Fifty Years Ago, Activists Burgled the FBI and Exposed Its Undemocratic Abuses
On March 8, 1971, a group of New Left activists executed a daring burglary of an FBI field office in Pennsylvania, exposing the bureauâs COINTELPRO operations against the civil rights movement.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation. Photo: iPhoneDigital, CC BY 2.0/Flickr
History13/Mar/2021
On March 8, 1971, much of the nation was transfixed by the âFight of Centuryâ between Joe Fraiser and Muhammed Ali, both undefeated. Or at least thatâs what eight anti-war activists were counting on. The activists, some of whom traced their roots to the civil rights movement, recognised the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as a political police that posed an existential threat to the movement.
like, no hate and impeach. the president turning to twitter to vent and in doing so sparked a new controversy. he re-tweeted a post from a prominent alt-right activist. this is he re-tweeted someone best known for indulging in outrageous conspiracy theories. the post questioned why the media was covering the charlottesville story instead of violence in chicago. the president s critics saying that s what about-ism for this president, this administration. don t look here, look at something else. the president has been under fire for not specifically rejecting the support of white supremacy groups or immediately calling them out by name and hasn t explained why. listen to this exchange with cnn s jim acosta mr. president, can you explain why you did not condemn the hatred by name over the weekend. they have been condemned. they have been condemned. why are we not having press conferences today? you said on friday we would have a press conference. we had a press conferenc
before and even days before, there was clear evidence as i understand or intelligence that had been gathered that this group was going to be violent. if that was the case, then there certainly should have been maybe additional preparation that could have been taken to get in between these groups. and i also have to account for the fact that the chief said something today that they were expecting them to come in one direction but they came in from a variety of different directions. and that certainly can be a challenge, as well, too. but i think going forward, that chief and that community and its leadership has to respond to really very challenging questions as to how much did you know and why did you not get in between these two groups prior to the violence that took place. chris, so jason kesler who is a white supremacist who organized the unite the right rally released a statement saying the blame for today s violence lies primarily with the charlottesville government officials an
back to you. you re absolutely right. the president arriving at trump tower in new york last night. his first time back since taking office. he was greeted by a swarm of protesters shouting messages like, no hate and impeach. the president turning to twitter to vent and in doing so sparked a new controversy. so just hours ago, you know, last night, like 11:00, he re-tweeted a post from a prominent alt-right activist. this is he re-tweeted someone best known for indulging in outrageous conspiracy theories. the post questioned why the media was covering the charlottesville story instead of violence in chicago. the president has been under fire for not specifically rejecting the support of white supremacy groups or immediately calling them out by name. he s not explained why. listen to this exchange with cnn s jim acosta mr. president, can you explain why you did not condemn the hatred by name over the