OCP REACTS: JUDAS and the BLACK MESSIAH
The true story of how Fred Hampton was murdered by his government for building coalitions, being anti-capitalist, and believing everyone deserved a comprehensive social security net.
no, we're not joking.
[this article isn’t a movie review, but rather a reflection on what the movie spoke about - which is Fred Hampton, the Black Panther Party, a white supremacy violence by the state]
Our main thoughts from what honestly might be one of the best movies we've ever seen is:
We do not talk about Fred Hampton enough, he has GOAT energy but a show of hands if you're a non-Black person who didn't know much about him until recently/now?
Why were we taught that the Black Panther Party was problematic? Why did we praise (the white-washed version of) MLK Jr? Is one of these two more 'comfortable' for people in power? (yes)
If we do not learn from history, we are doomed to repeat, and despite most of the world having experienced colonization/imperialism - we still don't know how to identify the way power expertly and covertly works at the expense of our lives.
Are we just going about our lives as if the fucking FBI - a government agency - didn't assassinate a 21-year-old citizen while he was sleeping?!
What other history, norms, and understandings have been twisted by the powerful (the victor), and how can we all be more critical of the state-sponsored biases we may inadvertently hold?
Who was Fred Hampton?
In November 1968, 20-year-old Hampton joined the newly formed Illinois chapter of the BPP, becoming the Chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party.
His activism and involvement in social good, justice and Black liberation caught the FBI's attention, placing him on their 'Key Agitator' list when he was just 19.
He formed a non-aggression pact between Chicago's activism groups, culminating in an alliance known as the Rainbow Coalition.
Hampton encouraged these white and BIPOC groups to think about the bigger picture and that conflict between each other would only serve the agenda of the white capitalistic and racist government
"I believe I'm going to die doing the things I was born to do. [...] I believe I'm going to die a revolutionary in the international revolutionary proletarian struggle."
- Fred Hampton
The assassination of Fred Hampton
On December 4, 1969, Hampton was asleep beside his 8-month-pregnant partner. As mentioned, at 21 he was deemed a risk to America.
At 4 am, the police raided Panthers Headquarters (and Fred's home). They immediately shot another panther who, as he died, accidentally discharged one bullet. This would be the only bullet fired by the Panthers; the police shot the remaining 99.
Because Hampton was drugged earlier that evening by an FBI informant, he was unconscious for the whole thing; officers stood over his unconscious body and shot him dead (an FBI chemist would deny this despite independent chemists finding drugs in Hampton's system).
The police, and then the press, would announce that the arrest team had been attacked by the "violent" and "extremely vicious" Panthers. The police would be praised for their "remarkable restraint," "bravery," and "professional discipline" in not killing all the Panthers present.
For Context: JFK was assassinated in 1963, Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965 (his family sued the FBI and NYPD) and Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated in 1968.
Briefly, who exactly were the Black Panthers?
In addition to having a written theory of what they wanted to accomplish, this grassroots organization - that faced every barrier to exist - wanted to be able to show their community they meant what they were talking about and practice that theory.
So they ran free breakfast programs for kids across the country, they opened free medical clinics, they provided free food, they protected the community from the police - all of which was conveniently (read: intentionally) left out of the frequently heard narrative of the Panthers which was they were radical, violent, ‘gang’.
Okay, wild idea, but just hear us out, should we just listen to, trust, and support Black activists?
Everything the Panthers, and what other organizers in the Rainbow coalition, were fighting to change in the 60s are the very same problems we have today.
The only difference is power has become arguably more covert, and more of us are falling through the cracks designed to exclude Black, Indigenous and other marginalized communities.
For example, there are a lot more poor white people who are unable to access healthcare, housing, prescription drugs and health therapies, and secure employment that is safe and comes with a liveable wage. But these are issues Black and Indigenous peoples were already facing.
Maybe if everyday white people and people with some privilege in the 60s had backed organizers like the Black Panthers and pushed for socialism in America, Canada - who is always influenced by America - would have followed suit, resulting in less inequality today, more basic needs being met, and more opportunities to thrive for all of us.
Existential Question: Do Millennials, Gen Z and Gen X have more in common with boomers than we think?
Considering what we know now around how much worse income inequality would become between the 60s and today - it kinda seems sort of foolish that white people didn't back the Black Panthers (and other organizers) when they had a chance - right? Like, way to back the wrong horse, white people from the 60s.
Except, it is 2023, and as much as we love talking about how people of the past have failed us - aren't we doing the exact same thing right now? For example:
Indigenous peoples are telling us not to drill pipelines on their land, and that we have a duty to protect our earth... but we're doing it anyways.
Black people are telling us to defund to abolish the police and better invest in community services ... but we're passing city budgets across the country that are the exact opposite of that.
Divide, Conquer and Rule: Old Tactics that are still in Play
Today, it's abundantly clear that the far right, and often modern conservative figures, have excelled at spreading division and hate. Just look at the rise of the manosphere, the rise of hate, and most of the everyday participants of the "freedom" convoy.
Many poor white people have been convinced that they have more in common with rich white people than they do fellow poor Black people - which is fundamentally just not true.
"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best coloured man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."
- Lyndon B Johnson, Democratic President, 1963-1969
We may not have kings and queens in power anymore, now we have a democracy that says it works for the people, while in practice, it seems to serve modern nobles - ultra-rich and corporations.
The FBI program COINTELPRO in the movie is 100% real - and this is just one story of their state sanctioned violence on their own citizens.
COINTELPRO—short for counterintelligence program—intended to "expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize the activities of Black nationalist hate type organizations and groupings, their leadership, spokesmen, membership, and supporters, and to counter their propensity for violence and civil disorder."
Then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover is said to have deemed the Black Panther Party" and COINTELPRO agents were encouraged to use "aggressive and imaginative tactics" to prevent "the rise of a 'messiah'" who could unify the Black liberation movement. Fred Hampton was considered a possible messiah.
"Housing, justice, peace... Life, liberty, happiness. I mean, it's all right there in the Declaration of Independence. But when poor people demand it, it's a contradiction - it's not Democracy, it's Socialism."
- Fred Hampton, in Judas and the Black Messiah
The US gov deemed the Black Panther Party "the greatest threat to the internal security of the country"
We've been reflecting a lot about how colonizers used to divide and conquer as a technique to oppress people, and spew division and hate that encourages infighting amongst people who have a lot in common. As infighting occurs, the oppressor is able to retain their power.
So when the FBI - which is a government agency - says the Black Panthers is the greatest threat to the internal security of a country* what we think they meant to say is the Black Panthers is the greatest threat to existing power structures.
Because what the Panthers were fighting for sounds nearly identical to what the vast majority of people in Canada and America would want to see changed in our countries, and world. It doesn't sound radical, it sounds logical.
As Fred Hampton said, "You can kill a revolutionary but you can never kill the revolution."
