Civil Rights Photographer Unmasked as FBI Informer

[FrankRep]

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/09/14/us/PHOTOGRAPHER-1/PHOTOGRAPHER-1-articleLarge.jpg
Ernest C. Withers, FBI Informer

Civil Rights Photographer Unmasked as FBI Informer (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/us/14photographer.html?_r=3&src=twt&twt=nytimes)


NY Times
September 13, 2010


ATLANTA — That photo of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. riding one of the first desegregated buses in Montgomery, Ala.? He took it. The well-known image of black sanitation workers carrying “I Am a Man” signs in Memphis? His. He was the only photojournalist to document the entire trial in the murder of Emmett Till, and he was there in Room 306 of the Lorraine Hotel, Dr. King’s room, on the night he was assassinated.

But now an unsettling asterisk must be added to the legacy of Ernest C. Withers, one of the most celebrated photographers of the civil rights era: He was a paid F.B.I. informer.

On Sunday, The Commercial Appeal in Memphis published the results of a two-year investigation that showed Mr. Withers, who died in 2007 at age 85, had collaborated closely with two F.B.I. agents in the 1960s to keep tabs on the civil rights movement. It was an astonishing revelation about a former police officer nicknamed the Original Civil Rights Photographer, whose previous claim to fame had been the trust he engendered among high-ranking civil rights leaders, including Dr. King.

“It is an amazing betrayal,” said Athan Theoharis, a historian at Marquette University who has written books about the F.B.I. “It really speaks to the degree that the F.B.I. was able to engage individuals within the civil rights movement. This man was so well trusted.”

From at least 1968 to 1970, Mr. Withers, who was black, provided photographs, biographical information and scheduling details to two F.B.I. agents in the bureau’s Memphis domestic surveillance program, Howell Lowe and William H. Lawrence, according to numerous reports summarizing their meetings. The reports were obtained by the newspaper under the Freedom of Information Act and posted on its Web site.

A clerical error appears to have allowed for Mr. Withers’s identity to be divulged: In most cases in the reports, references to Mr. Withers and his informer number, ME 338-R, have been blacked out. But in several locations, the F.B.I. appears to have forgotten to hide them. The F.B.I. said Monday that it was not clear what had caused the lapse in privacy and was looking into the incident.

Civil rights leaders have responded to the revelation with a mixture of dismay, sadness and disbelief. “If this is true, then Ernie abused our friendship,” said the Rev. James M. Lawson Jr., a retired minister who organized civil rights rallies throughout the South in the 1960s.
...


SOURCE:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/us/14photographer.html?_r=3&src=twt&twt=nytimes

[pcosmar]

For any that are uninformed or misinformed, it may be a good time to research COINTELPRO.

A basic description,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO

More depth here,
http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/cointelpro/cointel.htm

More modern here,
http://www.dickshovel.com/coin.html

[gls]

I had to laugh at that last line. WTF?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/14/photographer-ernest-withers-fbi-informer



Andrew Young, a former mayor of Atlanta, said activists had been aware that they were closely watched by the FBI, although no one suspected Withers was an informant.

"I always liked him because he was a good photographer. And he was always [around]," he said. "I don't think Dr King would have minded him making a little money on the side."

[dannno]

Very unsurprised.. but good that this kind of stuff is continually coming out.

[phill4paul]

Very unsurprised.. but good that this kind of stuff is continually coming out.

My first question is why it is coming out NOW. It is very interesting and your sentiments about it being unsurprising are echoed.

I just question where it will go. Why is this information coming out at this point and time? Good investigative reporting? Possibly. Agenda motivated? Possibly.

It'll be interesting to see if it is just a blip on the radar or if it will take off.

[PatriotOne]

And you can bet there are paid infiltrators/informers keeping tabs on the Tea Party. Probably names you would recognize. Glen cough Beck cough There's ZERO percent chance there isn't. Be paranoid...very paranoid ;)

[oyarde]

And you can bet there are paid infiltrators/informers keeping tabs on the Tea Party. Probably names you would recognize. Glen cough Beck cough There's ZERO percent chance there isn't. Be paranoid...very paranoid ;)

I would not think Beck would need the money .

[PatriotOne]

I would not think Beck would need the money .

Yeah...only poor people are traitors to their country right?

[TNforPaul45]

I would not think Beck would need the money .

The actions of the Elements running our Country and Planet are NOT ABOUT MONEY!!!

let me say that again...they are NOT concerned with money.

This is about POWER! Anything that threatens their power is an immediate enemy to them. They will raze heaven and earth to destroy anything that threatens their station and position.

They do it, and their children will do it, and their children's children will do it.

[oyarde]

The actions of the Elements running our Country and Planet are NOT ABOUT MONEY!!!

let me say that again...they are NOT concerned with money.

This is about POWER! Anything that threatens their power is an immediate enemy to them. They will raze heaven and earth to destroy anything that threatens their station and position.

They do it, and their children will do it, and their children's children will do it.

I always figured power/ money were the same drug to those people . I could be wrong .

[oyarde]

Yeah...only poor people are traitors to their country right?

I see your point , but most of the time , I think yes . Traitors are usually motivated by improving the position of power , wealth and influence for themselves .

[Promontorium]

FBI assassinating King just shot to #1.

[paulitics]

And guess who was a British agent? Mussolini.

I'm still waiting for the incompetence theorists to explain that one.

[paulitics]

I would not think Beck would need the money .

Do you think Ronald Reagan needed the money?

[LibForestPaul]

For any that are uninformed or misinformed, it may be a good time to research COINTELPRO.

A basic description,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO

More depth here,
http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/cointelpro/cointel.htm

More modern here,
http://www.dickshovel.com/coin.html

* President Eisenhower received reports on purely political and social contacts with foreign officials by Bernard Baruch, Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, and Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas.


