14. COINTELPRO and Surveillance
COINTELPRO was a secret FBI initiative aimed at surveilling, infiltrating, and undermining civil rights leaders and activist groups from the 1950s through the 1970s. Targets included Martin Luther King Jr., the Black Panthers, and anti-war protesters. The program’s exposure revealed the extent of government overreach and ignited fierce debates over privacy, the right to protest, and the ethics of domestic surveillance. COINTELPRO’s legacy continues to inform modern discussions about civil liberties and state power.
