Fred Hampton

Volume 4 | Issue 4 - Forgotten People

Article written by George Francis. Edited and researched by Liam Brake.

When Fred Hampton was shot in his bed on the morning of December 4th 1969 aged only twenty-one, it marked a tragic yet poignant closing chapter in a tumultuous decade for race-relations in the USA. The next in line to inherit the leadership of the Black Panther Party, from the age of nineteen he had become a primary target in the FBI’s attempt to suppress the black power movement which resulted in a complex raid on his apartment, murdering him and fellow Panther Mark Clark. Noam Chomsky has called his murder ‘the gravest domestic crime of the Nixon administration’ which ‘overshadows the entire Watergate affair by a substantial margin’. Yet mainly due to his young age, and his lack of national prominence, Hampton has been largely ignored by those examining the role of the Panthers American political history.

The Black Panther party was formed in 1966 as a response to the police brutality occurring in Oakland, California. Their emphasis on self-defence of their community combined with demands for an eventual Marxist revolution in America quickly gained popularity and spread across many American cities. Yet their extreme standpoint combined with rapidly growing support from some of America’s most impoverished and alienated citizens provoked much concern amongst the US government. Thus in 1968, COINTELPRO, the FBI’s dedicated department designed to monitor America’s political activists, determined that they should ‘cripple the Black Panther Party’.

Whilst Fred Hampton adhered to many of the Party’s ideas about self-defence and ‘power to the people’ many aspects of his political ideology made him unique as a Panther. He much preferred to espouse the socialist elements of the party than the violent rhetoric of his peers, in his attempt to engage the black community in Chicago. As a result, he was one of the driving forces behind the Panther’s ‘Free Breakfast for Children’ program, which was successful in feeding children in some of the poorest parts of the city. Hampton saw this as what he called ‘socialism in action’, where the African-American working class, politically uneducated in the ideas of socialism, would see the benefits that could be created with a new approach to political and social problems.

Unlike many black nationalists, who excluded and rejected white people in the movement, Fred Hampton was determined to unite the different sectors of Chicago society. In keeping with his socialist rhetoric, Hampton believed in ‘All power to all people’, be they black, Latin, Native American or even white. Thus while other chapters of the Panthers were becoming involved in violent confrontations with other radical organisations and even one another, Hampton was working to unite the various groups around Chicago in order to strengthen their collective efforts. One of his greatest achievements was his creation of a ‘rainbow coalition’ between the various gangs and political activists in Chicago, including the notoriously violent Blackstone Rangers and the famous political terrorists, the Weathermen.

However, many Panthers were crucially flawed in that their involvement in crime and violence undermined their position and led to constant FBI and police harassment. Huey Newton, for instance, was imprisoned for murder in 1968, and had a serious drug addiction. Eldridge Cleaver was a convicted rapist who advocated the assault of white women as crucial to black empowerment. Hampton, who did not drink or take drugs, could not be coerced into criminal actions however, and promoted non-violence as the way to revolution. The only conviction the authorities could create for Hampton was, incredibly, stealing $70 worth of ice-cream. Combined with his charisma and powerful persuasive oratory skills, Hampton’s clean record made him appear far more legitimate as a future Panther leader and black spokesman.

It was under these circumstances that the FBI, determined to prevent this young radical leader from gaining a foothold in national politics, devised an elaborate plan to have him murdered. A police informant, William O’Neal, infiltrated the Chicago Panthers, and after gaining Hampton’s trust, gave the FBI and police a detailed floor plan of his apartment. On December 4th, O’Neal secretly drugged Hampton, so that he was already unconscious when the police conducted a morning raid, and shot him at point-blank in his bed. An inevitable cover-up then began, attempting to portray acts of violent Panther aggression and police bravery. However, in the years following the truth eventually emerged that the state had unlawfully murdered an innocent twenty-one year old merely for being a strong public speaker, and providing free food to children.

It is truly unfortunate the Hampton has become a ‘forgotten’ part of history, as he provides an almost textbook example of why the 1960s was such an exceptional decade for America. A young, black radical who attempted to effect change through community empowerment and his own attractive charisma, yet undermined and eventually murdered by a threatened American government. It is, of course, impossible to predict what would have happened had Hampton been allowed to live, yet with his powerful oratory skills and strong commitment to his cause, he seemed destined to become the next great African-American leader. Fred said that ‘you can kill a revolutionary, but you can’t kill the revolution’, and whilst this revolutionary was slain by an act of the utmost cowardice by the government, his legacy should remain to recognise both his remarkable life and horrific death.

Research- Hampton’s legacy.

5,000 people attended his funeral.

In 1990, the Chicago City Council passed a resolution declaring a day in honor of Hampton.

Hampton has been acknowledged in music culture;