The Man That TERRIFIED The FBI (The Life of Fred Hampton) #onemichistory

welcome i'm country boy and this is one my black history today's episode is about the life of fred hampton hampton was a young gifted leader with a talent for organizing people who would rise to become chairman of the illinois chapter of the black panther party without further ado let's get started bird hampton was born in august 30th 1948. he was the youngest of three children and he grew up in mayfield illinois which is a working-class suburb of chicago his parents moved from louisiana as part of the great migration very early on he demonstrated natural leadership abilities and in the summer of 1967 he would become president of the youth council for the local chapter of the naacp he helped organize a student boycott of his high school provisional east high when black girls were excluded from becoming homecoming queen when the black students protest the white students responded with violence beating the black students with bats and blackjacks hampton organized a group of black students to help fight back and in response to the violence the mayweat police imposed martial law and set up checkpoints around the city's black neighborhoods hampton brought in representatives from the national naacp and helped lead a boycott of provisional east high demanding a retraction of martial law it was during this time in 1968 that bobby rush was co-directing a small student nonviolent coordinating committee chapter in chicago he had an ongoing relationship with stony carmichael who was the chairman of the sncc as tench's height between stokely and other sncc members in the spring of 1968 following martin luther king's assassination stokely would encourage rush to start his own black panther chapter in chicago according to rush the problem with the sncc is that they didn't have any specific activities stokely arranged for rush to travel to california to meet with david hilyard and bobby seale of the black panther party the panthers are impressed with bobby rush's approach and he began to seek partners to build a black panther chapter in chicago when rush heard fred hampton speak at the black leadership conference headquarters at the chicago's gang the black peace stone nation rush recruited hampton joined the black panthers then rush hampton and bob brown russia's co-director of the sncc organized what would soon become the illinois chapter of the black panther party in chicago in the late 60s gangs were important political force in black neighborhoods none of those were more important than the blackstone rangers from the start in the early 60s the rangers focused on community building in addition to their legal activities as a result they compose sort of a parallel government on the south side of chicago protecting members of the neighborhoods from other gangs and the police and providing the community with services by the late 60s they had swallowed up most of the smaller gangs as part of the peakstone nation and had more than 3500 members in december of 1968 having quickly built a powerful base in chicago fred hampton entered discussions with fort who was the leader of the blackstone rangers about merging the panthers and the ragers the merger promised to boost the panthers membership and street presence and hampton suggested to ford that they should join forces and fort was interested in this idea of a merger the fbi saw the potential merger of these two groups as a political threat and sought to foster conflict between those groups the chicago fbi felt that spreading false rumors that the black panther party was disparaging for it might result in fort taking active steps to exact some sort of retribution towards the leadership of the black panthers as discussions deteriorated the chicago office of the fbi suggested to their headquarters that the time was right to provoke the rangers to take violent action by sending forth letters to jeff ford the fbi field office suggested that sending letters to fort rather than hampton because fort was more likely to respond with violence the fbi's effort may have helped prevent a merger between the panthers and the rangers but it did not precipitate widespread violence as they had hoped because fred hampton and jeffrey ford have figured out that the government was attempting to create a deadly conflict between the two groups in 1969 fred hampton attempted to initiate chicago panthers first free food distribution hampton imagined himself as a modern robin hood and appropriated an ice cream truck in maywood passing out more than 400 ice cream bars to the neighborhood children the maywood police arrested him on charges of robbery and assault and in subsequent weeks the hampton and chicago panthers organized their free breakfast program for children which opened in april of 1969 within two weeks the panthers had fed more than 1100 children and drew new community support making it hard to ignore the political aspect of the fred hampton case during the trial that april hampton appeared on a local television show publicizing the free breakfast program and appealing for public support of the black panthers on april 9 1969 hampton was convicted of robbery and assault after was released on thousand dollars bail hampton planned to appeal his conviction on the grounds that the newspaper articles about the panthers during the trial prejudiced the jury following the ice cream truck trial and the attention that it brought have been called on chicago panthers first press conference was he challenged the legitimacy of the state asserting their high morality of the panthers revolutionary programs and calling on the people to mobilize to support the panthers against this repressive government hampton argued that the black panthers not the government acted in the interest of the people and stated that in our case it should be taken to the people and the people will not tolerate any oppressive system or force and attempt to jail the very people who are attempting to feed hungry children hampton announced that chicago