imoprtant

Nov 30, 2005 17:45

Just thought youd wanna know:

On December 4th 1969 Fred Hampton was assassinated in his sleep by the Chicago police department. As if this isn’t bad enough, these police were in collaboration with the CIA and organized by J. Edgar Hoover himself. What caused the police department to go so far out of protocol? It might have had something to do with Fred Hampton’s particular group interest. Hampton was a member of the Black Panther Party (BPP). Many people disagree with the panthers because of the violence some of them used against white people. Hampton was different though; Hampton was very much a pacifist and practiced the ways of Martin Luther King. He graduated high school with honors and attended Triton Junior College where he majored in pre-law.
Some of his accomplishments in The Black Panthers were a nonaggression pact between some of Chicago's most powerful street gangs, as well as forming the rainbow coalition. It was an activist party that assembled in Chicago in the 1960s -- a coalition composed of African American, Latino, and white organizations. Fred Hampton tried to show the other panthers that if they hated every white person because of the color of their skin they were worse than the white bigots. He was the chairman of the Chicago Chapter and under this position, he enlightened many people. The police then became worried about his charisma and his influence.
Within two years the FBI had over four thousand pages on Hampton and a wire tap on his mother’s phone. Later Chicago police put a mole into Hampton's ranks. A former felon named William O'Neal with his help the Chicago police department released racist cartoons with the panthers name on it in order to disband the rainbow coalition. J. Edgar Hoover is quoted as saying “destroy what the B.P.P. stands for” and “eradicate its 'serve the people' programs".
On December 3rd after returning from a political education course that he was teaching, O’Neal offered to make Fred and his pregnant girlfriend dinner. He secretly slipped a powerful barbiturate into their food and they soon fell asleep in his bed.
Heavily armed police entered Hampton's apartment and killed Mark Clark, a fellow Black Panther who was asleep on the couch, holding shot gun. In a death spasm Clark pulled the trigger, firing two shots. In response, a hail of gunfire fell through the apartment and wounded Hampton in the shoulder. A police officer pulled him into the doorway where the following conversation was overheard:
"That's Fred Hampton."
"Is he dead? … Bring him out."
"He's barely alive; he'll make it."
Soon, two shots were heard. It was later discovered that these shots were fired point blank into Hampton's head. One officer then said, "He's good and dead now."
The remaining panthers were shot at, beat and then dragged across the street and wrongfully accused and arrested for aggravated assault and attempted murder.
None of the police officers involved in the raid were ever arrested. But it did result in the longest civil suit in history. From now on, December 4th will always be remembered as Fred Hampton day.
This Sunday think about him for a minute, how he brutally assassinated and the people responsible for this crime never spent a day in jail. Think about his only son Fred Hampton Jr. who is alive and fighting for equal rights. This atrocity cannot be taken lightly. It is one of the most blatant cases of police brutality and injustice. This country is about freedom and the right to speak our minds, so let’s speak about Fred Hampton and what he lived and died for. For equality between all people no matter what the color of their skin is. “You can kill a revolutionary but you can’t kill a revolution” -Fred Hampton

this friday i will be wearing a shirt and passing our Fred Hampton flyers to help his memory live on.
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