date American Civil Rights Movement It cannot be listed without a Hall of Fame listing Boston Celtics big guy Bill Russell, He also couldn’t be told without triggering the FBI. The office was notorious for watching The activities of activists and organizers in this critical part of US history, a practice I continued With Black Lives Matter Watch and other organizations.
Now, Joe Doynell of the Boston Herald has it open That the FBI personally surveilled Bill Russell after a successful Freedom of Information Act request, a fact that shouldn’t be too surprising given the history noted above.
But there is one inconsistency nowadays with that given Russell’s standing in the NBA community and as a fighter for social justice over his life.
“Newly released FBI documents show that Celtics legend Bill Russell was pursued by the Federals for possible ties to the Black Panthers and allegedly gambling at hoop games,” Doynell wrote.
The FBI also interviewed him after “threatening his life” and the State Department allowed the FBI to review Russell’s passport.
News of the FBI’s investigation against the former teammate sparked fellow Boston legend Bob Cousy, who spoke to the Herald about the revelation.
Ross was a black activist and this is what got people’s attention. Kosei also explained that when you win all those tournaments, he gets attention.
“He was part of the most important team in American history… I have no idea why the FBI even existed. It comes as a surprise to me.”
Apparently, there were internal concerns with the FBI that Russell might be involved with the Black Panther Party—who also hails from Oakland, California, where Russell went to high school—”or other black extremist or militant activities.”
The same memo indicated that Russell was “in contact with (Black Panther) leader Huey Newton” with the intent of meeting exiled Black Panther Party member Eldridge Cleaver abroad in Algeria, possibly to return some sort of media from the Black Panthers to an unspecified person. end.
Russell also received attention for not wanting to sign autographs of white children in an “offensive manner”.
The FBI also concluded that Russell “could not be considered a radical and did not know of any radical organization he was a member of” despite an extensive investigation going back to when he lived in Louisiana as a child, and even tried to find grounds to prosecute Russell for gambling. legal.
The parallels with how the bureau gathers information on black activists today are notable, and the cache of documents obtained by the Herald may not be the only memoir in existence.
The newspaper plans to continue such investigations in the future.
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