FBI surveillance shifted from communist to black movement targets

Evidence

The FBI COINTELPRO (Counter-Intelligence Program) was the best-known and most extensive of these activities. Started by J. Edgar Hoover to monitor and disrupt the Communist Party USA, it was first expanded, and then shifted almost entirely toward, surveillance and harassment of the U.S. black movement (Churchill and Vander Wall 2001 ; Weiner 2012). State agencies at all levels from the national to the local committed numerous crimes against movement activists and supporters, and against black communities as a whole (Irons 2010). These crimes included assassinations, arson, torture, larceny, and fraud, among others (Haas 2011). — Michael Omi, Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States, 184

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The FBI operated a documented program undermining civil rights leaders — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 153; The FBI ran genuine conspiracies against black activists in the 1960s — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 150; FBI agents provocateurs infiltrated AIM to foment violence and division — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 154 (+1 more)