Fred Hampton, deputy chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, was born on August 30, 1948 and raised in the Chicago suburb of Maywood, Illinois. In high school he excelled in academics and athletics. After Hampton graduated from high school, he enrolled in a pre-law program at Triton Junior College in River Grove, Illinois. Hampton also became involved in the civil rights movement, joining his local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). His dynamic leadership and organizational skills in the branch enabled him to rise to the position of Youth Council President. Hampton mobilized a racially integrated group of five hundred young people who successfully lobbied city officials to create better academic services and recreational facilities for African American children.

In 1968, Hampton joined the Black Panther Party (BPP), headquartered in Oakland, California. Using his NAACP experience, he soon headed the Chicago chapter. During his brief BPP tenure, Hampton formed a “Rainbow Coalition” which included Students for a Democratic Society, the Blackstone Rangers, a street gang and the National Young Lords, a Puerto Rican organization. Hampton was also successful in negotiating a gang truce on local television.

In an effort to neutralize the Chicago BPP, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Chicago Police Department placed the chapter under heavy surveillance and conducted several harassment campaigns. In 1969, several BPP members and police officers were either injured or killed in shootouts, and over one hundred local members of the BPP were arrested.

During an early morning police raid of the BPP headquarters at 2337 W. Monroe Street on December 4, 1969, twelve officers opened fire, killing the 21-year-old Hampton and Peoria, Illinois Panther leader Mark Clark. Police also seriously wounded four other Panther members. Many in the Chicago African American community were outraged over the raid and what they saw as the unnecessary deaths of Hampton and Clark. Over 5,000 people attended Hampton’s funeral where Reverends Ralph Abernathy and Jesse Jackson of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference eulogized the slain activist. Years later, law enforcement officials admitted wrongdoing in the killing of Hampton and Clark. In 1990, and later in 2004, the Chicago City Council passed resolutions commemorating December 4 as Fred Hampton Day.

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  • AmericaDelendaEst [comrade/them]
    ·
    4 months ago

    I'm so fucking happy, and mad, and sad, all at the same time, all for the same reason. I can finally legally do more than vague post about it

    So someone I know was a juror in a murder trial and like, the whole thing is just fucked, from top to bottom

    CW: Domestic Violence, murder,, traumatic description of death the callous disregard of the court system for human life

    So basically what happened was this serial domestic abuser who has repeatedly beat the shit out of his partner was in a car with his cousin, his partner, and his cousin's partner, and like this fucker starts whaling on his gf, the one driving, saying I'LL KILL YOU and hitting her with a beer bottle and shit. And they end up pulling into a parking lot, which is why there's camera evidence, and after a brief altercation and like one minute pause where he stood around, the non-domestic-abuser took the other guy's gun and fired three shots, hitting twice, and the domestic abuser ended up dying choking on his own blood

    The person I know who was a juror was traumatized by watching the video, and again by hearing the coroner describe his death, realizing on their own "he choked on his own blood"

    it turns out this was an appeal trial for a person already given a LIFE SENTENCE for this. because last time they didn't inform the jury "you can declare him 'not guilty' if you believe he was acting in defense of [dead shithead's partner]."

    They don't inform the jury of this. So he gets a new trial where they do inform the jury of this

    The new jury ended up agreeing on a guilty verdict for voluntary manslaughter, because in this second trial the prosecution hyper-focused on "did he use excessive force" (he fired three shots! if a cop fired an entire clip and said he was scared he'd be fucking fine!!!)

    their argument was basically "you saw him beat the shit out of her multiple times before, and didn't kill him then, so killing him now is excessive force"

    the jury also hyper focused on the number of gun shots (as if a cop wouldn't empty an entire mag into a person's chest and then say they feared for their life, and get off scot free)

    after agreeing on voluntary manslaughter, the jury was informed this was the defendant's third strike. a third felony. so now, they the jury must decide whether or not this person is guilty of being a habitual felon, and deserving of LIFE IN PRISON. (extra fucked up because it puts that burden of deciding the punishment on the jury instead of the fucking judge)

    For "three strikes." I'm so close to tears just writing about it. One of the defendant's "strikes" was committed AS A TEENAGER. They tried them as an adult and it's stuck with them for over two decades.

    Anyway, thank fuck there were at least a few people on the jury who would refuse to send this person to prison for life, and they held their ground, and it was declared a mistrial

    but even then, the defendant has been in jail for SIX YEARS. And now they have to wait even longer for another trial, where the jury might be even less sympathetic.

    It's just so fucked, and the prosecution changed things from seeking a murder conviction in the first trial to charging for manslaughter, like, so clearly to get a FELONY conviction, which would be a third strike

    I've been really struggling not to post about this but like it's just so fucked and even though I wasn't a direct part of things it's still very upsetting. I am so angry at the state for how much this has upset someone I know and I am so full of disgust for how all of this has proceeded and just full of hate for the people who just want this person to rot in prison for life. At the same time, I'm so grateful that there will be another chance at this person's freedom.