panthers attempted to establish community patrols of the police open liberation schools throughout the city and set up free clinics the chicago panthers sought to mobilize a broad alliance in support of fred hampton the new chicago panthers seized the attention of the black panthers national leadership when chairman bobby seal visited chicago he joined hampton and bobby rush in a church mobilization and spoke to an audience of blacks of various classes and of activists of different races explaining the revolutionary cross-race logic of hampton and the black panthers ideas on may 26 1969 fred hampton was sentenced to two to five years in prison for robbery and assault early in 1969 the chicago panthers were still small and had garnered very little influence and national attention while russian hampton teamed up in june of 1968 the panthers national office did not officially recognize the chapter until october of 1968 and the first chicago office did not open until november 1st of 1968 however in the spring of 1969 their membership exploded they gathered increasing attention from the national office and local blacks and progressive allies by the end of may 1969 with their community programs allied politics the panthers were building a strong organization within chicago each member was required to read at least a dozen books six by mao seitong three by malcolm x one by huey newton franz feigen and karl marx in turn each member had to help the other members understand the texts they were reading and the reading reflected the panthers increasing explicit embrace of marxism and especially mao zedong's theory and ideology ballet made the chicago chapter was selling almost 8 000 copies a day of the black panther newspaper and on november 1st 1968 the chicago panthers opened their first office it represented a formidable force within the community including a handwritten sign with large texts that stated illinois chapter of the black panther party and underneath that sign were huge posters of panthers most famous individuals like huey newton and barbie seal and eldridge cleaver speaking malcolm x and emory douglas painted a picture of bobby hutton who had been killed in a shootout with police and huey newton on a wicker throne as the chicago panthers grew in number and political strength the state's efforts to propress them escalated on june 4th 1969 the fbi broke down the two steel doors of the chicago panthers office and proceeded to sack the office and arrest eight chicago panthers the fbi agents told the press that they had found several guns and ammunition within the office but the weapons did not violate any federal regulations bobby rush held a press conference about the legal activities of the fbi and rush said that the fbi left the office in complete disarray creating more than 20 thousand dollars in damages and confiscating a safe containing three thousand dollars which the panthers plan to use to equip a new health clinic that they were hoping to open agents even took cereal meant for the free breakfast program rush described the raid as part of a concerted national effort by the fbi to crush the panthers and cited similar raids in other major cities on the morning of july 4th 1969 rank-and-file members larry roberson and grady moore were selling newspapers when they saw two police officers questioning patrons about the theft of produce from a nearby market according to the panthers the police lined up more than a dozen individuals against the wall and began harassing them the police maintained that they were simply investigating the report of stolen produce when robertson and moore approached asking them what they were doing the officers said that they told robertson and more to leave and they became belligerent calling themselves protectors of the community the black panther newspaper reported that moore and robeson were not armed but the police told the press that roberson drew a gun and started shooting at them and roberson was shot three times by the police and both robertson and moore were arrested on attempted murder charges on july 31st of 1969 the chicago police raided the black panther officers for a second time they arrived at 1 15 in the morning following an afternoon rally outside of the black panther offices 24 police cars shut down the front of the panther offices and officers attempted to storm the building hampton was in jail on robbery charges and no other panther leader was in the office at the time but three rank and file members held the police off for 35 minutes until they ran out of ammunition eventually the police shot down the steel door made their way upstairs and beat the panthers with rifle bus badly injuring the group and arresting them on attempted murder charges according to the panthers the police used gasoline to burn the second floor of the panther offices and police claimed that the panthers fired first snapping at the police cars and that the fire was caused by tear gas canisters by this point the panthers and their allies understood that they were under siege and prepared for further raids from the chicago police rank-and-file members began cleaning and readying guns at the chicago office and recording the blood types of members and others passed out claws to be used club of their mouths and faces in the event of a tear gas attack on the early morning of october 4th the police raided the chicago black panther offices for a third time the raid was almost a repeat of the july 31st police raid where officers riddled the front door and walls with bullets police set the office on fire smashed equipment destroyed stores or food designated for the free breakfast program and after the panthers resisted subsided police arrested six party members on charges of attempted murder alleging that they had tried to sniper police from the headquarters rooftop again the panthers allege the police intentionally set the fire and the national chief of staff daniel heyard sought to build support for the panthers community policing initiative the claim that the raid provided