This week we talk about "Cointelpro" and the implications of the existence of this program on what it means to vocalize one's opinion in a politically charged global climate.

We discuss the 2021 Academy Award nominated movie Judas & the Black Messiah.The film is a biographical portrayal of the events surrounding the death of Fred Hampton the charismatic leader of the Black Panther Party. We highlight parts of the movie that show us the role certain federal agencies played in the dismantling of what was once an intellectual movement.

Cointelpro is a program manufactured by the FBI, which lists procedures for how to break dissent in organized groups of people deemed to be a divergent voice from the status quo. The practices listed in the program documents - which can be found on the FBI's vault [link below] - are painstakingly similar to how governments around the world shut down protests through infiltration, misguidance, and other disruptive tactics.

FBI Vault: https://vault.fbi.gov/cointel-pro

Judas & The Black Messiah: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9784798/