1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:04,240 Speaker 1: Hey, Matt, hey Ben, who killed Fred Hampton? 2 00:00:04,920 --> 00:00:07,840 Speaker 2: Oh? You don't want me to answer that. I kind 3 00:00:07,840 --> 00:00:09,880 Speaker 2: of do the cops. 4 00:00:11,160 --> 00:00:15,920 Speaker 1: Oh boy, this is our classic episode, folks. The Black 5 00:00:15,960 --> 00:00:19,120 Speaker 1: Panther Party for Self Defense was founded in Oakland, California, 6 00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:24,759 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty six, and things went horribly wrong on 7 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:27,240 Speaker 1: December fourth, just a few years later. 8 00:00:29,080 --> 00:00:33,559 Speaker 3: From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies, history is 9 00:00:33,640 --> 00:00:37,960 Speaker 3: riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or 10 00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:40,000 Speaker 3: learn this stuff they don't want you to know. 11 00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:56,040 Speaker 2: Oh, hello, welcome back to the show. My name is Matt, 12 00:00:56,120 --> 00:00:56,760 Speaker 2: my name is Nola. 13 00:00:56,880 --> 00:00:59,120 Speaker 1: They call me Ben. We are joined with our super 14 00:00:59,160 --> 00:01:03,040 Speaker 1: producer of Paul, Mission Control decad. Most importantly, you are you. 15 00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:06,440 Speaker 1: You are here, and that makes this stuff they don't 16 00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:11,720 Speaker 1: want you to know. It's twenty nineteen, and if you 17 00:01:11,959 --> 00:01:17,160 Speaker 1: are remotely aware of the news, you understand. 18 00:01:16,600 --> 00:01:18,280 Speaker 2: That the government is still shut down. 19 00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:21,279 Speaker 1: The government is this is the longest shutdown in modern 20 00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:22,080 Speaker 1: US history. 21 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:26,400 Speaker 4: So presumably they're not assassinating any political activists at the moment. 22 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:29,440 Speaker 1: Well, the assassins aren't getting paid at least that's whole 23 00:01:29,760 --> 00:01:33,240 Speaker 1: there's back pay right load. Yeah, yeah, yeah, this is 24 00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:37,440 Speaker 1: a divisive time in the country. But that's something people 25 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:40,880 Speaker 1: always say, you know, how like older people are always like, oh, 26 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:44,760 Speaker 1: new music sucks, but old music's good. And people are 27 00:01:44,760 --> 00:01:47,000 Speaker 1: always like, ah, this is the most divisive time ever. 28 00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:52,920 Speaker 1: It's always been a real there's a phrase Nol stumbled 29 00:01:52,960 --> 00:01:54,640 Speaker 1: upon that I really like. It's always been a real 30 00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:57,440 Speaker 1: ship show. It's true because we're a families show. 31 00:01:58,040 --> 00:01:59,400 Speaker 2: There was a p just everyone. 32 00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:02,720 Speaker 4: Yeah, it's sort of like a trade show for boats 33 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:05,200 Speaker 4: in a show right up on stilts you get to 34 00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:06,440 Speaker 4: look at their undercarriages. 35 00:02:06,520 --> 00:02:11,720 Speaker 1: You know. It's like that, but with with rampant want 36 00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:17,720 Speaker 1: and have it politically with quite real danger to many people. 37 00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:22,160 Speaker 1: And we're not we're not going to do some AM 38 00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:26,480 Speaker 1: or FM political talking points show. We're not going to 39 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:29,320 Speaker 1: pair it out some headlines at you. We want to 40 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:36,679 Speaker 1: establish that context because it's often said that history is cyclical. Right, 41 00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:40,040 Speaker 1: it may maybe it doesn't repeat, but it rhymes. And 42 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:44,640 Speaker 1: the reason that cliche is a cliche is because it's true. 43 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:47,960 Speaker 1: That's the reason most cliches are cliches. It's because they're true. 44 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:50,400 Speaker 1: Everyone knows it. It's such an eye roll when people 45 00:02:50,440 --> 00:02:55,400 Speaker 1: say it. Today we are taking a journey into a 46 00:02:55,480 --> 00:03:00,280 Speaker 1: into an event that may be familiar to some of 47 00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:03,200 Speaker 1: us and maybe brand new to others. And it may 48 00:03:03,240 --> 00:03:07,680 Speaker 1: be something that you just remember from one line in 49 00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:11,919 Speaker 1: a Rage against the Machine song down Rodeo. Right, we 50 00:03:12,240 --> 00:03:15,560 Speaker 1: were talking about this off air listening to Rage against 51 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:18,240 Speaker 1: the Machine, and the three of us. I don't know 52 00:03:18,240 --> 00:03:20,200 Speaker 1: if you agreed, Paul, but the three of