Paperwork obtained by Rolling Stone reveal that the FBI intently monitored Aretha Franklin and her relationships with different artists and activists for 4 many years.
In accordance with the outlet, a 270-page FBI file particulars the group’s surveillance of Franklin via faux telephone calls, infiltration, spying, and extra from 1967 to 2007.
Franklin, who died in 2018, labored with a few of the largest names within the Civil Rights motion, together with Martin Luther King Jr., Angela Davis, and extra.
Her father, Clarence L. Franklin, additionally served as a minister and civil rights activist.
Paperwork present that the FBI tracked Franklin’s tackle, telephone numbers, and day-to-day exercise in an try to attach the artist to “extremists.”
Her 270-page file is crammed with phrases, together with “pro-communist,” “hate America,” “radical,” “Black extremists,” “militant Black energy,” and “racial violence.”
The paperwork additionally detailed the dying threats Franklin obtained.
“I’m probably not certain if my mom was conscious that she was being focused by the FBI and adopted. I do know that she had completely nothing to cover although,” Aretha Franklin’s son Kecalf advised Rolling Stone.
Finally, the FBI’s try to hyperlink Franklin to “radical actions” failed.
Different musicians who famously have FBI recordsdata embody Marvin Gaye, Jimi Hendrix, Whitney Houston, and The Infamous B.I.G.
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