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February is Black History Month and that history is intimately linked with surveillance by the federal government in the name of national security. Indeed, the history of surveillance in the African-American community plays an important role in the debate around spying today and in the calls for a congressional investigation into that surveillance. Days after the first NSA leaks emerged last June, EFF called for a new Church Committee. We mentioned that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was one of the targets of the very surveillance that eventually led to the formation of the first Church Committee. This Black History Month, we should remember the many African-American activists who were targeted by intelligence agencies. Their stories serve as cautionary tales for the expanding surveillance state.
Who Killed Fred Hampton? The True Story Behind Judas and the Black Messiah
On 2/13/21 at 7:00 AM EST
When viewers sit down to watch
Judas and the Black Messiah on HBO Max, they ll get a very different look at the circumstances around the death of Fred Hampton, compared to how Chicago authorities originally characterized the 1969 raid that left the Illinois Black Panther Party chairman dead at age 21.
Starring Daniel Kaluuya as the late Hampton (in a performance that s generating award-season attention), the film presents the Black Panther leader s death as the result of a concerted campaign by federal law enforcement. Specifically, it centers on the role of William O Neal (played by LaKeith Stanfield), the man the FBI used to infiltrate the Black Panthers and gain inside knowledge on Hampton.
SNCC); and the Congress for Racial Equality (
CORE). While these associations generally pursued their goals through civil disobedience and the courts, it was the Black Panther Party that eschewed the establishment in favor of leftist community organizing, a focus on Black power, and military tactics.
New film
Judas and the Black Messiah, in theaters and on HBO Max Feb 12, follows the rise of Black Panther Chairman Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya), the head of the Illinois chapter of the party. Filmmaker Shaka King tells the true story of Hampton and Bill O’Neal (LaKeith Stanfield), the car thief turned FBI informant forced to undermine the organization from the inside and participate in Hampton’s assassination. The movie is blistering in its portrayal of the conspiracy between the federal government and the local police department to silence Hampton.