us, at 53 00:03:20,280 --> 00:03:23,280 Speaker 1: least here in the booth thought, you know, rage against 54 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:25,280 Speaker 1: the Machine holds up well. 55 00:03:25,320 --> 00:03:27,600 Speaker 4: The thing too about not to me, there's all of 56 00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:29,400 Speaker 4: a sudden the critique about Rage against the Machine and 57 00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:31,880 Speaker 4: their cultural significance. But the thing that stands up to 58 00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:34,120 Speaker 4: me is that all of the other like rap metal 59 00:03:34,160 --> 00:03:37,839 Speaker 4: bands or whatever, they sound completely cliche and hackney now, 60 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:40,160 Speaker 4: but Rage against the Machine just sounds like Rage against 61 00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:43,480 Speaker 4: the Machine. Nobody else really copied them so exactly that 62 00:03:43,560 --> 00:03:46,720 Speaker 4: they sound like a tired, you know, copy of themselves. 63 00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:49,560 Speaker 4: So yeah, good on them, Yeah, yeah, for being innovative. 64 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:53,720 Speaker 2: Just another thing that I was reminded of. My wife 65 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:55,920 Speaker 2: is always trying to get me to listen to newer 66 00:03:56,000 --> 00:04:00,720 Speaker 2: music and back in the day, jay Z and who's 67 00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:06,400 Speaker 2: that guy? Is the other guy? Jay Z? And Kanye I'm. 68 00:04:06,320 --> 00:04:09,560 Speaker 1: Just joking, Tonye, give me a direction here. 69 00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:11,920 Speaker 2: I'm not sure. I think it's if you're looking at 70 00:04:11,920 --> 00:04:13,760 Speaker 2: a map, I think it's still to the left. 71 00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:15,920 Speaker 1: Kanye north by Northwest. 72 00:04:15,440 --> 00:04:18,279 Speaker 2: Something like that. No, but they had they had a 73 00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:22,680 Speaker 2: song that mentioned the person we're talking about today, and 74 00:04:23,600 --> 00:04:25,640 Speaker 2: it it just reminded me of that too, just putting 75 00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:25,800 Speaker 2: that out. 76 00:04:25,800 --> 00:04:28,159 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, Okay, So specifically that line in 77 00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:31,360 Speaker 1: down Rodeo is they ain't gonna send me camping like 78 00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:37,160 Speaker 1: they did my Manfred Hampton, right, And that is a 79 00:04:37,200 --> 00:04:40,159 Speaker 1: real person. Yes, this is common knowledge to some of us. 80 00:04:40,600 --> 00:04:45,720 Speaker 1: This is maybe a an Easter egg for some people. 81 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:49,880 Speaker 1: But today we are exploring the life and times and 82 00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:55,560 Speaker 1: untimely end of a very young man named Fred Hampton. Today, 83 00:04:55,600 --> 00:04:58,479 Speaker 1: most people would not be able to point out may Would, 84 00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:02,839 Speaker 1: Illinois on a map. It's relatively small. It's a community 85 00:05:03,040 --> 00:05:07,840 Speaker 1: of at the closes estimate, a little more than twenty 86 00:05:07,880 --> 00:05:14,360 Speaker 1: three five hundred people in Cook County's Proviso township. Shortly 87 00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:17,880 Speaker 1: after World War Two, there was this kid. His name's 88 00:05:17,920 --> 00:05:22,920 Speaker 1: Fred Hampton. He was born in Summit, Illinois. He went 89 00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:26,160 Speaker 1: to a high school in Maywood in the area. He 90 00:05:26,279 --> 00:05:30,240 Speaker 1: was great at math, he was a great athlete, and 91 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:33,280 Speaker 1: for a time he was a pre law student. He 92 00:05:33,440 --> 00:05:36,760 Speaker 1: died spoiler alert when he was twenty one years old. 93 00:05:36,880 --> 00:05:39,279 Speaker 4: As bonkers to me every time I look back at these, 94 00:05:39,640 --> 00:05:41,760 Speaker 4: whether it's like musicians that dies at an early age 95 00:05:41,760 --> 00:05:44,279 Speaker 4: like Kurt Kobain and I forget they're like twenty three 96 00:05:44,279 --> 00:05:46,640 Speaker 4: and twenty four years old. I still think of myself 97 00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:49,279 Speaker 4: as a relatively young man. But it really makes you 98 00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:51,120 Speaker 4: puts things in perspective, you know. 99 00:05:51,279 --> 00:05:54,600 Speaker 2: Yeah, when just getting started, Fred Hampton was. 100 00:05:55,920 --> 00:05:59,599 Speaker 1: So what happened? To look at this, we will have 101 00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:05,680 Speaker 1: to start with some social context, some backgrounds. So here 102 00:06:05,720 --> 00:06:11,520 Speaker 1: are the facts. Fred Hampton is today most widely known 103 00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:15,440 Speaker 1: for his association with the Black Panther Party or BPP, 104 00:06:15,960 --> 00:06:19,039 Speaker 1: officially the Black Panther Party for Self Defense. This was 105 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:23,080 Speaker 1: founded in Oakland, California in nineteen sixty six by Huey 106 00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:29,040 Speaker 1: Newton and Bobby Seal. Originally, these guys wanted to protect 107 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:34,280 Speaker 1: local residents of the Oaklands community from police brutality and 108 00:06:34,360 --> 00:06:34,720 Speaker 1: this is. 109 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:37,080 Speaker 2: And from other crime and just like as a like 110 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:39,200 Speaker 2: a local defense force essentially. 