: Remembering Fred Hampton and the Power of Coalition #IndiaNEWSAll #History If you ever think about me, and you aint gonna do no revolutionary act, forget about me. I dont want myself on your mind

@IndiaNEWS

Posted in: #IndiaNEWSAll #History

Remembering Fred Hampton and the Power of Coalition #IndiaNEWSAll #History
If you ever think about me, and you aint gonna do no revolutionary act, forget about me. I dont want myself on your mind if youre not going to work for the people.
Fred Hampton 

Born on August 30th, 1948, Frederick Allen Hampton was a revolutionary socialist and a prominent leader of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense (BPP). Hampton rose to become the chairman of the Illinois chapter of the BPP, and through his skills as a leader and orator, helped create and fund coalitions of working-class and oppressed racial and/or ethnic groups across Chicago. Of this, the most notable group was the Rainbow Coalition. For his organizational efforts, in 1967, Hampton was identified by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a radical threat. On December 4th, 1969 he was brutally shot and killed in his bed as part of a planned assassination by the Chicago Police and FBI.
Hampton was born as the third child of Francis and Iberia and raised in the suburbs of southwestern Chicago. Their families farmed the lands their great-grandparents had worked on as slaves in Louisiana. And so, like many black people, his father shifted to Chicago in the 1930s, seeking employment. Growing up in the suburbs, Hampton was subjected to racial attacks, especially by rednecks. Though a talented and athletic student, he was mocked by his peers through racially charged phrases, such as “watermelon head”. Though upset, Hampton learned to defend himself through his words.
Hampton took on the role of a community leader at a young age. On the weekends, he would organize children in the neighborhood to collectively buy, cook, and distribute food since many of them did not have much to eat. This practice would be continued by the Black Panthers. As a student at Proviso East High School, he organized walkouts and a boycott for lack of diversity in teaching, administrative and leadership positions in the school. He also helped found the Maywood NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and worked to improve educational and recreational facilities for the neighbourhood’s impoverished youth. As the leader of the NAACP Youth Chapter, Hampton initially marched for raising police wages in order to get more professional police in their neighbourhood, and later to make the police more accountable by giving the citizens power to fire brutal officers.
Courtesy: Sun-Times Print Collection
Around the same time, Hampton became increasingly attracted to the rising national Black Panther Party’s approach, which based its praxis at the intersection of black self-determination and the economic critique of class. He was also growing further towards Malcolm X’s message of self-defense.

Intraday stocks under 50 NSE India Twitter of India

Vote Up Vote Down

Login to post a comment!