No shadow governments here, move along.

[oyarde]

FBI assassinating King just shot to #1.

What would be in it for the FBI ?

[Promontorium]

What would be in it for the FBI ?

I must first establish a couple facts.

1. J. Edgar Hoover was the FBI. I know people joke or exaggerate about power, Hoover was the most powerful person in American history by leaps and bounds. FBI before Hoover, an office in a building called the Bureau of Investigation. FBI during Hoover, the most powerful and influential internal government entity, with Hoover having absolute authority, every president answered to Hoover.

2. Hoover flagrantly violated the rights of citizens his entire time in power. What he did in secret will fill books on conspiracies and covert subversive acts for the rest of time.

3. Hoover hated and feared King.

All that, is prior knowledge. Finding out the FBI was basically standing next to King when he was shot and we're just finding about it now, would be like finding out a Cuban, or an Italian mafioso, or yet another FBI informant was in Kennedy's trunk with a radio transmitter and a rifle the day he was shot. This stirs up a pot already boiling over.

[Live_Free_Or_Die]

Welcome to reality civil rights leaders. Do let the people who subscribe to liberty know when you are ready to pull your head out of government's ass and address the problem.

[phill4paul]

Welcome to reality civil rights leaders. Do let the people who subscribe to liberty know when you are ready to pull your head out of government's ass and address the problem.

Yes. But the leaders won't change what they are doing. They profit too much by it. They may even be an informer themselves.:eek:
You may get the individuals that listen to these leaders to change their worldviews. Ain't gonna happen through the "leaders."

I personally think that this was released at this time to sow distrust within their camp. The government likes to divide factions. Their faction has had a recent boost and needed correction.

Such is the way factions are controlled. Sad.:(

[oyarde]

I must first establish a couple facts.

1. J. Edgar Hoover was the FBI. I know people joke or exaggerate about power, Hoover was the most powerful person in American history by leaps and bounds. FBI before Hoover, an office in a building called the Bureau of Investigation. FBI during Hoover, the most powerful and influential internal government entity, with Hoover having absolute authority, every president answered to Hoover.

2. Hoover flagrantly violated the rights of citizens his entire time in power. What he did in secret will fill books on conspiracies and covert subversive acts for the rest of time.

3. Hoover hated and feared King.

All that, is prior knowledge. Finding out the FBI was basically standing next to King when he was shot and we're just finding about it now, would be like finding out a Cuban, or an Italian mafioso, or yet another FBI informant was in Kennedy's trunk with a radio transmitter and a rifle the day he was shot. This stirs up a pot already boiling over.
You are correct that Hoover was the FBI . You are correct that his power was immense. Hoover was also smart. If he kills Dr. King , a known , same void will be filled by an unknown.Nothing in that for him.

[phill4paul]

You are correct that Hoover was the FBI . You are correct that his power was immense. Hoover was also smart. If he kills Dr. King , a known , same void will be filled by an unknown.Nothing in that for him.

No telling. Hoover was egotistical and perhaps Mr. Withers reported that Mr. King called him a dress wearing queen.:D

[oyarde]

I must first establish a couple facts.

1. J. Edgar Hoover was the FBI. I know people joke or exaggerate about power, Hoover was the most powerful person in American history by leaps and bounds. FBI before Hoover, an office in a building called the Bureau of Investigation. FBI during Hoover, the most powerful and influential internal government entity, with Hoover having absolute authority, every president answered to Hoover.

2. Hoover flagrantly violated the rights of citizens his entire time in power. What he did in secret will fill books on conspiracies and covert subversive acts for the rest of time.

3. Hoover hated and feared King.

All that, is prior knowledge. Finding out the FBI was basically standing next to King when he was shot and we're just finding about it now, would be like finding out a Cuban, or an Italian mafioso, or yet another FBI informant was in Kennedy's trunk with a radio transmitter and a rifle the day he was shot. This stirs up a pot already boiling over. When Kennedy was killed , the replacement was known and accepted.

[Mach]

I can't believe how shocked people get about this stuff, Jesse Jackson probably outranked that other guy in the FBI Informatory.

[Vessol]

I think that there is clear evidence that Martin Luther King Jr. was an enemy to the establishment. He questioned our military participation and lead people enmasse to question the State. After his assassination I imagine many that filled the void in with people whom were either more sympathetic to the State or were completely on their payroll. Jesse Jackson anyone?

Of course I speak only on my own figuring, no actual proof or anything.

[Anti Federalist]

My first question is why it is coming out NOW.

Because when you are "up close" to the events at hand, people tend not to believe such wild eyed "conspiracy theories".

The system is only releasing the facts about their perfidy and murder and underhandedness, generations after the fact, when no one gives a shit any more.

Brain Chip NewsFlash - Dateline, 11 September 2051

"All the news that's fit to beam into your brain"

In Washington today, federal officials released over 2000 pages of internal documentation indicating that the federal apparatus knew exactly what was going to happen 50 years ago today, and deliberately held back from preventing the event. Also released were copies of WTC building diagrams with encoded information laid over top that seems to suggest explosive placement.

In other news, Lindsay Lohen's granddaughter arrested on drug charges.

[sratiug]

Hasn't the FBI been associated with the assassination of Dr. King and the shooting and later assassination of George Wallace for a long time now?

[Vessol]

Yup, but if you brought it up before..probably even now after this, people would just go "Lol /tinfoil"

I showed all the documents that the Gulf of Tonkin never actually happened and was a complete farse, the person just went "lol /tinfoil who cares" even though it validated my arguement.

Some people don't care how much evidence you have.