111 00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:45,040 Speaker 1: Right, a self governing community. Right, we don't need we 112 00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:49,440 Speaker 1: don't need the law enforcement industry as they saw it, 113 00:06:49,880 --> 00:06:55,280 Speaker 1: to further repress our community. There's so many things that 114 00:06:55,320 --> 00:07:00,279 Speaker 1: could be solved. The reasoning goes by just talking to kids, 115 00:07:00,279 --> 00:07:04,960 Speaker 1: because these are teenagers, just saying hey, don't cause trouble 116 00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:07,440 Speaker 1: or you know. It's it's like you hear the stories 117 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:10,800 Speaker 1: of young kids who maybe get pulled over for something, 118 00:07:10,880 --> 00:07:14,080 Speaker 1: or they get caught drinking underage or smoking pot, and 119 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:18,240 Speaker 1: then the officers, up to their discretion, they can they 120 00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:21,680 Speaker 1: can book a kid and take them to juvie, or 121 00:07:21,960 --> 00:07:25,440 Speaker 1: they can do something that is scarier and more frightening 122 00:07:25,440 --> 00:07:28,679 Speaker 1: for some of them, which is called their mother. Yeah, 123 00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:29,320 Speaker 1: it's interesting. 124 00:07:29,400 --> 00:07:31,920 Speaker 4: In the movie Black Clansman, I don't know if you 125 00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:33,800 Speaker 4: guys have seen that yet, but it's got some I 126 00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:36,360 Speaker 4: think Spikeley finally got his first Best Picture and Best 127 00:07:36,360 --> 00:07:37,800 Speaker 4: Director Oscar nomination. 128 00:07:38,120 --> 00:07:40,720 Speaker 1: First nomination in thirty years since Do the Right. 129 00:07:40,840 --> 00:07:41,160 Speaker 2: That's right. 130 00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:42,560 Speaker 1: I watched it on the plane. Yeah, that's good. 131 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:44,480 Speaker 4: But there's a scene where at Stokeley Carmichael, who's the 132 00:07:44,560 --> 00:07:46,280 Speaker 4: leader of the Black Panther Party, is speaking at a 133 00:07:46,360 --> 00:07:49,440 Speaker 4: university and one of the organizers, who's a college student 134 00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:53,560 Speaker 4: who's got this you know, college group that organizes this 135 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:57,840 Speaker 4: event is very abusively pulled over by the very racist 136 00:07:57,880 --> 00:08:01,880 Speaker 4: local police. And just for being the person that brought 137 00:08:02,120 --> 00:08:04,800 Speaker 4: these people to this town, I believe in Colorado, the 138 00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:08,000 Speaker 4: city in Colorado, So that kind of stuff was happening 139 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:09,880 Speaker 4: all the time, and that was the name. There was 140 00:08:09,960 --> 00:08:12,440 Speaker 4: absolutely a need to have some kind of protection within 141 00:08:12,760 --> 00:08:15,600 Speaker 4: this specific community to keep stuff like that from happening. 142 00:08:15,640 --> 00:08:20,480 Speaker 1: And need is key. These people weren't making these decisions 143 00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:23,400 Speaker 1: for fun, right. They weren't like, hey, should we go 144 00:08:23,480 --> 00:08:26,560 Speaker 1: bowling or should we should we start a political party 145 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:30,760 Speaker 1: and then rock paper scissors for it. They saw a 146 00:08:30,880 --> 00:08:36,360 Speaker 1: need and as the BPP evolved its goals expanded, they 147 00:08:36,440 --> 00:08:39,960 Speaker 1: recognized this was not something that needed to exist only 148 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:46,200 Speaker 1: in Oakland, California, but in the continent entire right, especially 149 00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:50,880 Speaker 1: the US, but also also Canada, and the group eventually 150 00:08:50,920 --> 00:08:57,520 Speaker 1: called for nationwide changes meant to combat the racial inequality 151 00:08:57,640 --> 00:09:01,120 Speaker 1: in the US which still exists today. Yeah, by the 152 00:09:01,240 --> 00:09:06,440 Speaker 1: late nineteen sixties, this organization had over two thousand members, 153 00:09:06,720 --> 00:09:10,760 Speaker 1: two thousand admitted members. There were probably many many more sympathizers, right, 154 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:15,119 Speaker 1: or people who said, I see what you're doing tacitly, 155 00:09:15,400 --> 00:09:21,720 Speaker 1: if not explicitly supported. Critics of the party, including the FBI, 156 00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:26,000 Speaker 1: saw this organization as a They saw it as a 157 00:09:26,040 --> 00:09:30,319 Speaker 1: hate group. They saw it as a on the level 158 00:09:30,360 --> 00:09:33,840 Speaker 1: of racial supremacy group, you know, like the KKKVE. 