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.
Megathreads and spaces to hang out:
- 📀 Come listen to music and Watch movies with your fellow Hexbears nerd, in Cy.tube
- 🔥 Read and talk about a current topics in the News Megathread
- ⚔ Come talk in the New Weekly PoC thread
- ✨ Talk with fellow Trans comrades in the New Weekly Trans thread
- 👊 Share your gains and goals with your comrades in the New Weekly Improvement thread
reminders:
- 💚 You nerds can join specific comms to see posts about all sorts of topics
- 💙 Hexbear’s algorithm prioritizes comments over upbears
- 💜 Sorting by new you nerd
- 🌈 If you ever want to make your own megathread, you can reserve a spot here nerd
- 🐶 Join the unofficial Hexbear-adjacent Mastodon instance toots.matapacos.dog
Links To Resources (Aid and Theory):
Aid:
Theory:
I am so disappointed that after a year and a half of organizing and trying to bargain our first contract m, I am just feeling like this all has been a huge fucking mistake. The work I do is already some of the most mentally and emotionally taxing work someone can do, but throwing the union busting and nonstop work on proposals and trying to do ANYTHING that’s gutsy being shot down by the union rep. Coworker got fired and the rep says he can’t do anything about it. It feels like we have no protection, I’m so ready to throw in the towel and be done with it. And I’m ashamed to say that. This has been nothing but an awful experience so far
Hang in there. They want you to lose your resolve. That is the only way they can win.
You’ve got this, comrade
That’s what they want. That being said, they are sometimes right. What’s the deal with the rep? Are they a co-worker or someone representing a union? My first real job was a union gig working the university cafeteria and in the summer after my second year I just didn’t get brought back and was replaced by 2 part time student workers (people with a student visa can only legally work on campus and the company fucking Aramark knew to tske advantage). I’d been there for 2 years and got a random layoff and the union couldn’t help me there? Somethings fishy with that union and it bubbled to the surface a year or two later the reps were on the fucking take. Scumbags all the way down. If the radical elements that are genuinely oriented towards working class liberation aren’t part of a union movement those unions become corrupt pretty easy. Vigilance is crucial because you need to stomp these maggots before they turn into flies.
Your union rep sucks. Your organizing committee needs to bully him.
But the thing your rep should be telling you to do is escalate. Coordinate and execute walkouts and/or a strike until they reinstate your coworker. While the company has certainly broken the law, any legal justice is far too slow to mean very much for the contract or rehiring. Direct action is what gets the goods.
Escalation can actually lead to less exhsustion. The employer wants to waste your time and make you tired. Direct action tells your employer to stop fucking around because you are ready to shut the place down. 3 months of bargaining, direct action, and a contract is much easier than 6 months of bargaining and no contract.