Well it's better than this version.....
Posted on 10/04/2022 3:34:56 PM PDT by conservative98
Aretha Franklin was tracked by the FBI for 40 years as the agency repeatedly sought but ultimately failed to tie the Queen of Soul to “extremists” and “radicals,” newly declassified documents reveal.
The 270-page FBI file — obtained by Rolling Stone magazine — details how the feds spied on the “Respect” songstress through “false phone calls, surveillance, infiltration and highly-placed sources” from 1967 to 2007.
The FBI’s suspicion of the late star was laid bare in the cache of documents, which included a slew of phrases, such as “black extremists,” “procommunist,” “hate America,” “radical,” “racial violence” and “militant blackpower.”
“I’m not really sure if my mother was aware that she was being targeted by the FBI and followed. I do know that she had absolutely nothing to hide though,” Franklin’s son, Kecalf Franklin, told the outlet.
The documents, some of which are heavily redacted, were first requested by the outlet via the Freedom of Information Act in August 2018 — just days after Franklin died from a pancreatic tumor, aged 76.
[cut]
Agents also tried to link the “Chain of Fools” singer to the Black Liberation Army. In one of the documents, the feds flagged her 1971 contract with Atlantic Records “just in case” there was any link to the Black Panther Party.
Despite the FBI’s extensive surveillance, the agency never discovered anything that linked Franklin to radical or extremist behavior, according to the file.
“It does make me feel a certain way knowing the FBI had her targeted and wanted to know her every move” her son said.
“But at the same time knowing my mother and the way she ran her business I know she had nothing to hide so they wouldn’t have found anything and were wasting their time. As you see…they found nothing at all.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
The Movie is good. That scene or whatever you what to call it is very well done.
S-U-S-P-E-C-T....
That song was by Otis redding.
Yes, but Aretha Franklin actually made good music.
The truth is the FBI’s corruption dates back to J. Edgar Hoover’s reign.
It’s all in the ears of the belistener!😀
And apparently this still went on for 6 years into Bob Mueller’s term.
If only the FBI was as good at it’s job, as Aretha Franklin.
For years she demanded $10,000.00 in cash before she went on stage. This guaranteed she would get at least part of her pay. I’m surprised the FBI wasn’t tracing that cash for the IRS.
How true. They got to listen to Aretha Franklin and get paid for it.
I bet they just love it when suspects flee to exotic locations and nothing is cheap.
We can see who the Chain of Fools really were. It pisses me off that the FBI spied on an innocent citizen for FORTY YEARS, essentially just because she was black and successful. Are they such SLOW learners — like maybe stop after ten years of finding zilch? They likely didn’t really think she had done anything criminal, but wanted material to embarrass her with if she made any sort of political stand they didn’t like.
Tied to the Black Panther Party because she has a contract with Atlantic Records? — utter nonsense. Yeah the FBI s really the world’s greatest investigative agency. How much tax money was wasted and when are they going to apologize?
Maybe so.....Aretha Franklin’s famed 1967 rendition of “Respect” has been lauded as the greatest song of all time, according to Rolling Stone magazine’s most recent poll listing the 500 best songs ever. (Sep 20, 2021)
Well it's better than this version.....
I brought the song up on YouTube. If endless, horrible, repetitive shrieking plus 100% unintelligible lyrics are anyone's cup of tea, then I guess I'm just not "woke" (whatever that means, lol) !
It's not even a song, it's a travesty !
Leni
40 years and no evidence?
Sounds like they were just fans and misused their office to follow her.
“Aretha Franklin’s ‘Respect’ has been lauded as the greatest song of all time”.
I brought the song up on YouTube. If endless, horrible, repetitive shrieking plus 100% unintelligible lyrics are anyone’s cup of tea, then I guess I’m just not “woke” (whatever that means, lol) !
It’s not even a song, it’s a travesty !
Leni
_______________________________________________
Leni, I hate that song!!!!! :)
My experience with the FBI was mostly 1964-82. During that period they were bureaucrats who went thru the motions. As a personnel clerk, I was able to see my own file in the Army. They investigated me June 1964- Feb 1966 before drafting me.
It was a constant stream of USPS mail between Chicago, Seattle, Mississippi and Texas with a few scatttered from other places.
The first letter was from San Antonio TX. The Seargant conducting the exam asked if I would be loyal to LBJ. I answered that I had just sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution and that I would do. That was one of the triggers. Letters went to the TX border towns, to Northern and Souther Mississippi, to Chicago and Seattle. Each of those places, often both the local police and the FBI office in the same city, would respond to each request and ask for more info. The response was typically, “We have 5 inquiries about Bob.” The next round “We have 13 inquiries about Bob.” Then “We have 29 inquiries about Bob. He seems to be emerging as a target that might deserve more attention.”
At no point did they connect me to others on both the left and right with whom I had been associated in extremist activities. Not my brother. Not 2 different Puerto Rican terrorist factions. Not civil and not so civil civil rights groups. Not the John Birch Society. (I saw others files and the focus there was on JBS; But only because the target had raised it first.)
2 1/2 years of sending meaningless letters back and forth and jumping to conclusions that due to the volume of meaningless letters, I might be worth investigating.
That bureaucracy was not limited to the FBI. The ATF was equally incompetent. They were allegedly hunting for Puerto Rican Terrorist Oscar Lopez, a friend of mine, and at times an ally in an anti-Democrat Machine coalition. It was public knowledge that Oscar’s 2 brothers were Capitalists all the while supporting Puerto Rican Independence. One owned the local Hardware Store. The other owned the Texaco Gas Station. This was before Pump-your-own was legal. Oscar was pumping gas every day at his brother’s Texaco. It was no secret to anyone.
Yet the ATF was too lazy, too bureaucratic to figure that out. The agents who talked to me only talked to me because it was “routine” and they were told to do it. They were not empowered to actually investigate anything. They were just bureaucrats doing what they were told to do.
I have no meaningful contact with the FBI and ATF. But I bet most of them are just as bureaucratic. They mindlessly do what they are told; accept the premise of every order; and do no real investigation.
That’s a long time to be ‘searching evidence of espionage’ and not finding any. Not a total loss. I’m sure those FBI agents witnessed quite a number of entertaining performances.
R E S E C T...GMTA
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