159 00:09:33,920 --> 00:09:37,240 Speaker 4: And they also saw it as primed to explode in 160 00:09:37,320 --> 00:09:41,160 Speaker 4: some sort of like massive uprising or riot kind of situation, 161 00:09:41,440 --> 00:09:43,640 Speaker 4: when in fact, they were building schools in inner city 162 00:09:43,679 --> 00:09:46,320 Speaker 4: areas of Oakland, and they had like clinics and supply 163 00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:49,000 Speaker 4: free launch co ops and all of this really incredible 164 00:09:49,040 --> 00:09:53,040 Speaker 4: community building stuff, breakfast programs for kids and clothing drives 165 00:09:53,040 --> 00:09:54,880 Speaker 4: and all of this stuff. And the thing I mentioned 166 00:09:54,880 --> 00:09:58,160 Speaker 4: earlier about the you know, protecting themselves against you know, 167 00:09:58,400 --> 00:10:01,640 Speaker 4: racial profiling, it's certainly wasn't. It was much more of 168 00:10:01,679 --> 00:10:04,280 Speaker 4: an awareness thing and of like, let's stick together and 169 00:10:04,440 --> 00:10:07,120 Speaker 4: make people aware that they can't mess with us because 170 00:10:07,120 --> 00:10:09,160 Speaker 4: we are of one mind and we will you know, 171 00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:11,599 Speaker 4: look out for each other, yes, and draw attention to 172 00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:13,160 Speaker 4: the fact that this stuff is happening. 173 00:10:12,800 --> 00:10:16,719 Speaker 1: And know your rights. That's also big proponents of the 174 00:10:16,760 --> 00:10:20,319 Speaker 1: Second Amendment, which you know, the right to bear arms, 175 00:10:20,760 --> 00:10:23,760 Speaker 1: not the animal bear arms. Yes, I feel like we 176 00:10:23,800 --> 00:10:26,680 Speaker 1: always have to say that now, but the right to 177 00:10:26,760 --> 00:10:27,840 Speaker 1: hold a firearm. 178 00:10:28,240 --> 00:10:30,280 Speaker 2: I think this is a good place to mention that 179 00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:34,200 Speaker 2: the Black Panther Party is one of numerous organizations that 180 00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:37,880 Speaker 2: find their origins in this time period. Oh yes, where 181 00:10:38,120 --> 00:10:42,240 Speaker 2: And these are somewhat splintered groups where members of one, 182 00:10:42,760 --> 00:10:45,719 Speaker 2: like chapter of the Black Panther Party, would go and 183 00:10:45,840 --> 00:10:48,360 Speaker 2: form their own group. And this was this was happening 184 00:10:49,520 --> 00:10:52,760 Speaker 2: throughout the United States. So there are there. Basically you 185 00:10:52,800 --> 00:10:54,320 Speaker 2: have to imagine if you look on a map, there 186 00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:58,760 Speaker 2: are there are smaller groups all over the place rather 187 00:10:58,800 --> 00:10:59,960 Speaker 2: than one unified group. 188 00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:05,439 Speaker 1: Absolutely, absolutely, And that's an excellent point because not everybody 189 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:10,640 Speaker 1: agreed on every facet of the of the ideology. 190 00:11:10,760 --> 00:11:10,960 Speaker 2: Right. 191 00:11:11,240 --> 00:11:14,160 Speaker 1: There would be people who agree with the push for equality, 192 00:11:14,200 --> 00:11:17,800 Speaker 1: but they would say, hey, this is antagonistic work within 193 00:11:17,880 --> 00:11:20,040 Speaker 1: the system. And there we're other people who said, well, 194 00:11:20,040 --> 00:11:22,600 Speaker 1: you know, the system is built to destroy you, so 195 00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:26,079 Speaker 1: you are destroying yourself and us if you play along 196 00:11:26,120 --> 00:11:26,840 Speaker 1: with these games. 197 00:11:26,920 --> 00:11:29,520 Speaker 2: And if you look closely enough, it's interesting how you 198 00:11:29,559 --> 00:11:32,559 Speaker 2: can see the rationality for almost all of the groups 199 00:11:32,600 --> 00:11:35,720 Speaker 2: like because it almost makes complete sense in every scenario 200 00:11:35,880 --> 00:11:39,240 Speaker 2: with these groups that are coming together, it's all about philosophy. 201 00:11:38,880 --> 00:11:42,320 Speaker 1: Sure, and philosophy is ultimately only as valuable as the 202 00:11:42,400 --> 00:11:46,000 Speaker 1: actions and inspires which I just made up. But I'm 203 00:11:46,040 --> 00:11:49,800 Speaker 1: gonna stick by that. That uh turn of phrase. 204 00:11:49,840 --> 00:11:52,400 Speaker 4: Oh think it belongs on a bumper sticker and or 205 00:11:52,559 --> 00:11:53,280 Speaker 4: a plaque of. 206 00:11:53,240 --> 00:11:54,400 Speaker 2: Some kind or a T shirt. 207 00:11:54,480 --> 00:11:55,840 Speaker 1: Oh my god, I really do think so. 208 00:11:56,040 --> 00:11:58,920 Speaker 4: But this is totally true because the biggest thing that 209 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:02,440 Speaker 4: Fred Hampton was known for was being like an organizer. 210 00:12:02,480 --> 00:12:04,480 Speaker 4: He was a great speaker, He could bring people together, 211 00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:08,960 Speaker 4: and he pushed for this idea that the people in 212 00:12:09,080 --> 00:12:14,840 Speaker 4: charge were using tools, using racism as a tool to 213 00:12:14,920 --> 00:12:18,680 Speaker 4: control people that were not in their club. You know, 214 00:12:18,720 --> 00:12:22,439 Speaker 4: which is that's the conspiracy theory. 