The documents would reveal that John Edgar Hoover had used his skills to create a fifty-year intelligence-gathering and surveillance project that evolved into COINTELPRO, the counterintelligence program that targeted every Black leader during the civil rights struggle. Its stated goal was to: Prevent the COALITION of militant black nationalist groups . . . Prevent the RISE OF A “MESSIAH” who could unify, and electrify, the militant black nationalist movement . . . Prevent VIOLENCE on the part of black nationalist groups. Prevent militant black nationalist groups and leaders from gaining
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