As I’ve learned to decolonize what I once thought was true and reeducate myself on the actual histories of different groups throughout time, I’ve discovered famous figures and events that have not only transformed my opinion of law enforcement, but also opened my eyes to how history is recorded. Fred Hampton is one of the incredible Black Socialist organizers I learned about a handful of years ago when I concluded that everything I believed about The Black Panther Party was grossly inaccurate. I wanted to remember Fred Hampton because 53 years ago on this day, he was murdered in his sleep by the FBI and Chicago Police Department officers.
Fred Hampton was a brilliant student and athlete, growing up in 1950s Chicago. He excelled in the classroom and graduated with honors in 1966, desiring a future in MLB as center field for the New York Yankees. He was a pre-law student at Triton Junior College so that he could become fluent in the law as a defense against law enforcement. While in college, he joined fellow members of the Black Panthers in following cop activity so they could look out for instances of police brutality. Fred also joined the NAACP as a leader of the Youth Council where he helped establish more and better recreational facilities and improve education for the poorer Black members of Maywood’s community. As a youth organizer, Fred Hampton was intrigued by the Black Panthers’ Ten-Point Program for Self-Defense, which included points such as:
- We Want Freedom. We Want Power To Determine The Destiny Of Our Black Community.
- We Want Full Employment For Our People.
- We Want An End To The Robbery By The Capitalists Of Our Black Community.
- We Want Decent Housing Fit For The Shelter Of Human Beings.
- We Want Education For Our People That Exposes The True Nature Of This Decadent American Society. We Want Education That Teaches Us Our True History And Our Role In The Present-Day Society.
- We Want All Black Men To Be Exempt From Military Service.
- We Want An Immediate End To Police Brutality And Murder Of Black People.
- We Want Freedom For All Black Men Held In Federal, State, County And City Prisons And Jails.
- We Want All Black People When Brought To Trial To Be Tried In Court By A Jury Of Their Peer Group Or People From Their Black Communities, As Defined By The Constitution Of The United States.
- We Want Land, Bread, Housing, Education, Clothing, Justice And Peace.
In November 1968, Fred Hampton joined the new Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party where his most important achievement was the establishment of a nonaggression pact between many of Chicago’s most affluent gangs. He “strove to forge a class-conscious, multi-racial alliance between the BPP, the Young Patriots Organization, and the Young Lords under the leadership of Jose Cha Cha Jimenez.” He eventually formed the Rainbow Coalition, which brokered treaties to end gang violence and crime. As he rose in leadership through the Party, Fred became the leader of the Chicago chapter and organized meetings every week, taught daily political education classes, established community watch over police activity, and helped form the Black Panther Party’s Free Breakfast Program.
Despite all of the good work that he was achieving, Fred Hampton became a target for the FBI as bureau chief J. Edgar Hoover was determined to undermine the formation of a cohesive Black radical movement. The bureau opened a file on Fred in 1967 and one year later, his mother’s home phone was tapped and he was labeled a “key militant leader”. Later that year, the FBI hired William O’Neal to infiltrate the Party in exchange for all charges dropped against him. O’Neal quickly rose to fame in the Party and became Fred’s bodyguard though he personally instigated many fatal clashes between members of the Party and Chicago gangs. By 1968, Fred Hampton was on the verge of establishing an alliance between the BPP and a south side gang with thousands of members as well as white and Latinx organizers, which would have increased the Party’s numbers tenfold. After two CPD officers were killed in a shootout with Party members, the Chicago Tribune suggested cops approaching Panthers “should be ordered to be ready to shoot.” O’Neal provided information about Fred’s apartment layout as the FBI prepared to set up an arms raid and on December 3, he slipped a sleeping pill in Fred’s drink so he would be unconscious during the raid. At 4 a.m. on December 4, CPD officers stormed into Fred’s apartment and fired approximately 99 shots where nine people, including Fred’s pregnant girlfriend, were asleep. After he had been wounded by the gunfire, Fred’s body was dragged by cops into his living room where they fired two point blank shots at his head, killing him instantly 53 years ago. The next day, the Chicago Police Department announced in a press conference that they had been attacked by the “extremely violent and vicious” Panthers and they were celebrated for their “remarkable restraint”, “bravery”, and “professional discipline,” (read my reactions to The Assassination of Fred Hampton here).
It’s important to remember the incredible organizers like Fred Hampton who were murdered by police and federal agencies. I continue to relearn everything I was taught and remember that history doesn’t always celebrate who’s right, it celebrates who’s left. I hope we never forget Fred Hampton (whose death 53 years ago led to the end of the organized Black Panther Party) and all of the Panthers who were targeted and eliminated for their work and their fight to create a society where they and their future generations could live in equality and justice.