215 00:12:22,960 --> 00:12:26,960 Speaker 1: That's just absolutely looking at it, and some conspiracy theories, 216 00:12:27,160 --> 00:12:31,480 Speaker 1: for the record, are true. But he is right. There's 217 00:12:31,480 --> 00:12:34,760 Speaker 1: an active conspiracy the federal government at this time as 218 00:12:34,800 --> 00:12:38,400 Speaker 1: the Panthers expand, the federal government considers this group and 219 00:12:38,480 --> 00:12:43,240 Speaker 1: associated groups terrorists and they lump them in with the 220 00:12:43,440 --> 00:12:48,839 Speaker 1: various other separatists or status quot challenging groups that you 221 00:12:48,920 --> 00:12:53,320 Speaker 1: alluded to earlier, Matt. In the FBI's estimation, the BPP 222 00:12:53,640 --> 00:12:56,840 Speaker 1: was an extremist group that quote advocated the use of 223 00:12:56,920 --> 00:13:02,640 Speaker 1: violence and guerrilla tactics to overthrow the US government. That's 224 00:13:02,679 --> 00:13:04,800 Speaker 1: that's a heavy phrase to drop. 225 00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:05,240 Speaker 2: It is. 226 00:13:05,440 --> 00:13:10,640 Speaker 1: That's there's whether or not you largely agree with the 227 00:13:10,679 --> 00:13:14,160 Speaker 1: idea of let's just pick one thing, whether or not 228 00:13:14,200 --> 00:13:17,120 Speaker 1: you agree with the Second Amendment. Uh, it's it's a 229 00:13:17,280 --> 00:13:21,040 Speaker 1: hell of a leap to say that people attempting to 230 00:13:21,880 --> 00:13:26,839 Speaker 1: police their own communities are automatically going to the White 231 00:13:26,920 --> 00:13:31,240 Speaker 1: House to burn down the Oval office. That's that's that's 232 00:13:31,320 --> 00:13:34,840 Speaker 1: a logical leap. And it's when the FBI bought. 233 00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:37,600 Speaker 4: Well, it's absolute they didn't so they sold it exactly. 234 00:13:37,679 --> 00:13:38,880 Speaker 1: It's absolute hyperbole. 235 00:13:39,240 --> 00:13:41,720 Speaker 4: And it's like we're saying, it's this idea of selling 236 00:13:41,760 --> 00:13:45,160 Speaker 4: to the public, this notion that this group of organized 237 00:13:45,320 --> 00:13:48,679 Speaker 4: African American people are somehow a threat to you in 238 00:13:48,720 --> 00:13:51,440 Speaker 4: your white communities or in your you know, way of 239 00:13:51,480 --> 00:13:53,480 Speaker 4: life and your job and all of this stuff and 240 00:13:53,520 --> 00:13:54,120 Speaker 4: your safety. 241 00:13:54,760 --> 00:13:57,840 Speaker 1: Really they accept whatever they need to do to. 242 00:13:57,840 --> 00:14:00,640 Speaker 2: Get rid of it. It really is propaganda. But we 243 00:14:00,800 --> 00:14:05,200 Speaker 2: cannot discount that some of these splintered off groups were 244 00:14:05,440 --> 00:14:11,080 Speaker 2: using extreme vice, extreme violence as Weatherman. Yeah, and I 245 00:14:11,120 --> 00:14:13,760 Speaker 2: think it's a Symbionese liberation. 246 00:14:13,400 --> 00:14:17,200 Speaker 4: Front sure like these other much more extreme could even 247 00:14:17,240 --> 00:14:19,240 Speaker 4: now be classified as terrorist groups. 248 00:14:19,360 --> 00:14:22,200 Speaker 1: Right. This is during the this is during the Vietnam era, 249 00:14:23,160 --> 00:14:26,120 Speaker 1: meaning that the I have a great metaphor for this. 250 00:14:26,160 --> 00:14:29,640 Speaker 1: I want to save it for the end. But the 251 00:14:29,880 --> 00:14:35,760 Speaker 1: idea here was one of an existential threat. So the 252 00:14:35,760 --> 00:14:39,840 Speaker 1: Federal Bureau of Investigation deals with things like, you know, 253 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:45,400 Speaker 1: human trafficking, drugs, murders across state lines, that kind of stuff. 254 00:14:45,520 --> 00:14:49,440 Speaker 1: And they said, back burner, back burner, back burner, dissidents, 255 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:55,080 Speaker 1: extremist terrorist people who want the US to be less racist, 256 00:14:55,400 --> 00:14:57,560 Speaker 1: them too, And. 257 00:14:57,000 --> 00:14:58,520 Speaker 2: And that's our number one priority. 258 00:14:58,560 --> 00:15:02,560 Speaker 1: That's our priority. They said, like, you know, drugs, human trafficking, 259 00:15:02,720 --> 00:15:07,640 Speaker 1: interstate murder, that's stuff happens, you know, omelets, eggs. But 260 00:15:07,960 --> 00:15:12,760 Speaker 1: I'll tell you what, buddy, these hippies, these black panthers, 261 00:15:13,480 --> 00:15:17,280 Speaker 1: this injustice shall not stand. Only our injustice shall stand, 262 00:15:17,680 --> 00:15:22,160 Speaker 1: one might imagine. So let's with that context, let's look 263 00:15:22,200 --> 00:15:26,520 Speaker 1: at Fred Hampton. It's a name that's familiar to people, 264 00:15:26,920 --> 00:15:30,200 Speaker 1: but it's also an This is the name of a 265 00:15:30,240 --> 00:15:34,840 Speaker 1: real person, not just a symbol. Right, he's a smart kid. 266 00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:38,480 Speaker 1: We mentioned that he was born in Summit, Illinois. That 267 00:15:38,560 --> 00:15:41,280 Speaker 1: was on August thirtieth, nineteen forty eight, so like us, 268 00:15:41,320 --> 00:15:44,840 Speaker 1: he's an August kid. He was raised in Maywood and 269 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:48,080 Speaker 1: he graduated from the high school there with honors in 270 00:15:48,240 --> 00:15:52,640 Speaker 1: sixty six, nineteen sixty six. From high school, he first 271 00:15:52,680 --> 00:15:57,040 Speaker 1: went to the Developmental Institute at the YMCA Community College 272 00:15:57,040 --> 00:16:00,840 Speaker 1: in Chicago, and then he attended Triton Junior College in 273 00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:06,080 Speaker 1: River Grove, Illinois. He majored in pre law because he 274 00:16:06,160 --> 00:16:10,120 Speaker 1: planned to familiarize himself with the legal system to Noah's rights, 275 00:16:10,440 --> 00:16:13,960 Speaker 1: with the aim of better protecting his community against what 276 00:16:14,200 --> 00:16:18,880 Speaker 1: he saw as the threat of the police. And there's 277 00:16:18,920 --> 00:16:25,880 Speaker 1: an interesting confluence of contrasting views here because Hampton saw 278 00:16:25,960 --> 00:16:30,280 Speaker 1: the police as an existential threat to his community and 279 00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:34,320 Speaker 1: the FBI eventually sold the Black Panthers as an existential 280 00:16:34,360 --> 00:16:40,280 Speaker 1: threat to their community. Yeah. So originally, and he's a 281 00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:43,120 Speaker 1: very young kid at this time. Originally Fred organized for 282 00:16:43,160 --> 00:16:44,880 Speaker 1: the NAACP. 