projectREVOLUTION: The F.B.I.and the Chicago Police Department unite to terminate Fred Hampton and Mark Clark

The F.B.I.and the Chicago Police Department unite to terminate Fred Hampton
and Mark Clark along with the Black Panther Movement

Article from Fourth Cycle Magazine Volume 1

Fred Hampton became active in the NAACP when he was attending Triton Junior college in the suburbs outside of Chicago. He became the leader of the Youth Council of the NAACP's West Suburban Branch. He made it his mission to improve the conditions of his people, working to uptain better and more facilities in the neighborhoods. At the time he adopted a philosophy of
social change through non violent activism and community orgainzing.

In November of 1968, Hampton joined the BPP at the age of 19 and relocated downtown Chicago, launching the Illinois Chapter. One of his major achievemnts was the brokering of a non aggression pact among the Chicago street gangs, emphasizing that racial and ethnic conflict between gangs would only keep its members stuck in poverty. He was then able to form a class consious, multi racial alliance of black, latino, and poor white youth. Both Fred Hampton and Mark Clark were instrumental in forming a program that provided a free breakfast for school children. Fred also helped in the establishment of a free medical clinic as well as other free services for poor people in the city.

What made Hampton a target was his incredible speaking ability, leadership skills, and charisma. He held many speaking engagements and had the ability to excite and motivate others. By the age of 20 he had became the respected community leader among the Chicago black population. As Hampton progressed and learned he became more militant in his views. The Sun times quoted him as saying, "What this country has done to non violent leaders like Martin Luther King, I think it objectively says thers going to have to be an armed struggle." In 1969 he was arrested for the strong arm theft of $71 worth of Good Humor bars that he said that he contributed to neighborhood children. Initailly he was convicted to 2-5 years in prison but it was overturned. He left the event with a stronger distrust of the American legal system.

The F.B.I.'s cross dressing alleged homo sexual director J.Edgar Hoover was very threatened by the black panther party or any other kind of movement that went against the establishment order (New World Order). Hoover was determined to prevent the formation of a cohesive black radical movement in the U.S. The F.B.I. began keeping tabs on Hamtpon's acitivities.

The F.B.I. urged the CPD (Chicago Police Dptmnt) to launch an all out assault on the panthers and their allies. Over 100 Panthers were arrested during the year of 1969 alone. All this fell under the much larger and far reaching COINTELPRO operations conducted by the F.B.I. to combat dessent within by the U.S. By the time of his death, The F.B.I. had compiled over 4000 pages of information on Fred Hampton. In 1968, Hoover described the Panthers as "The greatest threat to the internal security of the country."

The COINTELPRO operations included numerous illegal, unconstitutional, and highly immoral actions targeted against American citizens who challenged the social political order. These tactics were used to discredit, disrupt, and as we've just seen, to silent dissent.

The lives of Fred hampton and Mark Clark serves as a reminder of the sacrifice that is necessary for a better tomorrow. This is also a prime example of the fact that cops are not the heroes, regardless of what the media wants us to believe. Cops can only follow orders while heroes lead. In America trying to obtain a better standard of living for your people is
cause for violent reprisal. Where is the justice in that? The civil rights movement hasn't changed anything in this country. Martin Luther had a dream, but it didnt come true. The views of King are legitimized and every February America remembers his legacy. But where's Fred, Mark,

Malcolm, Garvey, countless others? There down the memory hole of America's dark past. "You can kill a revolutionary, but you cant kill a Revolution,
You can jail a liberation fighter, but you cant jail liberation."