The FBI's War on Black America

Name: The FBI's War on Black America
Director: Deb Ellis
Released: 1990-01-01
Duration: 53 min
Rating: 8
Cast: H. Rap Brown, Kwame Ture, Eldridge Cleaver, Kathleen Cleaver, Fred Hampton

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The FBI's War on Black America

*8.0

Status

Released

Production

Unknown

Aired

1990-01-01

The FBI's War on Black America

Through a secret program called the Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO), there was a concerted effort to subvert the will of the people to avoid the rise "of a Black Messiah" that would mobilize the African-American community into a meaningful political force. This documentary establishes historical perspective on the measures initiated by J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI which aimed to discredit black political figures and forces of the late 1960's and early 1970's. Combining declassified documents, interviews, rare footage and exhaustive research, it investigates the government's role in the assassinations of Malcolm X, Fred Hampton, and Martin Luther King Jr. Were the murders the result of this concerted effort to avoid "a Black Messiah"?