283 00:16:44,880 --> 00:16:48,200 Speaker 2: Yes, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, 284 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:51,040 Speaker 2: just to put that back in there, and then he 285 00:16:51,120 --> 00:16:54,320 Speaker 2: ended up joining the Black Panther Party in nineteen sixty eight, 286 00:16:54,600 --> 00:16:57,960 Speaker 2: which was headquartered at the time in Oakland, California. And 287 00:16:58,520 --> 00:17:01,040 Speaker 2: you know, after he joins up with them. He moves 288 00:17:01,080 --> 00:17:06,719 Speaker 2: to Chicago, and he basically develops an Illinois chapter of 289 00:17:06,880 --> 00:17:07,879 Speaker 2: the Black Panther Party. 290 00:17:07,960 --> 00:17:10,880 Speaker 1: He gets in on the ground floor, and over the 291 00:17:10,960 --> 00:17:16,159 Speaker 1: next year in Chicago, Hampton and other members of the 292 00:17:16,280 --> 00:17:20,800 Speaker 1: chapter and people associated with it achieved some pretty impressive stuff, 293 00:17:21,160 --> 00:17:25,600 Speaker 1: you know, like Noel said earlier, they are supplying clothing, 294 00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:31,640 Speaker 1: they're supplying food, they're organizing, their educating. The most notable 295 00:17:31,720 --> 00:17:35,840 Speaker 1: achievement on the one people remember the most often now, 296 00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:43,520 Speaker 1: was that Hampton brokered a deal between some of Chicago's 297 00:17:43,520 --> 00:17:47,359 Speaker 1: most powerful street gangs by saying, look, we are in 298 00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:51,679 Speaker 1: a system that wants you to fight. It wants you 299 00:17:52,280 --> 00:17:56,119 Speaker 1: to kill one another because then you won't vote. It 300 00:17:56,160 --> 00:17:58,440 Speaker 1: wants you to kill one another because then you won't 301 00:17:58,440 --> 00:18:01,520 Speaker 1: get old enough, maybe dive into your thirties. Yeah, and 302 00:18:01,600 --> 00:18:03,840 Speaker 1: you have to be in your thirties to be president, right. 303 00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:05,919 Speaker 2: And if you're finding each other, you can't see the 304 00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:08,480 Speaker 2: real enemy essentially exactly. Yeah. 305 00:18:08,680 --> 00:18:13,600 Speaker 1: Yeah, And this message resonated with these gangs, and so 306 00:18:13,760 --> 00:18:20,600 Speaker 1: he televised this multi racial, class conscious alliance between the BPP, 307 00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:24,760 Speaker 1: the Young Patriots Organization, and the Young Lords. 308 00:18:25,359 --> 00:18:25,600 Speaker 2: Yeah. 309 00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:31,640 Speaker 1: This was technically a non aggression pact. And because he said, 310 00:18:31,680 --> 00:18:34,520 Speaker 1: you know this, this is what the system wants. It 311 00:18:34,560 --> 00:18:36,600 Speaker 1: wants to keep you poor, it wants to keep you 312 00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:39,720 Speaker 1: dying young h or put you in prison. 313 00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:42,560 Speaker 2: And he was, you know, we said this was televised. 314 00:18:43,880 --> 00:18:46,080 Speaker 2: Fred Hampton was somebody if you listen to he is 315 00:18:46,200 --> 00:18:51,000 Speaker 2: very convincing. And if you listen to him, I mean, 316 00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:54,520 Speaker 2: it's just one of the there's sometimes comes along a speaker, 317 00:18:54,560 --> 00:18:57,840 Speaker 2: a public speaker who can in a way and I 318 00:18:57,840 --> 00:18:59,399 Speaker 2: don't know if this is the right word, but almost 319 00:18:59,560 --> 00:19:03,000 Speaker 2: entrance you where you're just listening and you're like, okay, yeah, 320 00:19:03,119 --> 00:19:05,439 Speaker 2: I hear what you're saying. The way you're speaking, what 321 00:19:05,480 --> 00:19:08,040 Speaker 2: you're saying, it's speaking to me. It's not you're not 322 00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:11,080 Speaker 2: speaking at me, you're speaking to me. And since it 323 00:19:11,119 --> 00:19:15,679 Speaker 2: was on television, the right, I guess and wrong people 324 00:19:16,119 --> 00:19:16,760 Speaker 2: were noticing. 325 00:19:17,160 --> 00:19:22,159 Speaker 1: Ah, excellent point, Matt. Yes, yes, because this is a 326 00:19:22,359 --> 00:19:27,320 Speaker 1: moment that can be propagated before it can be censored. Right, yes, 327 00:19:27,960 --> 00:19:32,000 Speaker 1: So after this watershed event, after this watershed year, during 328 00:19:32,040 --> 00:19:35,800 Speaker 1: this year, fred Hampton also coins a phrase that will 329 00:19:35,840 --> 00:19:37,919 Speaker 1: be familiar with a lot of people who may not 330 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:41,200 Speaker 1: have heard of fred Hampton, which is the phrase Rainbow Coalition, 331 00:19:41,720 --> 00:19:45,600 Speaker 1: arguing again for a multiracial cooperative to address the entrenched 332 00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:51,560 Speaker 1: poverty of lower working class Chicago and more importantly, the 333 00:19:51,800 --> 00:19:56,760 Speaker 1: country as a whole. This was later taken up by 334 00:19:57,280 --> 00:19:59,680 Speaker 1: successive political pundits. 