The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther will be launched November 5, 2009 at a reading and panel discussion at Thorne Hall, Northwestern Law School, 375 E. Chicago Ave, Chicago at 6 pm (doors open at 5:30). The panelists are Martha Biondi, Adam Greene, Salim Muwakkil, Prexy Nexbitt, Barbara Ransby, David Stovall and Flint Tayor. Moderator is Bernardine Dohrn. The reading and discussion will be followed by a book signing and reception honoring the families of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark, the raid survivors, and all those who spoke out against the murderous assault on Hampton's apartment and helped expose the FBI-Chicago police conspiracy that led to their deaths. See more in the Blog.
“A riveting account of the assassination, the plot behind it, the attempted coverup, the denouement, and the lessons that we should draw from this shocking tale of government iniquity.”
—Noam Chomsky, author and political activist
”This book should be read, talked about, and broadcast far and wide, not only to help grasp the government sanctioned tactics of forty years ago, but for its ongoing relevance to seeing what ways ideology has corrupted American political institutions–and what we can do about it.”
—Kathleen Cleaver, Senior Lecturer Emory University School of Law, former Communications Secretary, Black Panther Party
“This book is more important NOW than it was THEN. . . A remarkable work.”
—Studs Terkel
“This is an extremely important book--and a tale well told--for America to read if it wants to become what it says it has always been--the land of the free and the home of the brave.”
—Ramsey Clark, former United States Attorney General
Read more Advance Praise for The Assassination of Fred Hampton
On December 4, 1969, at 6:00 am Jeff’s partner Skip Andrew knocked on his door. When he opened it, Skip announced that Fred Hampton, the dynamic young leader of the Panthers had been shot and killed earlier that morning in a police raid. Skip went to the apartment and began examining the bullet holes and collecting evidence. Haas went to the lockup to interview the raid’s survivors. From the bullet holes at the scene and the descriptions of the eye witnesses, it appeared that Fred Hampton was murdered in his bed.
The Assassination of Fred Hampton is Haas’s personal account of how he and People’s Law Office partners including Flint Taylor pursued Hampton’s assassins. They ultimately exposed the conspiracy between FBI agents carrying out FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover’s secret and deadly Counterintelligence Program and the Chicago Police that led to Hampton’s assassination. Not only a story of justice delivered, the book puts Hampton in a new light as a dynamic community leader and an inspirational speaker.
Black Panther leader Mark Clark was also killed in the 1969 police raid on the Hampton house. Read more about this dynamic and important figure at
markclarkmemorial.com
