Last week (December 4, 1969) marked the 46th year since Our Brother Chairman Fred Hampton Sr. was EXECUTED by Chicago Police Officers in a pre-dawn raid. Working in conjunction with The FBI, Cook County State's Attorney Edward Hanrahan sent Fourteen officers to Chairman Fred's apartment on The West Side of Chicago. Officers surrounded the house and immediately fired off an estimated 100 bullets-mostly in the direction of Hampton's bed. When the gunfire stopped, 21 Year Old Fred Hampton & 22 Year Old Mark Clark lay dead. Several other Panther Party members were wounded, and seven were arrested for Attempted Murder. Official Police Reports claimed that there was a shootout, and authorities put out photos of the carnage to the media. Shortly thereafter the photos claiming to show bullets being fired toward the cops were exposed as being nail heads. it would later be confirmed that only one bullet had been fired in the direction of the cops & THAT BULLET WAS FIRED FROM A COPS GUN. Four years later it would be discovered that Chicago Black Panther Party Chief of Security William O'Neal was a paid informant for the FBI, and had not only provided a layout of the apartment-specifically citing the location of Chairman Fred's bed; but had also drugged him in the hours leading up to the raid. Black Panther Party Leaders led Chicago residents on tours through the crime scene to show the corrupt & savage nature in which the Chicago Police Department had enacted the raid (as Police had clumsily left the scene unsecured). After a 1971 break in at a Pennsylvania FBI Office, by The Citizens Commission to Investigate the FBI , over a thousand documents were liberated that confirmed that the Chairman Fred's assassination was part of a larger plan to "expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, and otherwise neutralize" Black Organizations. More specifically to Chairman Fred Hampton, to "Prevent a coalition of militant black nationalist groups" & "Prevent the rise of a messiah who could unify and electrify the militant nationalist movement." At the time of Chairman Fred's death, The FBI had already compiled at least 4,000 pages of reports on him. Chairman Fred was a brilliant organizer and had established community service programs, called "Survival Programs," that included Free Breakfast Programs for the youth, Free Medical Care for the public, and Political Education Classes. The BPP Free Breakfast Program was the model for the State & Federal Sponsored programs that we see today. Most importantly Chairman Fred had successfully brokered a Non-Aggression Pact between several of the cities most powerful gangs, and a "Rainbow coalition" of Black and Puerto Rican youth. Fearing that these street organizations would soon become revolutionary organizations, The FBI initially tried to manufacture tension between The Panthers & Jeff Fort. When that failed, Hampton was marked for assassination. Fred's legacy lives on to this day, not only in the hearts & minds of our consciousness; but in the work of his son Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. And as he said in a comment on an earlier (post) from 2014, "The Cubs are Coming...The Cubs are coming...The Cubs are Coming...The Black Panther Party Cubs are here!"
No One Ever Went To Jail For Chairman Fred's Murder. With the current climate of injustice, political fuckery, and police brutality, we must honor the example set forth by our pioneering Leaders to take up the mantle to teach & mobilize our masses. They must not be allowed to have died in vain.
Sources:
http://www.workers.org/2008/us/fred_hampton_1218/
http://spartacus-educational.com/USAhamptonF.htm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/g-flint-taylor/the-fbi-cointelpro-progra_b_4375527.html
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/chi-chicagodays-pantherraid-story-story.html
www.chairmanfredjr.com