The 44th Anniversary of the Assassination of Chairman Fred Hampton By Ray L Baker Jr.

 44 years ago, in a vicious pre-dawn police raid, Chairman Fred Hampton, leader of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party, was assassinated. Chairman Fred was so great because he clearly saw and effectively acted on the premise that liberation could only come by changing society from rich owned to people owned. Sounds simple but this is major. 

A key task of the COINTELPRO program was to prevent the rise of a revolutionary messiah. Chairman Fred Hampton was that messiah and at the age of 21 his assassination was ordered from the highest levels of the U.S. Government.

Conscious forces have seized history, dropped the slave master name, “Monroe” and re-named the street on which Chairman Fred was assassinated, “Chairman Fred Hampton Way.” On December 4th, 2013, well over a hundred of “the people” gathered at 2337 West Chairman Fred Hampton Way. The real story was told there by the only two people who survived Chairman Fred’s deathbed on that fateful December morning, his widow and at the time, his un-born son.

An incredible display of progressive, people friendly, spoken word and music was also held on the 4th to honor Chairman Fred and Defense Captain Mark Clark and it went on all night and into the next morning.

Meanwhile, A bunch of sickening, “fair weather” ex-Panthers have banded together and have spat and continue to spit on the graves of Chairman Fred Hampton, Minister Huey P. Newton and the heroic, revolutionary legacy of the Black Panther Party. 

While the basic people face untold suffering, this group seems hell bent on resting on their laurels and staging a running, congratulatory ass kissing contest about things they did forty some years ago. This pathetic group of history buffs has joined forces with one of the most avaricious land grabbing monsters in the world, the University of Chicago (U of C) and they’ve planned events from December 2nd thru January 21st 2013, supposedly to honor Chairman Fred. 

The centerpiece of these events was a swine and cheese type art opening featuring the paintings of a French artist, Jean Michel Bruyére, who the U. of C flew in from France. “These Panthers turned historians,” the U. of C. and all the others (you know who you are) are 0 for 2 in the art department. Call me a hater but this art sucked.

In the first place, the paintings by Jean Michel Bruyére were all of Black Panther Party cofounder Bobby Seale, bound and gagged at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The whole world was watching and it was clear that ruthless, oinking Chicago pigs brutalized Bobby Seale. Yet, the paintings by Jean Michel Bruyére make it appear that Seale had some loosely fitting unbleached muslin around his mouth gently held in place by a little piece of medical tape. This type of art paints a total misrepresentation of horrible police brutality then and now and winds up being anti people art. It loudly proclaims that what was done to the people really wasn’t all that bad. I have pictures but if you hurry you can see it for yourself at 301 E. Garfield Blvd. in Chicago.

In the second place, these “tom cats in Panther clothing,” had the unmitigated gall to launch an attack on Co-founder and leader of the Black Panther Party, Minister Huey P. Newton by staging a mime-type character in what we called back in the day a Huey P. Newton chair. This crime scene was in the window of an abandoned Harold’s Fried Chicken Shack, next door to the other crime scene at 301 Garfield Blvd. I knew you wouldn’t believe me so I included a photo. 

I have witnessed Sister Akua Njeri being an all around fighter and servant of the people for at least twenty years and while these “great pretender Panthers” were busy brainstorming about which set of reactionary capitalists they were going to sell out to, Chairman Fred Jr. was serving 9 years in prison (including the notorious Tamms Super Max) on trumped up charges for standing up for the people.

Chairman Fred Jr. is one of the greatest freedom fighters of our time. He is fighting on the front line, every day, where the struggle is hottest, against virtually every case of police murder and abuse against the people. He has been forced to sit in the back of a paddy wagon for three hours in ninety-degree heat and then being locked up not once but many times, since prison, for defending oppressed people against police terror and other injustices. 

We have too much at stake to go backwards so the “Theme Park Panthers” must be exposed and called out for who and what they are. Joining up with sugar daddies, grants and criminals like the U. of C. can only serve to hoodwink and bamboozle the people and blur the lines between real friends and real enemies. 

The greatest way to uphold the legacy of Chairman Fred Hampton is to carry on his work. No one upholds the legacy of Chairman Fred Hampton better than his Widow and his Son. These are the true heroes of the people and they must be up-held and joined in their relentless struggle to get rid of all exploitation and oppression of the people. Long Live Chairman Fred!