A night with Chairman Fred Hampton
“You can kill a revolutionary, but you can’t kill a revolution!”
Those are the words of Fred Hampton, Deputy Chairman of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party, who was assassinated by an axis of evil - the Chicago Police Department, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, and the FBI on December 4, 1969.
Last night, I watched The Murder of Fred Hampton, a 1971 documentary which provides rarely seen footage of Black Panther meetings, rallies, and community outreach - of course focusing on Hampton. The film was shown at MICA’s Brown’s Center (Falvey Hall) as a part of the Fall Film Series. The series, which takes place every Tuesday night of this month, will feature various personalities from the Black Panther Party as a part of the Black Panther Rank & File Exhibition that is taking place here in Baltimore.Â
I have seen portions of the documentary before on youtube, but watching it all in one sitting was a completely different experience. As the documentary played, I took notice of what was going on inside of me. Great love and burning anger rose within me. As Chairman Fred talked about getting “high off the people” and organizing against the pigs; I thought about Baltimore and how extremely relevant his words are still today. Unarmed Black men are still being killed by the police. Poor people are getting poorer by design. Black children are not being educated by design. Black families are being forced from their homes in the name of revitalization by design. And all the while, Baltimore’s White Power Structure is getting stronger - again by design.Â
 It’s no wonder I was never taught about Fred Hampton during my youth. At the young age of 21, Fred was and is one of the most powerful African men in the history of revolutionary struggle. If youth learn about him and hear his voice and study his life, they just might be inspired to follow his example of what it means to love and serve your people. As I sat in the theatre I wondered how many of the other attendees would embrace Fred’s message as a call to action. How many would just chalk it up as another good documentary? Who knows. What I do know is that as they say in church - my heart is fixed and my mind is made up. I will serve my people until I die.Â
Next week, MICA will show A Panther in Africa, a documentary about a young Black Panther named Pete O’Neal who fled the U.S. and relocated to Tanzania in 1969 where he remains to this day. I hope to see you there. This is good medicine for frustrated revolutionary souls.
October 3rd, 2007 at 4:01 pm
Rev. Heber,
Thank you so very much for spreading your message of love.
I hope that you can attend a town hall meeting I am holding this upcoming Tuesday and/or help to spread the word.
I love this post! I too feel that each one of us must start his or her own revolution….we must live and think in revolutionary ways.
TOWN HALL MEETING
October 9, 2007
6:00PM-8:00PM
Location:
5 Seasons Restaurant & Lounge
830 Guilford Avenue Baltimore, MD 21202
For whom:
Members of the Hip Hop generation
For what:
To bring the community together around a common goal.
SOLIDARITY = SUCCESS
Are we all on the same page?
How do we best address issues related to:
EMPLOYMENT
ACCESS TO HIGHER EDUCATION
CRIME PREVENTION
POLICE/YOUNG ADULT COMMUNITY RELATIONS
ATTACK ON THE HIP HOP CULTURE
FREE TO THE PUBLIC
REFRESHEMENTS WILL BE SERVED
Moderated by “Bmore’s Hip Hop Ambassador” C-Love
(Style Warz// http://www.itsbaltimorebaby.com //ItsBaltimoreBaby LIVE!)
Instead of waiting for the revolution…..BE IT!
I AM THE REVOLUTION!
October 3rd, 2007 at 6:46 pm
Rev.
Great post. Brother Hampton was also the President of the NAACP Youth Council in Chicago. We have to inform our young people that you don’t have to wait until you are 30 or 40 to take the lead.
Dr. King was 26 when he was thrusted into the front of the struggle. Its our time and we have to make it happen or we will let the next generation down.
Yours in the Struggle
October 4th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
Brother Hampton, the rest of the Panthers, the brothers in SNCC, the Nation, SCLC, CORE.., all did a great job in my opinion - and Brother Hampton was murdered, no doubt about it!
However, isn’t it somewhat hypocritical to point out white on black crime, when black-on-black crime is so rampant in our communities? Come out to Oakland, and you can visit the spot where one of the Panther’s greatest, Huey Newton was gunned down - and he wasn’t gunned down by a white police officer.
And let’s not forget about the late Rosa Parks, a victim of black on black crime, not crime by a white police officer!
