The Black Panthers AND COINTELPRO, Then And Now

Deep thoughts from director Tommy Bunz.

It's funny looking back how the government used a covert program to tap the phones of American citizens, murder them, arrest them when excercising their rights, and place them in prison on trumped up charges, all in the name of national security. Sound familiar? Arabs and Muslims here in America and abroard are being subjected to the same tyranny the Black Panthers, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King and hundreds of other innocent Freedom Fighters. It never stopped, the target just shifted.

No individual was ever charged with a crime for the abuses under COINTELPRO. People had their lives ruined by false charges. Some had to leave the country to escape prison. Some were murdered in their sleep. Some were tortured, in plain sight ( ask Bobby Seale). The government never admitted responsibility or made any restitution to the affected individuals.

Muslims and Arabs have been subjected to the same treatment. They have been arrested without trial, shipped to foreign prisons to be tortured, had their phones tapped and business records scrutinized. Hell, they even made ass pyramids with prisoners and morally degraded them on camera. Just like fire hosing black folks on Sunday and bombing churches with little girls inside.

Think anyone will be charged for the abuses of power under Bush? My guess is hell no. If Nixon was able to avoid prosecution for COINTELPRO, Reagan and Bush for Iran/Contra, Abu Ghraib and phone tapping will be swept away like a booger on the floor. Hell, they were looking for Bin Laden for Christsakes!

There never has been a fair system of justice in this country. Why expect it now?