When the FBI told MLK to commit suicide

Posted by Evan Derkacz at 12:55 PM on December 22, 2005.

It's simply too tantalizing to use unchecked spying to destroy your enemies, even when they present no actual threat. Always cloaked in the language of "security" spying has an ignominious past...

Laura Rozen notes:

"As Nixon press aide David Gergen reminded NPR listeners this morning, the FBI monitored King, and then sent the tapes to his wife to try to 'neutralize' him as a civil rights leader. It also sent him a note with a copy of the tapes suggesting he commit suicide or they would release the tapes. It's worth remembering how recently and how grossly the government has abused the civil liberties of Americans in the very recent past..."

In the words of the man in charge of the FBI's "war" against Dr. King:

No holds were barred. We have used [similar] techniques against Soviet agents. [The same methods were] brought home against any organization against which we were targeted. We did not differentiate. This is a rough, tough business.

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Evan Derkacz is a New York-based writer and contributor to AlterNet.