Monroe Street is where Hampton lived and where he was murdered. In addition to killing Hampton while he lay asleep in his bed, the cops also murdered Mark Clark, another young leader of the Panthers. The police officers wounded four others in the assault. In addition, three other individuals were arrested on charges of attempting to murder the invading cops.

Nearly 1,300 streets in Chicago have been renamed to honor individuals in this city with little controversy. In this case, however, the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) launched a campaign to stop this effort as part of continuing the cops’ cover-up of their cold-blooded murder of Hampton.

On the FOP website the cops claim that in 1969 they went to Fred Hampton’s home to execute a search warrant and while doing so “the Law Enforcement Officers were fired upon and the ensuing gun battle left Hampton and Mark Clark dead and others on both sides of the battle wounded.” In a letter sent to all 50 alderman, FOP head Mark Donahue defended the cops accused of murdering the Panthers. “Based upon irresponsible allegations at the time Hampton was executed, a federal investigation was conducted which cleared those accused of wrongdoing,” Donahue wrote. “A later civil suit which garnered the families of those killed and wounded in the incident a monetary award, absolutely does not justify the continued allegations of any criminal act.”

It is notable that Donahue, perhaps accidentally, used the correct term, “executed,” in referring to how Fred Hampton was killed.

Undisputed facts going back to the 1960s, however, exposed the cops’ lies in 1969 and they show that the FOP and Donahue are not telling the truth today.

To counter the lies of the cops and government authorities, the Monroe Street apartment was opened to the press and others right after the police raid. The Illinois State Attorney’s office had released a photo at the time that supposedly showed bullet holes proving the Panthers had fired at the police. But the photo was exposed by reporters and others visiting the scene of the killing as showing holes made by nails, the Dec. 26, 1969, Militant reported. A federal grand jury, despite its clear bias against Hampton and the Panthers, admitted in May 1970 that at least 82 shots were fired into the Monroe residence and that only one was “apparently” fired by someone inside.

The brutality of the cop attack and their blatant lies at the time led many groups to speak out. These included the Chicago NAACP, local officials, and even the Afro-American Patrolmen’s League.

Cointelpro: The FBI’s Secret War on Political Freedom, a book published by Pathfinder Press, explains that depositions in a later civil suit revealed “that the chief of Panther security and Hampton’s personal bodyguard, William O’Neal, was an FBI infiltrator. O’Neal gave his FBI ‘contacting agent,’ Roy Mitchell, a detailed floor plan of the apartment, which Mitchell turned over to the state’s attorney’s office shortly before the attack…. For his services, O’Neal was paid over $10,000 from January 1969 through July 1970, according to Mitchell’s affidavit…. O’Neal incidentally, continued to report to Mitchell after the raid. He was taking part in meetings with the Hampton family and discussions between lawyers and clients.”

An examination of Hampton’s body revealed a high dose of a sleeping drug, indicating that he had been drugged before the police raid.

Protests on campuses and in the Black community broke out in Chicago and across the country immediately after the Dec. 4, 1969, police assault. A memorial rally at a church at Chicago’s west side drew 3,000 people with an overflow crowd of 1,000 outside.

Fred Hampton grew up in Maywood, a western suburb of Chicago. As a high school student he joined the NAACP and became the president of its West Suburban chapter. He led a fight to acquire a swimming pool for the Maywood Black community. He later moved to Chicago where he was a student at Malcolm X City College and became a leader of the Black Panther Party.

Mary Johnson, a longtime activist in Chicago’s Black community and a fighter against police brutality and for the rights of the wrongfully convicted, told the Militant: “We have a right to honor Fred Hampton. He didn’t do anything except help people. The cops should be ashamed to even respond. It’s proven that they out-and-out lied. They should be held accountable.”  
 
 
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