Fred Hampton

The prevented messiah of the Black Panther Party

Fred Hampton was born on August the 30th in Illinois, and grew up in the suburbs of Chicago. His passion for fighting injustice started early. At the young age of 10 he started inviting underprivileged kids from his neighbourhood for breakfast he would cook himself and in his teens he organised regular school walkouts to protest discriminatory practices both the black students and staff were facing. He become a youth organizer for his local NAACP chapter and ended up joining the Black Panther Party in 1968 which led him to move to Chicago. Not long after he became the deputy chairman of the partys Illinois chapter. He was able to unite different organization in the fight against inequality, which they calles the Rainbow coaltion. As Fred Hamptons popularity was rising and his initiatives such as Free Breakfast for children proved to united different organizations such as the Young Lords and the Young Patriots Organization, he became an increasing threat to the American ruling class. The American Government and the FBI classed the Black Panther Parties activism as the number one threat to the security of the country, since they were fighting for equality, which would mean the eradication of a system that has benefitted the white ruling class. They specifically worried about the rise of a messiah that would unite different groups in the fight for economic justice, which Fred Hampton had been able to do successfully in Chicago.
On the 4th of December 1969 Chicago police raided Fred Hamptons home base. In the process they shot and killed both him and one other Black Panther member. Fred Hamptons pregnant girlfriend was in the bed lying next to him when the police stormed the house and shot him dead.

Aftermath
The police framed the incident as a provoked shoot out and was aided in there portrayal by several media outlets. However the BBP legal team and independent journalists were able to clarify the narrative exposing the reality of the events. TNon of the participating officers were ever indicted.


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