The story of MLK Day and the civil rights movement is as much a story of massive repression -- by the state and its auxiliaries -- as it is a story of radical struggle and social movement. This letter to MLK is but a fragment of the coercion -- both in quantity and quality -- that was visited upon the movement. If you want to get a taste of the range of repression -- despite the knowing ease with which we throw around the phrase state repression, it can be as diverse, as textured and subtle, as the movement it seeks to destroy -- check out chapter five of The Cointelpro Papers. I used to teach it in my civil rights and civil liberties classes, and its eye-opening in its concreteness and specificity.
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 23:01:56 +0000
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