The Murder of Fred Hampton
The Murder of Fred Hampton began as a film portrait of Hampton and the Illinois Black Panther Party,
but half way through the shoot, Hampton was murdered by Chicago policeman. In an infamous moment in
Chicago history and politics, over a dozen policeman burst into Hampton's apartment while its
occupants were sleeping, killing Hampton and fellow Panther Mark Clark and brutalizing the other
occupants.
Filmmakers Mike Gray and Howard Alk arrived a few hours later to shoot film footage of the crime scene that was later used to contradict news reports and police testimony. Recently restored and reworked by Gray, The Murder of Fred Hampton is a chilling slice of American history.
Also included is a short film, Cicero March, which chronicled a group who defied Mayor Richard J. Daley's order to march into predominantly white Cicero to protest racism and injustice.
"The Murder Of Fred Hampton illuminates the magnetic fervor, militant eloquence, and sheer infectious ideological energy of 'living high on the people,' that Chairman Fred embodied, much like Malcolm. And it was that threat to the state and the status quo, a combination of political rage transcending fear and the passionate pursuit of broad popular unity against social and economic injustice, that invoked Hampton's valiant iconic immortality and also abrupt victimhood. Rendering The Murder Of Fred Hampton a visual and oral blueprint of cautionary wisdom and mass inspiration." -- Prairie Miller, WBAI Film Critic
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