335 00:19:59,800 --> 00:20:05,240 Speaker 2: Right, yeah, it was really used. It morphed over time. 336 00:20:05,359 --> 00:20:07,560 Speaker 2: Let's say it did. It did. 337 00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:11,200 Speaker 1: And one thing I like about what you're pointing out 338 00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:15,600 Speaker 1: with the televised, with the televised, let's all get together, 339 00:20:15,840 --> 00:20:19,679 Speaker 1: cooperate overthrow the system, right, forget the g rides on 340 00:20:19,680 --> 00:20:23,600 Speaker 1: what the machines that are making them this. The BPP 341 00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:30,680 Speaker 1: did have a maoist or communists tinge to its ideology, 342 00:20:30,800 --> 00:20:33,960 Speaker 1: you know, and this made the idea of the Black 343 00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:38,280 Speaker 1: Panther Party a compounding threat, right, because we're still we're 344 00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:41,280 Speaker 1: in Cold War era at this point, and they were 345 00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:45,560 Speaker 1: essentially messing with the money. What happened this year, well, 346 00:20:45,640 --> 00:20:48,720 Speaker 1: at the very end of nineteen sixty nine, according to 347 00:20:48,760 --> 00:20:53,000 Speaker 1: the official story, Fred Hampton died in an apartment raid 348 00:20:53,960 --> 00:20:58,680 Speaker 1: searching for illegal weapons in the early hours of December fourth, 349 00:20:59,440 --> 00:21:04,120 Speaker 1: nineteen six sixty nine. The FBI saw themselves as protecting 350 00:21:04,119 --> 00:21:11,119 Speaker 1: the population, protecting the innocent population of Chicago, and officially 351 00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:15,440 Speaker 1: they were raiding a dangerous group that possessed ostensibly illegal weapons. 352 00:21:15,880 --> 00:21:21,359 Speaker 1: One more time, officially, that's what they were doing. It 353 00:21:21,359 --> 00:21:24,840 Speaker 1: should go without saying, but I'll say it not everyone 354 00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:25,639 Speaker 1: believes the story. 355 00:21:26,119 --> 00:21:28,240 Speaker 2: And we'll get into that story after a quick word 356 00:21:28,240 --> 00:21:36,280 Speaker 2: from our sponsor and we're back. And I just want 357 00:21:36,280 --> 00:21:40,640 Speaker 2: to point this out here. This is when Fred Hampton died. 358 00:21:41,040 --> 00:21:44,399 Speaker 2: Just as a fun fact. It was. It's not fun. 359 00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:48,920 Speaker 2: It was two months after the last confirmed Zodiac killing. Okay, 360 00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:49,640 Speaker 2: let's keep going. 361 00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:56,280 Speaker 1: Here's where it gets crazy. So the federal government sees 362 00:21:56,400 --> 00:21:59,920 Speaker 1: this and associated groups as a threat. They are terror 363 00:22:00,119 --> 00:22:06,520 Speaker 1: five of the idea of anything challenging the solvency of 364 00:22:06,840 --> 00:22:10,959 Speaker 1: the government, the breaking of the rule of law. So 365 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:14,600 Speaker 1: the question becomes how far would the US government go 366 00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:18,000 Speaker 1: to prevent what they saw as the spread of subversive elements? 367 00:22:18,160 --> 00:22:23,040 Speaker 1: Would they, in fact MI five style CIA style, break 368 00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:27,520 Speaker 1: the laws they were supposed to enforce in pursuit of 369 00:22:27,560 --> 00:22:33,720 Speaker 1: what they saw as a greater good. Evidence overwhelmingly indicates yes, 370 00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:38,160 Speaker 1: the FBI essentially engineered and assassination. 371 00:22:40,080 --> 00:22:45,119 Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's tough to look past the evidence, especially 372 00:22:45,160 --> 00:22:48,920 Speaker 2: if you look at the full picture here with something 373 00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:52,960 Speaker 2: we're about to get into a specific program. 374 00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:55,800 Speaker 1: Yes, yeap, yep, yep, which will be familiar to fellow 375 00:22:55,880 --> 00:22:59,640 Speaker 1: longtime listeners. Let's start with a guy named Mark O'Neil. 376 00:22:59,720 --> 00:23:01,960 Speaker 1: Will we'll go into detail about him in a moment. 377 00:23:03,119 --> 00:23:05,040 Speaker 1: What you need to know about Mark is that he 378 00:23:05,400 --> 00:23:08,359 Speaker 1: was in the BPP and associated with it, but he 379 00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:11,240 Speaker 1: was also for a part of the time an FBI infemant. 380 00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:15,280 Speaker 1: And on the night of December third, after a political 381 00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:20,640 Speaker 1: education session, Hampton and his girlfriend, who was pregnant, and 382 00:23:21,119 --> 00:23:25,919 Speaker 1: several of their associates went to this apartment where they 383 00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:26,920 Speaker 1: were going to spend the. 384 00:23:26,920 --> 00:23:31,439 Speaker 2: Night, and this guy, Mark O'Neill was functioning as security. 