His work to unite Chicago gangs in the hope of stopping street violence and promoting the work for social change made him a target of the cold-war-frenzied, white supremacist FBI and Chicago Police Department. His efforts to unite the Panthers with the Young Lords and Young Patriots frightened the FBI and Chicago police. During the cold war era, the FBI was determined to prevent the formation of any cohesive black movement in the United States and often used Hampton's promotion of "socialism" in propaganda against him.

His parents moved from Louisiana during the Great Migration and as a young man Hampton became active in the NAACP and was a leader of its Youth Council. In his capacity as an NAACP youth organizer, he worked to get recreational facilities established in the neighborhoods and to improve educational resources for the impoverished black community. He was a believer in nonviolent action in a world that directed daily violence towards him and other African Americans.

Fred Hampton was an American who, like the vast majority of African Americans, was never allowed to be part of America. His murder was an extrajudicial killing, sparked by his rise to prominence, J. Edgar Hoover's flagrant racism, and FBI efforts to suppress all African Americans.

Fred Hampton is an American hero.

You can watch the Democracy Now report "The Assassination of Fred Hampton: New Documents Reveal Involvement of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover" here: https://youtu.be/vewm6-FEIQs

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