In the movie "Judas and the Black Messiah," FBI agent Roy Mitchell asks William (“Bill”) O’Neal about his feelings towards the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X to gauge O'Neal's ideological leanings and potential loyalty. This question is not merely a casual inquiry, but a strategic move to assess O'Neal's stance on the civil rights movement and prominent Black leaders. The FBI, deeply invested in undermining Black revolutionary movements, needed to ensure that O’Neal was not sympathetic to the cause he was being coerced to infiltrate. By understanding O’Neal’s feelings towards these leaders, Mitchell could better predict O’Neal’s behavior and reliability as an informant against the Black Panther Party.
