On this week’s Truth To Power, we gather in the virtual studio for a community conversation about Fred Hampton, the most important civil rights activist you've never heard of. Jake Bush from DSA Louisville joins Forward Radio programmers Hart Hagan (The Climate Report & Let’s Talk) and Justin Mog (Sustainability Now!) for this discussion about Fred Hampton, a Black Panther Party leader and revolutionary socialist in Chicago who was killed by police in 1969 at the age of 21. Most observers believe this to be a deliberate murder on the part of the FBI and the Chicago police.
How is this relevant to us today? Look around you. The streets are filled with protesters because many believe that the police are at war with black people. Not all police homicides are "intentional" but many are. Fred Hampton is an example of how federal and local police hunted down and killed an innocent man without due process of law.
Awareness of a problem is half the solution. If we think the police are just good people who have to make hard choices, then maybe we need to think again. The Fred Hampton case is an important example to the contrary. The civil case against the police and the FBI resulted in $1.85 million being paid to the plaintiffs, the victims and family members of the victims who were shot and/or killed in the police raid that resulted in Fred Hampton's death. This means that the court determined it was more likely than not that the FBI and the police conspired to murder Fred Hampton.
The Fred Hampton story is a scathing indictment of our system and its war against people of color.
To hear Hampton in his own words, check out the trailer for the 1969 documentary "The Murder of Fred Hamilton": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVzbSvWaMkc
Learn more about the Louisville chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America at http://dsalouisville.org
On Truth to Power each week, we gather Forward Radio programmers and friends to discuss the state of the world, the nation, the state, and the city! It's a community conversation like you won't hear anywhere else!
Truth to Power airs every Sunday at 4pm, Monday at 2pm, and Tuesday at 9am on Louisville's grassroots, community radio station, Forward Radio 106.5fm WFMP and live streams at http://forwardradio.org