We need to address both problems for black brutality can be as venal and as vicious as police brutality in Afrcan American communities!
October 4th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
I think there needs to be a dailogue on Cointelpro, Its role and the Nowintelpro program that stopped Black Power from becoming an achievable objective. What also need to be discussed now that we know better is the role of the Boule and other Prominent Black persons and organization in suppressing Black Progressive Movements for Self Determination and Dignity. As I was in D.C. last week for the CBC “Parties” since that is the culture. It is a festive culture, not a movement culture, not a culture based upon Activism, working towards neutralizing White World Terror Domination. There must be dialogue on these issues. Also the role of the FBI in aligning themselves with Neo-Nazi/Klan type of Organizations. We need to study these things and put them out into the universe. I mean real knowledge not some surface knowledge that many “Prominment Negro Leaders” speak about. We need to break these things down intimately.
October 4th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
Good point, Haki.
For those who don’t know about Cointelpro here are a couple of sites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cointelpro
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cointelpro
October 5th, 2007 at 7:16 am
It is clear that developing strategic partnerships to address economic , political and social stagnation in or community will be the legacy of he future. Fred Hampton did not wait for anyone to call a meetin to get the work done. For the most part we know who are the workers in our community vs. the radio revolutionaries. Let us do a better job of supporting these folks to refine Black institutions and continue to deliver a message of hope and solidarity to our people.
We can all learn alot from previous movements!
October 5th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
No doubt…
we need to address the issues of white on black crime, however, we cannot close our eyes on the historical and systemic problems that persist within black urban centers (problems that our people are responsible for solving - no one else will solve them). Several drug dealers recently moved their drug-selling businesses from Oakland to nearby San Leandro Calfornia.
Why? One drug dealer reported that crime was too rampant in Oakland. What does it say about our communities when the drug dealers find it neccessary to relocate to safer venues?
I spent 11 months living in and working with a church in Chicago several decades ago, and it appeared then that Fred Hampton ’s message was lost upon a lot of individuals who lived within the inner-city and some of the suburbs of Chicago.
We must focus not only on white evil but black evil - and the spirit of nihilism that persists in too many of our urban black communities!
October 8th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
The white man isn’t shooting us. It’s 95 percent(if not higher) black on black crime. There are external factors, but until we take responsibility for our OWN actions, it will continue. The boogey man does not exist.
October 9th, 2007 at 7:43 am
Common Sense. I agree. At some point we must realize that we are responsible for our own freedom. This freedom must include developing and implementing a economic, political, spiritual and social plan.
If we are going to be taken seriously the time ti act is now.
Finally we must get focused we seem to have ADHD when it comes to issues we jump from issue to issue without any action plan. It we be great if we had several Black organizations focuses on one maybe two issues an commit to developing a long range plan for each issue.
October 9th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
@Corner of Hope
I agree with you that we need a multi-pronged focus on the areas that you mentioned. We are all over the place but it is very difficult to get the masses to concentrate on a Black agenda that would make us a strong social, political and economic block. For right now we don’t need anymore religion. Nobody has more religion than black folks. Let’s get those dollars out of those churches and develop strong foundations like Abell and establish philanthropies. Also why aren’t more blacks supporting Obama?? The Clinton’s don’t deserve our unconditional support. Since some of us think that since St. Bill has moved his offices to Harlem that he loves us and has our best interest at heart, while at the same time the gentrification of Harlem is well under way. But then again, some people would not dare hang up a black portrait of Jesus. Are we as a people in the proverbial Lion’s Den?? It sure seems so.
October 10th, 2007 at 7:54 pm
I realize that we are an emotional people. But at some point we need to do some serious planning around several of the most urgent issues in our community. Many of the Black organizations in the city are trying to tackle 16 issues at the same time. I love the NAACP but lets get real. Wouldn’t it make more sense to focus on one or two issues, develop a short term/long term plan and begin mobolizing people to do the work. Once we have a sustained level of action than we can focus on some other things.
It is sad that we have to rely on white institutions to fund Black freedom. But the reality is it is hard to rely on Black folks and Black institutions to fund Black progress. THIS MUST CHANGE. We have viable organizations in Baltimore that need support.
Finally, we will not always agree on methods, however, I believe that most of us are in search of Black freedom.