During the period 1956-1971, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) conducted the Counter- Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO). COINTELPRO was a government-funded fascistic operation designed to silence political movements and shut down political and social change. COINTELPRO was a series of government projects developed to destroy many of the movements and organizations responsible for much of the progress we experience in our nation today.
J. Edgar Hoover, whose depraved reign over the FBI lasted from 1924-1972. Hoover decided which movements, groups, and individuals were “subversive” and would unleash the FBI’s full force and resources against them. The FBI used all the tools at their disposal. They conducted surveillance (wiretapping), infiltrated organizations (SCLC, Black Panthers), led smear campaigns, and propagated lies. They did whatever they could to destroy and disrupt political movements. Some of these movements and organizations were the Civil Rights Movement and Martin Luther King, a consistent Hoover, and the FBI target. The Anti-War Movement, the Women’s Movement, the Black Panthers, and the Young Lords were also victims of COINTELPRO. The list also included the Communist and Socialist Parties of America. The list even included the Ku Klux Klan, but I don’t believe for a second that it was anything more than window dressing. Hoover infamously quashed the investigation of who killed the four young Black girls in the 16Th Street Baptist Church. COINTELPRO was some democracy threatening, “hair on fire” shit.
Putting things into perspective, most of this week’s news coverage was a classic case of missing the forest from the trees. By the end of the week, the media had turned their drama-starved histrionics towards the Trump Administration’s use of the Justice Department to subpoena the digital records of individuals that amounted to a Trump “Enemies List.” This list included journalists, members of Congress, and even family members. Was this craven? Yes. Is this an abuse of political power? Yes. Was this criminal? If it wasn’t, it sure as hell should be. But is it a clear and present danger to our democracy? Not by a long shot. In this case, we have a narcissistic, small-minded man that has probably never had a cogent, strategic thought in his life and what Trump did was purely transactional. Trump’s actions were an effort to find out who “snitched’ on him. There was no national security interest at risk here. He did this solely for self-preservation and retribution. The Department of Justice and Congress should investigate, terminate and prosecute those participating in these actions.
Some will say, “but what if a more intelligent, sophisticated autocrat were to win the presidency?” My response to them would be, make sure we facilitate access for Americans to vote. First, we have to stop talking about the opportunity to vote. Our mission must be more affirmative. We must make voting as accessible to every citizen as possible, and we must slay the two-headed monster, voter suppression, and gerrymandering. If we achieve that, if we make them a national priority, it will decrease the odds that we will have to deal with a “smart” Donald Trump anytime soon. One doesn’t have to be a political scientist, pollster, or statistician to predict that. More voters mean fewer Republicans elected. More specifically, more Black voters mean fewer Republicans elected.
The denial of Black Americans’ right to vote is just one of the many methods used to institute policies that deny our humanity. The situation has reached crisis levels for the Republican Party and Whites that feel their “superior race status” will end with the impending technicolor majority on the horizon. Republicans rode the wave of a naked lie told by a habitual liar to propose voter suppression and cancelation laws that will disenfranchise not only Black voters but POC and White voters. An article written by Washington Post journalists Amy Gardner, Kate Rabinowitz, and Harry Stevens (March 11, 2021) states that “Restrictive Bills have been introduced in 19 states where Republicans control the legislature and the governorship.” President Biden won three of these states, New Hampshire, Arizona, and Georgia. How far are Republicans willing to go to retain power? Their proposed legislation will grant Republican-controlled state legislatures the authority to spit on the will of voters and nullify the results if they are not in their favor.
The U.S. 2020 election was deemed the most secure and fraud-free election in our history. This group even included Trump officials and various Republican Secretaries of State. What’s more remarkable is that it was the century’s highest turnout, and all this happened during a global pandemic. One hundred and sixteen million Americans voted. Seventeen million more people voted in 2020 than in 2016. Yet the Republicans and Trump sycophants are propagandizing that ineligible Black voters and POC stole the election. They have felt so emboldened some have been saying the racist part out loud. They fear the power of the Black vote, which exhibited the fact that in states like Georgia, they represented a more significant percentage of Democratic voters than their representation in those states. One example was Georgia, where 50% of Democratic voters were Black while Blacks represent 33 percent of the population (www.brookings.edu/blog/how-we-rise/2020/11/24/how-black-americans-saved-biden-and-american-democracy/amp/)
The assault on voting rights affects all Americans because it is an assault on the essential building block of our democracy. In light of the polarization that exists, setting up barriers to deny or complicate Blacks’ ability to vote is significant because eliminating those votes will nullify the votes of millions of White Americans that vote for Democrats. That is why this battle to turn back the nefarious efforts of the Republicans to steal elections is not just the burden of Blacks and POC. We all need to be heavily vested in doing everything we can to defeat their attempts at performing a political coup. So many things require our attention in these challenging times, but the priority has to be the fight to ensure voting rights. The survival of our democracy depends on it.
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