Out of all the free expression values I value the concept of checks on governmental power the most because I feel as if it's the most useful as of today. The government has historically been known to use its powers in ways that can be deemed as unjust. One recent example was during the BLM protest after violent protest began to emerge every protest within the area was prevented by the government regardless if it was violent or peaceful. Evidence of this can be seen by the peaceful protest near the White House in which protesters were shot with rubber bullets and forced the disperse. There was other incidents as well such as the Oakland protest in which 40 arrest were issued and tear gas was thrown without warning thus violating their rights. After this series of civil unrest concluded the government pretended that it never happened not even considering any changes to be made to the police system which reinforced the idea that police brutality is not a government priority. Not only did those protest show that the people have no power over what the government changes they also showed that in the face of the government our rights are ultimately meaningless to the government.
One corrupt action of the government were the infamous Tuskegee experiments. These were government funded experiments that tested the effects of syphilis. During these experiments 600 poor black sharecroppers were gathered together and tricked into participating after they were informed that they were being treated for "bad blood". During this experiment black people were occasionally tested in order to gradually record the symptoms of syphilis. By the time these experiments concluded over 100 men passed away, 40 wives contracted syphilis, and it was passed to 19 children. Even with the presence of whistleblowers the Tuskegee experiments were not truly condemned until 1972 when Jean Heller, a reporter, sent this story to Washington Star. This led to the NAACP getting involved however even with all of this societal pressure the government did not apologize for these experiments until 1997. This year gap shows just how dangerous the government is in terms of keeping information confidential as well as the lack of power the public has. Furthermore, these experiments have caused much of the black population to not trust the government and also rightfully so look towards conspiracy.
Another corrupt act by the government is COINTELPRO also known as the counterintelligence program was a governmental operation that aimed to infiltrate and destroy black activist groups in the 1950s to the early 70s. This was done by manipulating media, forging letters, wrongful imprisonment, and the assassination of black leaders. This plan was created by J. Edgar Hoover who saw the black panther party as a threat. During COINTELPRO agents were placed inside the black panther party in order to instigate fights within the group, gather Intel and assassinate certain members to further divide them. When it comes to the assassinations of black leaders some of the most well known examples are Malcolm X, Dr.King , and Fred Hampton. After COINTELPRO was established Malcom X was selected to be their first target in 1965. Ever since he connected with MLK in 1964, Hoover feared the influence that would arise from two of the most notorious black activist to be working together which lead to him orchestrating a plan against the one who was known to fight back, Malcolm. He was killed in the Audubon Ballroom with a sawed off shotgun by three suspected members Talmadge Hayer who was arrested, Norman Bultler, and Thomas Johnson who were deemed innocent most likely due to COINTELPRO involvement. These three members where informants for COINTELPRO coerced into assassinating Malcolm to shift the attention away from the government. The next target of COINTELPRO was MLK since they already closely monitoring him through wiretaps and videos of his adulterous affairs. Even going as far as an anonymous sending a letter with the evidence saying he should kill himself. Furthermore King saw through the letter immediately noticing that it was written to breed mistrust among him and his people. After witnessing King's unwillingness to comply he was assassinated by James Earl Ray on the balcony of his motel room in 1968. The FBI claimed to have no involvement in this murder but after the letter was discovered it was obvious that this could not be further from the truth. The final major assassination I will discuss was Fred Hampton who was the deputy chairmen of the Black Panthers and also known as the black messiah. With the killings of the previous two leaders black people were becoming more and more eager to defend themselves. This was done by stationing Black Panthers on different sections of the road to defend the black community if the police step out of line. Hoover despised the idea of the Black Panthers becoming more militaristic and their influence on the black community overall which lead to him setting his sights on Fred Hampton. Fred Hampton was drugged by a COINTELPRO informant and assassinated during a police raid in 1969. Once Fred Hampton died many FBI documents began to surface thus revealing the evil events of COINTELPRO pushing the black community even further away from the government.
Comments
Post a Comment