The late Aretha Franklin was reportedly tracked and spied on for a whopping 40 years by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) who conjectured that the Queen of Soul was part of several “radical” Black movements, though they never found any evidence supporting their suspicions. The report comes from Rolling Stone, who obtained the FBI file, documenting how the FBI had kept Franklin under heavy surveillance between 1967 to 2007.
In the 270-page filing, the bureau believed that the “Respect” singer was affiliated with several “militant Black power” movements, adding that her music and performances could further incite racial violence. It’s no secret that Franklin was a huge advocate for equal rights for Black Americans, having shown huge support for activist Angel Davis and Dr. Martin Luther King before his assassination in 1968. Not to mention, some of her greatest songs were rooted around the civil rights movement, which the FBI had grown concerns about during a time where race relations sparked all kinds of riots in the ‘60s and ‘70s.
The FBI tracked Aretha Franklin for FORTY YEARS to see how involved she was in the Civil Rights Movement.
FORTY YEARS! ARETHA FREAKIN’ FRANKLIN!
These are the same people that can’t stop school shooters or terror attacks.
I am sitting here stunned.
— Lavern Spicer 🇺🇸 (@lavern_spicer) October 2, 2022
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What’s more, per Rolling Stone, the FBI deemed Franklin to have been so influential to African Americans that they believed she had enough power over her fans to fuel an “emotional spark which could ignite racial disturbance” when she was enlisted to perform at MLK’s memorial concert in Atlanta. The event was later scrapped, yet the FBI continued to track Franklin’s phone calls, her personal addresses, and closely monitored her relationships with family, friends, and even her fans.
In 1971, for example, the bureau was keeping tabs on Franklin when she attended the Black Panther Party in 1971 — an event that was put together to help provide food for 3,000 Black families who were living in a crisis. Another part of the report mentions how the FBI noted “possible racial violence” under Franklin’s report, noting how the singer was strict on being paid her performance fees upfront.
The FBI spent forty years tracking Aretha Franklin.
This is what they spend our taxpayer funding on.
Our federal government is ridiculously out of control. https://t.co/sSNTmRqP7H
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) October 3, 2022
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In 1968, however, when she was set to hit the stage at the Red Rock amphitheater in Denver, the promoter failed to make the payment on time, prompting Franklin to pull out of the concert just moments before she was expected to hit the stage. It led to a 20-minute brawl between a number of fans, which Franklin was ultimately blamed for, though she later apologized and told concert holders to get a refund from the venue. The FBI estimated that a total of $85,000 worth of damages were caused because of the fight.