The FBI's secret war against the Black Panthers is under close scrutiny in Omaha COINTELPRO case

Michael Richardson writes: [Excerpt] "Omaha, Nebraska, birthplace of Malcolm X, has a long history of racial tension. In September 1919 a white crowd of 4,000 burned the Douglas County Courthouse to gain access to an accused black prisoner, Will Brown. Brown had been erroneously accused of the rape of a white woman and was in custody at the courthouse when the lynch mob gathered in the streets of downtown Omaha. Mayor Edward Smith sought to quiet the mob and was dragged to a lamppost and hanged with a makeshift noose. Pulled down by a quick acting policeman the mayor hovered near death for several days. Will Brown was not so lucky. The mob hanged Brown and then dragged his body through the downtown streets behind a car before burning it on a street corner. ... " Read more.