Fred Hampton
Birth date:
August 30, 1948
Death date:
December 4, 1969
Age at Death:
21
About
Fred Hampton was an American activist born in Summit, Illinois and moved 10 years later to the suburbs of Chicago. He came into light when he became chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, and deputy chairman of the national Black Panther Party. Before this, he was actively recruiting young African Americans to join the NAACP and the Black Panther Party. The FBI identified Hampton as a radical threat in 1967 and they tried to stop his actions in Chicago by spreading disinformation on progressive black groups.
Fred Hampton was declared someone who could cause harm to the US by the FBI, they spread misinformation about the group he was affiliated with and other groups like it to create a poor public image. The FBI joined forces with the Chicago PD and the Cook County State's Attorney's office to raid the apartment of Fred Hampton. In a pre-dawn raid, they killed Hampton while he was in his bed. There were other members of the Panther group that were killed in the same raid, people like Mark Clark.
Was justice served?
No, justice was not served, as of February 2021, justice has not been served, none of the police or FBI that were involved in the raid were held accountable, they were even praised by other police. There was a civil suit that was filed over this that was settled for 1.85 million dollars by the City of Chicago, Cook County, and the FBI. Although there was money paid to the survivors of the attack, there were no repercussions faced by the policemen that carried out the raid and that killed multiple black activists.