Feature: Soapbox Musings

A Historical Look at FBI Ignorance

Author: Don Martelli
Published: August 21, 2010 at 8:41 am
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The Associated Press broke a story about how the FBI watched legendary Alabama Head Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant like a hawk. Apparently the coach was being watched because of a civil rights lawsuit filed by blacks against him during the same period.

Now, think about the time-frame during which this took place and read the opening paragraph again.

Without getting into a political or PC-based rant, I find this action absurd. Now, if Bryant was doing anything unethical in terms of recruiting black players, then sure, why not? Investigate it and charge him with something.

But the point of this post is to laugh at the ridiculousness (yes, I wrote ridiculousness) of the actions of the FBI (regardless of whether it's a black against white or white against black thing). It's all absurd.

According to ESPN:

Documents released to The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act show that for almost two years, agents tracked the suit filed by a prominent black lawyer against Bryant, the University of Alabama and others to make Bryant recruit black football players.

Building a file, agents followed the court docket and snipped stories from newspapers about the case, sending the findings to the agency's office responsible for investigating civil rights crimes.

The FBI won't explain why it was interested in a civil lawsuit by a black student organization against a prominent white football coach. The agency kept track of possible civil rights violations and often monitored public figures and civil rights leaders under Hoover.

Not sure why I am surprised that this type of snooping took place. One could argue that the same type of activity is taking place with Muslims these days.

Regardless of who is doing the snooping and who they are spying on, can't we, as the saying goes, just get along?

 
 

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Article Author: Don Martelli

Known on the social web as “BigGuyD,” Don Martelli is just a dad, moonlighting as a digital marketer, photog and civilian journalist. He's the executive editor for Technorati. Connect with him at www.donmartelli.com.

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