Have you heard the story of the young activist father murdered in his bed by the Chicago police forty years ago on December 4th, 1969?

The same brilliant man who conceived the original “rainbow coalition“, and whose grassroots work with a club of like-minded people led to the free breakfast and lunch programs shared by all economically disadvantaged people across our lovely US of A?

If this story sounds familiar to you, then you probably already know whose story this is. It’s Fred Hampton’s, and today is the 40th anniversary of his death.

But if you don’t know this story then keep reading because cold hard facts about police murdering working class Americans are…for lack of a better word right now…awesome!


…because information is the strongest armor.

I would love to tell you the story myself, but fortunately I found something for you that saves me time researching the crime scene, conducting interviews with Chicagoans who knew Fred Hampton and…inventing a time machine through which I could go back to the ’60s and join the Black Panther Party.

It’s a documentary called The Murder of Fred Hampton, and it’s an examination of the events before and after the early morning ambush on Panther headquarters by Chicago police which resulted in the slayings of Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton and fellow Panther Mark Clark.

The film is a dynamic portrait of charismatic gang member-turned-activist Hampton, a young man whose rousing personality, keen intelligence and service to his community endeared him to all who knew him.

You see Fred giving speeches with his flock stomping, raising fists in the air and cheering enthusiastically for their chairman.You see Fred negotiating with other activist groups who want to partner with the Panthers. You see the Black Panther Party at work serving free food to children and treating patients at their free clinics.

Midway through the film Fred Hampton is murdered in one of the most bumbling and oafish assassinations of a community leader ever plotted by the geniuses in Chicago law enforcement.

And Fred wasn’t alone in his bed that morning.

While bullets rained on his defenseless sleeping body, his baby son lay next to him, inside the womb of Fred’s girfriend Deborah Johnson. At the time young Fred was only a pre-born baby of eight and a half months old, almost ripe enough to come out and meet his daddy!

But thanks to the Chicago police, one more young black man in America grew up without a father. And not just any father. He was robbed of a father who was on his way to being the next Malcolm X.

Great going idiots.

That baby boy is below, with some funny looking chick I don’t know at something called the National Political Hip Hop Convention a few years ago.

Meet Fred Hampton. Son of Fred Hampton. But don’t call him Fred hampton Jr. though, even though he’s called Fred Hampton Jr. all over the internet. They have different middle names.

Fred Hampton 2.0 is also a community activist, presently serving as chairman of the Prisoners of Conscious Committee.

You know, I’m baffled about why we don’t learn more about the Black Panthers in public schools. No, seriously.

It’s not like they’re a threat…anymore…or ever were, really? Right?

Or is the mere idea of people coming together to empower their community on their terms still too threatening for the powers that be?

When my eldest son was nine, he was assigned a project for school where he had to write a report on any famous person in history, and make something that represented that person.

My son chose Fred Hampton.

 To accompany his project, he made a little booklet wherein he typed the Black Panther Party’s 8 Points of Attention, which are:

Black Panther Party 8 Points of Attention

1. Speak politely.
2. Pay fairly for what you buy.
3. Return everything you borrow.
4. Pay for anything you damage.
5. Do not hit or swear at people.
6. Do not damage property or crops of the poor, oppressed masses.
7. Do not take liberties with women.
8. If we ever have to take captives do not ill-treat them.

I am proud of my son for doing such a great job with his project.

I was even prouder that, as a little boy of nine he was able to sit down with me and discuss options for his project, which included the great but usual suspects like Ida B. Wells and Mary McCloud Bethune, and he choose to write about someone he never heard about but sounded interesting to him on his own accord.

The Black Panthers were Americans too, right? So why not?

I am also proud that his Caucasian teacher gave him an A- for his hard work.

Because, while it was his right to do a report on any famous American this coud have easily turned into yet another one of those ugly ACLU/Al Sharpton type situations. Still, I believe it is our responsibility as parents to widen our children options when it comes to who they can learn about.

Most kids today are smarter than the average adult. Why are we still trying to hide the truth?

I dedicate this post to my son. Today, he turns 14.

I love you baby!

You are the me that is better than me, my rebirth, my little pheonix preparing for first flight. And everything I do, everything I am and every movement of my being, every single day, is for you and your siblings.

I think for his birthday today I’ll let him stay home from school to watch this movie.

This documentary was originally released in 1971, and is a must watch for anyone curious about the inner workings of the (original) Black Panthers, a group whose roots were so strong simply because they always stayed close to the ground.

All activist groups can also learn a lot from this film.

If you happen to be in Harlem, New York today, you can go by the Hue-Man Bookstore and Cafe at 2319 Frederick Douglass Boulevard at 8 pm to hear attorney Jeff Haas speak about his new book The Assassination of Fred Hampton.

The book is Haas’ personal account of how he and People’s Law Office partner Flint Taylor pursued Hampton’s assassins:

The families of Hampton and Clark filed a US$47.7 million civil suit against the city, state, and federal governments. The case went to trial before Federal Judge J. Sam Perry. After more than 18 months of testimony and at the close of the Plaintiff’s case, Judge Perry dismissed the case.

The Plaintiffs appealed and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed, ordering the case to be retried. More than a decade after the case had been filed, the suit was finally settled for $1.85 Million. The two families each shared in the settlement. In 1990, the Chicago City Council passed a resolution declaring “Fred Hampton Day” in honor of the slain leader.

Despite the settlement I believe the Chicago police got away with the murder of one of the most important activists, thinkers and change makers of this century. 

When Fred Hampton was slain by the police, he was 21 years old.

Watch the documentary the Murder of Fred Hampton here or below.