further proof they needed the community control of the police he said the raids like this one on october 4th in chicago will continue and escalate unless we move to circulate as soon as possible a petition for community control of the police with the repeated raids and arrests of the chicago panthers many black organizations lined up to support the panthers believing that such repression was a threat to all black people and that resisting the oppression of the panthers was a matter of life and death in the fall of 1968 the chicago fbi office had first established a counterintelligence program against the chicago black panther party the fbi believed that fred hampton's leadership and talent for communication made him a major threat among black panther leaders it began keeping close ties on his activities and investigations have shown that fbi chief j edgar hoover was determined to prevent the formation of a cohesive black movement in the united states hoover believed that the panthers the young patriots the young lords and similar radical organizations that hampton had forged in chicago were stepping stones to rise of a revolution that could cause radical change in the united states agents began closely monitoring the panthers via wireless wiretaps of their offices and other means and placed hampton on the bureau's agitator index as a key militant leader the special racial matters squad organized the spearhead actions against chicago panthers and roy mitchell the special agent for the squad was the first person to approach william o'neal while he was a prisoner at the cook county jail and recruited him to infiltrate the panthers and provide information to the fbi when the chicago panthers offices opened o'neal was already on the fbi's payroll and went to the office to join the black panther party seemingly as an eager recruit o'neill soon was appointed chief of security for the chicago black panthers the chicago fbi worked very closely with local law enforcement mostly through the offices of edward v hanrama who worked for the cook county state's attorney in november of 1968 hanorama created the special prosecutions unit and starting in april of 1969 fbi agent roy mitchell worked closely with the state's attorney to target the black panthers in june of 1969 the fbi began coordinating raids of the chicago black panther offices and a special squad of nine chicago police officers was assigned to report directly with the special prosecutions unit which in turn worked with the fbi's racial matter squad on the night of november 13th fbi agent roy mitchell met with informant william o'neill and he helped map an exact layout of fred hampton's apartment including the specific location of his bed and his nightstand he asked o'neill to keep tabs on who was coming and going from the apartment and helped determine what weapons were being kept there with this information a rating party of 14 officers arrived at fred hampton's apartment at 4 30 in the morning on december 4th to execute a search warrant for illegal weapons the assault was quick and decisive within 15 minutes fred hampton was dead shot twice in the head while he laid sleeping in his bed pastor illinois panther leader mark clark was in chicago attending a statewide meeting of panther leaders and he was also killed seven other panther members in the apartment were arrested on charges of attempted murder aggravated battery and unlawful use of weapons edward hanrama told the police the panthers fired first and continued to shoot repeatedly despite warnings from the police that the police were at the door the immediate and violent criminal reaction of the occupants in the shooting at the announcement of police officers emphasizing the extreme viciousness of the black panther party so does their refusal to cease firing at police officers when urged to do so several times panther survivors claimed that the officers never knocked and came in shooting and the chicago fbi viewed the raid as a success due to the information of informant william o'neill there was an immediate outpouring of support for hampton clark and the black panther party many members of the community's groups had called for an independent investigation of the incident and bob rush working with fran hampton's mother and father arranged for independent autopsy of hampton three doctors found that hampton had been killed by bullets shot from an angle slightly above and behind his head as he was lying down there were no powder burns on his hand contradicting police claims that hampton had fired at them the panthers used this public intention to organize support for their popular initiatives offering tours of the apartment where fred hampton and mark clark had been murdered in the following weeks thousands of people many journalists fought to the apartment to mourn the death and consider the evidence for themselves panther tours showed the unscathed walls where police had entered and where they reportedly stood during the raid then there were clusters of bullet holes and large pools of blood where the panthers had been shot towards wood continued until december 17 1969 when the cook county authorities halted them by sealing off the apartment the national black panther party understood and sought to betray the killing of hampton and clark as political assassinations as part of a national government conspiracy to repress the panthers the panther chief of staff david hilliard declared that the organized attempt to destroy the black panther party has been brought to the attention of the american people and the atrociousness of the american government in terms of his subjects people are moving for their freedom and the very fact that they attacked us openly shows that they are brutal people and they are barbarous criminal elements against society even people who didn't agree with the revolutionary politics or ideas of the panthers were concerned that the killing of hampton and clark as part of a pattern of government repression that posed a broader threat to freedom in america many mainstream political