chapters within the party, and at one point in its existence, it was also one of the most dangerous chapters of the party, supporting Hoover’s statement of the Black Panthers being “the number one internal threat to the security of the United States.”

Some in the government felt threatened by the BPP. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was especially concerned about groups like the Panthers because of their aggressiveness and potential for violence. He introduced the then-secret COINTELPRO to “expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize the activities of black nationalist, hate-type organizations and groupings, their leadership, spokesmen, membership, and supporters, and to counter their propensity for violence or civil disorder.” COINTELPRO activities included wiretaps, raids, anonymous letters, media infiltration, even murder. The main target was the BPP.

The Counterintelligence Program, also referred to as the COINTELPRO, was a Federal Bureau Investigation (FBI) secret program during the 1960s. The purpose of this program was to eliminate “radical” political opposition in the United States. One of the main targeted groups for this program was the Black Movement groups and leaders. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., an activist and prominent leader of the African American Civil Rights Movement, was assassinated by a sniper in 1968. The death of King is in connection to COINTELPRO, as there is evidence of a death threat letter.

Fred Hampton was a former NAACP organizer and the chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party. Fred Hampton was murdered due to the FBI program COINTELPRO, which targeted social and political threat organizations. Due to his impressions left on African Americans as an effective leader, the FBI wanted to eliminate Fred Hampton. One of Hampton’s accomplishments was emphasizing that racial and ethnic conflict between street gangs would be more effective if they collaborated against police brutality. In the documentary, “Eyes on the Prize: A Nation of Laws” shows that Fred Hampton is significant for how he instilled the sense of pride, dignity and self-determination in African Americans.

On May 2, 1967, Huey P. Newton, the minister of defense of the Black Panthers, said that “the time has come for black people to arm themselves against this terror before it is too late” (Document F). The group had changed to a violent point of view after they saw nothing was happening when they were

The Black Panther party in comparison to the Black Lives Matter movement had a list of tactics and end goals that they wanted to accomplish for their movement. The Black Lives Matter movement only had media coverage and no actual direction of where they wanted to take the movement also, not having a clear organizer or leader made the movement less effective. The Black Panther Party saw the African American community as not only targets of law enforcement but the American government in general. They wanted to form a community that would work together to protect and serve each other and some of the ways they did this was by creating programs that met the community's needs, followed law enforcement when detaining a African American individual to prevent the use of excessive force, educate their communities, etc. One of the Black Panther Party founders, Huey Newton made a document named the,”Ten Point Program”, where it outlines what exactly they wanted changed.

The Black Panthers organized free breakfast for children, health clinics and shoes for children. The Black Panthers were basically running a business with “5,000 full time party workers, organized in 45 chapters (branches) across America. At their peak, they sold 250,000 papers every week with opinion polls that 90% of African Americans supported them(The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense)”. These polls were taken in every major city wear most the racism was taking place. The group at one point was the “number one internal problem in America” according to the FBI (PBS).

In contrary to peaceful protest and marches led by Martin Luther King there were other leaders who had more radical approaches to protest. Amongst these radical leaders are Malcolm X, Robert Williams, and the Black Panthers. The Black Panthers, a group created by in 1966, by Huey P Newton and Bobby Seale protected black communities patrolling areas with loaded firearms, monitoring police activities involving blacks. Since they were known for carrying loaded firearms FBI Director J Edgar Hoover considered the Black Panthers “the greatest threat to the internal security of the United States” (To Determine the Destiny of Our Black Community). The Black Panthers created the Ten-Point Program.

Edgar Hoover intensified his personal anti-Communist, anti-subversive stance and increased the FBI’s surveillance activities. Frustrated over limitations placed on the Justice Department’s investigative capabilities, Hoover created the Counter Intelligence Program or COINTELPRO. The group conducted a series of covert, and oftentimes illegal investigations designed to discredit or disrupt radical political organizations. Initially, Hoover ordered background checks on government employees to prevent foreign agents from infiltrating the government. Later, COINTELPRO went after any organization Hoover considered subversive, including the Black Panthers, the Socialist Workers Party, and the Ku Klux

The Black Panther party, a very misunderstood but known civil rights party held a strong legacy. They achieved this through their actions such as their famous strategies, their demands from the ten point program, the numerous outreaches in media, their relationship towards authorities, and their effects towards the current generation. The Black Panther formed in 1966 by 6 men, very young at the time who were fed up with the white supremacy

The Panthers would take anyone that would help them. Newton and Seale wanted to not just protest Black rights, but also wanted to get involved and help black families in poverty. They started a free breakfast program, and had a school for inattentive kids. “In addition to challenging police brutality, the Black Panther Party launched more than 35 Survival Programs and provided community help, such as education, tuberculosis testing,