Delco re:View Spring 2021 - 31

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ON THAT MONDAY NIGHT, MARCH 8th,
FIFTY YEARS AGO!
" There is no right way to do wrong and
no wrong way to do right " Smokin' Joe Frazier
Burglarizing the FBI, & marking a
national moment in Media's history
A historical marker was approved
in April 2019, by the Pennsylvania
Historical and Museum Commission to
commemorate the Burglary of the Media
FBI Office by a group of local anti-war
activists seeking to expose the massive
surveillance of private citizens by J. Edgar
Hoover's FBI.
Historical markers are those
familiar tall, blue fixtures with the gold
lettering that dot the roads throughout
the Commonwealth to commemorate
pertinent people, places and events.
They are approved on application by
the commission. Approximately 2,000
markers have been placed since the
historical marker program began in 1946;
more than 60 of these markers have been
placed around Delaware County.
" We had to choose a night. It was clear
there was a big night coming up on
March 8. It was the biggest fight night of
the year, of the decade. "
- John Raines, " 1971 "
50 years ago, on the evening
of March 8, 1971, while most of the
world was transfixed by the heavyweight
championship bout, the " Fight of the
Century, " featuring the undefeated world
heavyweight champion Joe Frazier and
the indomitable Muhammad Ali, a group
of eight Philadelphia-area activists broke
into The Media FBI office, located on
the second floor of The County Court
Apartment building (pictured) located on
the corner of Veterans Square and Front
Street, in Media, PA. The burglars, of
which there were eight, took just about
every document from inside and made
history.
The Media FBI office was one of
more than 500 resident agencies located
throughout the country. In these offices
were files that circulated from the FBI
headquarters in Washington, D.C., by
then-director J. Edgar Hoover, who was
then the first and only head of the agency
since his appointment to the role in the
mid-1920s.
The burglars found the evidence
they needed in the bureau office located
in Media to support the widespread
surveillance of Hoover's FBI on American
citizens. They copied the documents and
mailed them to a senator, a congressman
and major newspapers. Betty Medsger, an
investigative reporter for The Washington
Post at the time, was one recipient and
The Post was the first newspaper to
publish the documents.
The documents sent to the public
opened up a new chapter in the country's
history, as a number of events during
that era, including the Media burglary,
contributed to changes to how the FBI
identified and addressed domestic security
threats, leading to reform of the FBI's
intelligence policies and practices and the
creation of investigative guidelines by the
Department of Justice.
On March 11, 1976, the FBI closed
their investigation of the group's burglary
without conclusively identifying any of
the perpetrators. The members' identities
remained a secret until early 2014, when
seven of the eight who could be found
agreed to be interviewed by journalist
Betty Medsger, who authored a nonfiction
book on the event, The Burglary: The
Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover's Secret
FBI.
The Peace Collection at Swarthmore's
McCabe Library received the approximate
70,000 documents Medsger used when
writing her book. These included 35,000
files they received from a Freedom of
Information Act request. This detailed
how the FBI used illegal surveillance
techniques to suppress dissenting speech
and activities by people and organizations
the agency viewed as subversive.
HEART OF A CHAMPION
On that very same day, 50 years
later ... March 8, 2021 Mural Arts
Philadelphia dedicates a 28-by-42-foot
Spring 2021 | 31
work of art titled " Heart of a Champion "
to honor Philadelphia world champion
boxer Smokin' Joe Frazier, at 1302 W.
Allegheny Ave, in Philadelphia.
A new Philadelphia mural honors
boxing legend Joe Frazier, at its
dedication on March 8, 2021, the 50th
anniversary of his " Fight of the Century "
with Muhammad Ali. Frazier defeated Ali
in a unanimous, 15-round decision in a
battle of the two undefeated heavyweights
at New York's Madison Square Garden.
The painting depicts a young Frazier
in his classic boxer's pose. Drawn on his
massive chest are other images of Frazier
himself, along with those of people
who were important in his life. One of
Frazier's favorite sayings - " There is no
right way to do wrong and no wrong way
to do right " - flows in written in script
on the mural's border.
Artist Ernel Martinez, born in
Belize and raised in south central Los
Angeles and Detroit, was introduced to
art through the underground world of
graffiti. He studied art at the Pratt Institute
and obtained his BFA from Kutztown
University. In 2004, he received his MFA
from the University of Pennsylvania.
Based out of the Philadelphia area,
Martinez explores creative methods to
give underserved communities the tools
to tell their stories through art-making.
He uses their stories as a framework to
produce artwork based in social practice
that engages and builds dialogue, and
believes that art enriches communities and
is the path to " true " collaboration. *
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