Lessons from COINTELPRO: Power, Accountability, and the Duty to Protect Dissent

By Representative John Faulkner, Mississippi House District 5

There are moments in American history that demand more than remembrance. They demand reflection and accountability. One of those moments is the story of the Counterintelligence Program, known as COINTELPRO.

Created in 1956 under the leadership of J. Edgar Hoover, COINTELPRO was a covert initiative of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Its stated purpose was to monitor and disrupt groups deemed subversive. In reality, it became a systematic effort to surveil, infiltrate, and undermine Black leaders, Black organizations, and Black student movements at a time when they were fighting for basic civil rights and human dignity.

During the 1960s and 1970s, as the Civil Rights Movement gained national attention, COINTELPRO expanded its reach. Leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. were subjected to intense surveillance. His phones were wiretapped. His personal life was scrutinized. Attempts were made to discredit him and weaken his influence. This was not about protecting national security. It was about silencing a voice that challenged injustice.

Mississippi is not a bystander in this history. It is part of it.

From the surveillance of civil rights organizers during the Freedom Summer to the monitoring of student activists at Tougaloo College and Jackson State University, our state has lived through a time when Black voices calling for justice were often treated as threats rather than citizens exercising their rights.

We cannot forget the Jackson State killings, where young people advocating for change became victims of state violence. Nor can we ignore the broader reality that many civil rights leaders who organized in Mississippi were surveilled, followed, and, in some cases, deliberately undermined. These were not isolated incidents. They were part of a larger pattern that mirrored the very tactics used under COINTELPRO across this country.

That history should not divide us. It should guide us.

Today, Mississippi operates in a political environment defined by a supermajority. Elections determine who holds power, but history teaches us how that power must be exercised. The lesson of COINTELPRO is not that government itself is the problem. The lesson is that government without oversight, without transparency, and without respect for dissent can lose its way.

In a supermajority climate, the responsibility to protect minority voices becomes even more critical. When one party has the numbers to move legislation, shape narratives, and control the direction of policy, it must also carry the burden of ensuring that opposing voices are not dismissed, ignored, or silenced. True leadership is not measured by how efficiently power is used, but by how responsibly it is restrained.

The question before us is not whether COINTELPRO exists today. The question is whether we have built a system strong enough to ensure that it never can. That means protecting the rights of students to organize. It means ensuring that those who speak out against injustice are heard, not targeted. It means maintaining strong oversight of our institutions, from law enforcement to corrections, so that no agency operates beyond accountability.

As legislators, we are not just policymakers. We are stewards of a history that demands we do better. We must remain vigilant in protecting the freedoms that others fought to secure, especially when those freedoms are exercised by voices that challenge the status quo.

In Mississippi, that means recognizing that dissent is not disloyalty. It is democracy in action. It means understanding that progress has always required uncomfortable conversations and courageous voices willing to stand in the gap. And it means committing ourselves to ensuring that every Mississippian, regardless of background or belief, can speak, organize, and advocate without fear.

If we are serious about honoring the sacrifices made by those who came before us, then we must do more than remember their struggle. We must protect the space for others to continue it. No voice in this state should ever be watched, weakened, or silenced simply for demanding a better Mississippi.