organizations including the naacp corps the american jewish committee the mayor's office in maywood the chicago aclu and the united auto workers called for independent investigations of the assassinations the director of the chicago urban leagues would state that whatever the panthers believe in they shouldn't be shot like dogs in the street tuesday december 9 1969 fred hampton's parents working with the black panthers and sclc held a memorial service for fred hampton about 5 000 people jammed into a church in maywood and crowded outside loudspeakers reverend ralph abernathy gave the main eulogy declaring the united states is successful in crushing the panthers it won't be long for they come for the selc the urban league and what other organization trying to make things better bobby rush asked for the mourners to challenge their sorrow into an act of support for the struggle we mourn today but we should be understood that fred that his life was not given in vain and there won't be any morning tomorrow then all the soror would be turned into action following the moral service for fred hampton hampton's parents sent his body home to be buried in haynesville louisiana where they had been born on december 11 1969 edward v hanrama delivered to the chicago tribune an exclusive police photograph of hampton's apartment claiming that it proved that the panthers had initiated the gun battle and had shown bullet holes where the panthers had fired at police but after further investigation the new york times reported that many of the photos did not represented what the subtitles had claimed one depicted nailheads in the apartment's door jamb rather than bullet holes and the other photo the police claim show bullet marks outside of the door actually depicted them inside the door hand rama's deceit further fueled community outrage and even moderate national black and political leaders began to support the idea of a public investigation the new york times would state that the outpouring support for him in the wake of the hampton and clark assassinations by quoting one protester they came in and killed fred hampton and they can do that to him they can do that to any of us in december 9th 1969 an internal chicago police investigation found no fault in the part of edward villanramus spu unit and their findings echoed the report of the cook county coroner in response to public pressure the justice department appointed a federal grand jury to investigate the killings fred hampton and clark on january 6 1969 bobby rush informed press of the results of the blood test of fred hampton in an independent autopsy and revealed that he had heavy dose of sedenon a drug used to induce sleep rush charge that hampton had been killed as part of a government conspiracy and hampton had been drugged by an fbi infiltrator to help facilitate his murder hampton's fiancee deborah johnson who was eight months pregnant at the time of fred hampton's killing and was arrested during the raid later accounted hampton's strange behavior on the night of the raid stating that hampton never got up in bed during the raid and remained silent he woke up and lifted his head slightly as guns were being fired but barely moved or said anything after the first wave of shooting police arrested johnson and pulled her out of the bedroom into the kitchen she said that she heard officers say that he's barely alive but he'll make it then the police began shooting again and the police said well he's good and dead now on may 8 1970 the state attorney edward v hanrama dropped all charges against the seven surviving panther members arrested in the december 4th raid stating that they had no proof that any defendants had fired at police one week later a federal grand jury issued a 250-page report finding that at least 82 bullets have been fired by the spu officers and that only one shot had been fired by the chicago black panthers after more than a decade the legal case which went all the way up to the supreme court the government eventually settled in 1982 agreeing to pay 1.8 million dollars to the estate of hampton clark and the surviving black panther members with the federal county and city governments agreeing to split the bill red hampton was a revolutionary and a rising star in the chicago panthers but this made him a target hampton's incredible charisma his young dynamic leadership who started health clinics and the free breakfast program as well as forming a rainbow coalition in the area the outrage over the assassination of fred hampton especially within chicago's black community calls for the removal of cook county's state attorney edward v hanrama who office managed the police involved in the raid before the raid hanorama had considered himself a likely candidate for chicago mayor but in 1972 he was voted out of office and this effectively ended his political career also in 1972 huey newton closed all black panther offices outside of the city of oakland and the black panther party were formerly disbanded in 1982. in 1990 and again in 2004 the chicago city council designated december 4th as fred hampton day this has been the life of fred hampton if you like more stories like this you can find those at onemikehistory.com also hit the subscribe button give us five stars on apple podcast and if you like to support the podcast you can do so at my buy me coffee and my patreon page which you can find in the description below and peace

Channel: One Mic History

Views: 649,677

Keywords: fred hampton, fred hampton death, the murder of fred hampton, fred hampton murder, black panthers, black panther party, fred hampton assassination, the death of fred hampton documentary, death of a black panther the fred hampton story, judas and the black messiah, one mic history, the murder of fred hampton where to watch, cointelpro, fred hampton black panther documentary, the life of fred hampton, fred hampton assassination documentary, Why Fred Hampton TERRIFIED the FBI

Id: R77FX8T2VXU

Length: 25min 2sec (1502 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 06 2021