June 9, 2001

The Honorable John Ashcroft

Attorney General

United States Department of Justice

Washington D C

Sir:

I represent the Richard L. Kirksey, Jr. Memorial Foundation. Although we give particular attention to issues affecting slave descendants, we are a voice for needy, neglected and abused children internationally. Recent events have renewed serious doubts about FBI forthrightness. Repeated episodes of FBI misconduct and a woeful lack of oversight leave black families distrustful of what they were told happened to their children from 1966 through 1985. These concerns have prompted calls for investigations, a review of programs and procedures, as well as, a top-to-bottom shake-up to weed out J. Edgar Hoover's siege mentality. An article in The DISH (Vol. 4 No 21) Covering Up Co-Intel-Pro questioned whether this counter insurgency program was dismantled. Accordingly, there has never been an official public accounting of its activities, which is the point of this correspondence.

Readers comments regarding this article raised several questions the United States government has yet to answer about its Counter Intelligence Program (Co-Intel-Pro). First, did the FBI actually end Co-Intel-Pro? Initially, did Congress authorize Co-Intel-Pro? If yes, what congressional committees had oversight? If no, how did the FBI fund and manage Co-Intel-Pro without congressional approval? Finally, who was responsible for records keeping, and what is the current status of those records? Victims of Co-Intel-Pro, we view as very important these concerns of families that lost loved ones that were simply exercising their constitutional rights. We desire to know from the FBI and the Department of Justice what happened to our children under Co-Intel-Pro? Answers to these questions hold ominous implications for slave descendants today.

The DISH's research indicates Co-Intel-Pro definitely existed but there is no indication it was actually terminated. For instance, looking from outside the agency, it appears Co-Intel-Pro morphed or was folded into the "War on Drugs." Past reports stated it was designed to destroy the black power movement. FBI agents were given specific instructions to target young black leaders for imprisonment and/or death. This strategy buttressed government policies designed to prevent black communities from developing natural economic and political leadership. The U. S. Department of Justice was an integral part of this strategy. It prosecuted black power advocates on trumped up charges and defended the government's actions of keeping citizens falsely accused of crimes in prison, even when the person's innocence was clearly established.

Beyond outright assassination, Co-Intel-Pro killed projects, which provided economic resources to communities that supported black power groups. It blocked grants and other philanthropic funds appropriated to assist grass-roots projects. Furthermore, it provided financial support to individuals and groups opposing programs and projects advocated by black power groups. In Memphis, TN, Co-Intel-Pro used the local police to jail Invaders, a black power group that supported striking sanitation workers in 1968. The Invaders in jail, Co-Intel-Pro agents disguised as community activists took over their building and youth program in order to killed grass-roots economic and political action. Destroying the Invaders entrenched white controlled black leaders that run the city today.

Not knowing what Co-Intel-Pro really was and what it did is a dread haunting many communities. Today across America, young black spoken word artists have sparked an economic revival practicing the self-help concepts espoused by the father of black power El Hajj Malik El Shabazz (Malcolm X). Looking through Marcus Garvey to the Rosewood and Greenwood massacres, blacks combining resources in order to develop economic and political power have been considered communism by whites. Malcolm said and Co-Intel-Pro confirmed that the KKK and the federal government were the same. Both function to protect the status quo. White power prevented black power from developing and competing with white business interests. The record shows slave descendants are the only people in America that the government works to prevent them from developing economic and political power.

To develop economic and political power during the 1960s, young blacks struggled in the shadow of McCarthyism and America's treatment of Paul Roberson. The U. S. Government labeled black power advocates communists and a threat to national security. Unless there is a full accounting regarding what happened, today our children, like Paul Roberson, can be targeted like spies or foreign agents. The Atlanta Vibe is the engine powering Atlanta's spoken word renaissance. Creating a renewed interest in reparations for slave descendants, T.H.I.N.C. (Teaching Humanity In New Consciousness) has become an international movement bringing people together as one family. Holistic students, Vibers reach out to connect with people across all political and religious lines. Therefore, they could very easily be stereotyped or profiled into some kind of dissident category and be targeted as black power advocates were beginning in the late 1960s. FBI agents infiltrated black groups and personified the militant stereotypes portrayed in the media. Their actions justified the government's blanket denial of Constitutional rights for those advocating black power.

Law enforcement forecasted dire consequences, if young blacks succeeded in establishing economic and political power independent of whites. White Americans were united in the belief the federal government should prevent blacks from gaining economic and political power. Through Co-Intel-Pro, FBI agents set about killing black leaders and taking over their organizations. A double-edged sword, Co-Intel-Pro replaced assassinated leaders with government agents. The federal government has determined the economic and political direction of the black community since the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Under that specter, some of tomorrow's would be Dr. Kings may become Fred Hampton, Mark Clark, Elton Hayes, Mark Essex, Rep. Dedrick "Teddy" Withers or Richard L. Kirksey,Jr.targeted by a new millennium high-tech Co-Intel-Pro. Now as then, our children have no protection against such tyranny.

Shoot first and ask questions later, if the suspects is black racial profiling law enforcement, puts all children at risk. Consequently, the potential for repeated abuses like Co-Intel-Pro are very real. Continuing a cover up of how the U. S. Government conducted a secret counter intelligence war against its own citizens is American Nazism. Sir, we are asking you to end this national vendetta against slave descendants. We demand these questions be a part of any inquiry or review of the Justice Department and FBI programs and pratices. Without a review that exposes past abuses and establishes permanent oversight of new procedures, the potential for needless loss of life stalks our children like HIV. I will thank you in advance for your prompt action on this request.