#BlackHistoryMonth™
Fred Hampton
Shout out to Deputy Chairman Fred Hampton of the Illinois Black Panther Party—“Part of a national organization dedicated to the liberation of oppressed people everywhere.”
Childhood friends with Emmett Till in Chicago, Illinois, the amalgamation of your charisma, organization abilities, and oratorical talents rallied an entire city with the largest Black population in the U.S. at the time. As a result, you were placed on the FBI’s agitator list.
You were the pure and essential essence of a unifier, a galvanizer, and an equalizer. Together, with impoverished Whites and disenfranchised Latinx, you ignited a multicultural alliance that produced cascading effects that would be felt 50 years later. I’ve taken notes and adopted your blueprint.
With your impeccable magnetism, you created the original Rainbow Coalition to protest racial injustice formed on the one-year anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination on April 4, 1969. This movement has served as the predecessor to Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr.’s Rainbow PUSH Coalition founded in 1971, the multicultural coalition campaign branding of Barack Obama, and today’s Black Lives Matter movement.
On December 4, 1969, the FBI silenced you, Chairman. I wish I could have listened to post-pilgrimage Malcolm X keynote speak at a conference for oppressed brothers and sisters of all colors with you as the plenary speaker. Just as Muhammad Ali could have called me to his summit in 1964, you could have called me in 1969, and I would have been there as a proud member of the BPP espousing non-violent civil action.
You set your fears of death to rest, thus allowing you to sermonize only about the truth. You didn’t die from a car wreck, a bad heart, or lung cancer. Instead, at just 21 years of age, you were assassinated high off The People. Equally important, you lived for The People because you loved The People!
To your only son, Chairman Fred Hampton Jr., born three weeks after you were tragically taken from us: Thank you! I’m immensely grateful for your blessing to honor your father’s life and work, comrade. With reverence and appreciation, I’d also like to recognize the late Mark Clark—Defense Captain of the original BPP. You were the first and only other individual member, along with Chairman Fred, to be assassinated during the raid on December 4, 1969. With power and prowess, you allowed civility and orderliness within the Party to prevail. May you continue to rest well and in power. Special thanks to your little sister, Gloria Jackson Clark, for allowing me to honor you.
#BlackHistoryMonth™ #BHM #RevolutionaryLove
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