When I was growing up one of my favorite shows on television was THE FBI (Righter of the Wronged, Protector of the Weak). I liked how Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., the FBI Big Cheese, every week outguessed, outsmarted and outmaneuvered crooks, Communists, thieves, murderers, to uphold truth, justice and the American way. I know I couldn’t have been the only one who watched it; the man himself, J. Edgar Hoover, loved it also. Back in those days I was young and believed the FBI, CIA and the police were the good guys; they were righteous. Over time, I found out, like many others, this isn’t the case at all, except in television and the movies.
One can safely say the Federal Bureau of Investigation has never been a friend to African-Americans. As far back as Marcus Garvey and A. Phillip Randolph the Bureau has more than kept its watchful eye on black leaders trying to uplift their people.
I was fascinated reading this book. At the same time, though, I found it frightening. We all live in a wicked country where the government can and will do anything to keep people in check.
I might add that I see the FBI, CIA and the police departments around this country as one and the same. They are all in cahoots and along with the Nation of Islam they all played a part in the assassination of Malcolm X. Who else? King? Both Kennedys? Evers? Hampton? The list goes on and on.
J. Edgar Hoover was a known racist and he did all he could and more to stop any movement by or on behalf of blacks, all under the guise of protecting democrary.
This book chronicles the growth in the evolution of Malcolm from his early “white man is the devil” days to his later, more developed world outlook right before he was killed. One can see that the Bureau and agencies like it cannot work successfully without informants. They had plants around Malcolm at the highest levels of all his organizations: The Nation of Islam, Muslim Mosque, Inc., and the Organization of Afro-American Unity. To me, that’s the sad part. Malcolm was sold out. A house nigger turned him into Massa just like one did Nat Turner and countless others. It’s also ironic that Brother Gene, one of Malcolm’s bodyguards who gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation seconds after he’d been shot down and was dying, also proved to be a police informant. The Bureau knew Malcolm’s every move, knew he was being hunted down, but stood back and let him and Elijah fight it out in public (a dispute which they encouraged no doubt).
I’m still surprised they even let these papers out. Turn that around and wonder what was destroyed: What documents will we never know about?
It’s 1991 and the Federal Bureau of Investigation we know from television and Mississippi Burning are far, far from reality. Fortunately, there are books like this that combat these Walt Disney/John Wayne bogus images. The Bureau, however, would make THE GREAT AMERICAN GANGSTER MOVIE.