385 00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:35,920 Speaker 1: He also made dinner. Yeah, he made dinner, and he 386 00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:42,119 Speaker 1: drugged Fred Hampton with barbituates which prevented him from waking 387 00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:48,240 Speaker 1: up at all. Okay, yeah, yeah, he slept peacefully in 388 00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:52,760 Speaker 1: this bedroom with his girlfriend and the police when they 389 00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:58,000 Speaker 1: conducted the raid around four am or so, they came in, 390 00:23:58,080 --> 00:24:01,240 Speaker 1: guns blazing, right, and there was was it mark O'Neill? 391 00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:02,960 Speaker 1: Was he the one holding the shotgun? 392 00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:08,480 Speaker 2: Mark O'Neill was there, or at least for a time, yeah, 393 00:24:08,600 --> 00:24:10,720 Speaker 2: because again he set the entire thing up. 394 00:24:11,320 --> 00:24:16,919 Speaker 1: So the police shot security. Who was one guy with 395 00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:18,560 Speaker 1: a shotgun. They just shot him. 396 00:24:18,600 --> 00:24:19,680 Speaker 2: Yeah, that was not Mark Neil. 397 00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:21,439 Speaker 1: That was not Mark O'Neil. No, they just shot the 398 00:24:21,480 --> 00:24:27,000 Speaker 1: guy as he's dying. Shotgun discharges. It's the only shot 399 00:24:27,080 --> 00:24:31,600 Speaker 1: the BPP fired that night. And then they aimed their 400 00:24:31,640 --> 00:24:37,679 Speaker 1: fire on the bedroom where Hampton and his again pregnant girlfriend, 401 00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:41,840 Speaker 1: and again these people are in their twenties, right, Yeah, 402 00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:44,400 Speaker 1: where they shot a twenty one year old kid asleep 403 00:24:45,040 --> 00:24:47,640 Speaker 1: in a room. And you could claim fog of war. 404 00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:52,440 Speaker 1: You could claim best of intentions, or that the road 405 00:24:52,520 --> 00:24:58,600 Speaker 1: to Hell is paved with those kinds of tiles, or 406 00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:00,800 Speaker 1: you could claim this was part of something called co 407 00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:06,320 Speaker 1: intel pro, which it was. Just for the record, Yeah, 408 00:25:06,320 --> 00:25:07,280 Speaker 1: I want to put that out. 409 00:25:07,119 --> 00:25:10,120 Speaker 2: There, co intel pro. And you may be most familiar 410 00:25:10,160 --> 00:25:16,240 Speaker 2: with this word unfortunately slash kind of fortunately through the 411 00:25:16,240 --> 00:25:19,280 Speaker 2: work of Alex Jones, and you'll hear him yelling about 412 00:25:19,280 --> 00:25:22,880 Speaker 2: it on the internet sometimes. But yeah, co intel pro 413 00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:23,840 Speaker 2: it's an actual thing. 414 00:25:24,359 --> 00:25:27,560 Speaker 4: I was founded by the FBI in nineteen fifty six, 415 00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:30,400 Speaker 4: and it was just kind of a catch all term 416 00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:32,919 Speaker 4: for a counterintelligence program. Well, that's what was short for 417 00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:37,520 Speaker 4: a counter intelligence program that was designed to stop the 418 00:25:37,600 --> 00:25:41,359 Speaker 4: Communist Party initially, and then it began to kind of 419 00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:45,040 Speaker 4: branch off and attack some of these more domestic groups 420 00:25:45,520 --> 00:25:49,520 Speaker 4: that we talked about, including the Socialist Worker Party of course, 421 00:25:49,560 --> 00:25:51,679 Speaker 4: the Black Panthers, and any of the other splinter groups 422 00:25:51,680 --> 00:25:54,080 Speaker 4: that we've been talking about throughout, some of which were 423 00:25:54,160 --> 00:25:55,640 Speaker 4: quite dangerous and did pose a. 424 00:25:55,600 --> 00:25:59,479 Speaker 1: Threat also in their defense, the klu Klux Klan. Yeah, 425 00:25:59,800 --> 00:26:04,639 Speaker 1: they were hunting anything they saw as subversive. It's a 426 00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:08,000 Speaker 1: very bad time to be a vegan, just to give 427 00:26:08,040 --> 00:26:12,520 Speaker 1: you a sense of how rigid their ideology was. On 428 00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:14,000 Speaker 1: Uncle Sam's side. 429 00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:15,480 Speaker 2: Or an animal rights activist, oh. 430 00:26:15,440 --> 00:26:17,639 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, or an animal rights activist. 431 00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:20,800 Speaker 2: By the way, I watched Oh it's not animal rights. Sorry, 432 00:26:21,119 --> 00:26:24,120 Speaker 2: I watched this movie called Edge of Darkness last night. 433 00:26:24,160 --> 00:26:27,520 Speaker 2: It just happened to be on HBO when I was 434 00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:31,040 Speaker 2: just flipping through, and it was activists who were trying 435 00:26:31,080 --> 00:26:33,960 Speaker 2: to expose a nuclear weapons program. But it felt very 436 00:26:33,960 --> 00:26:36,840 Speaker 2: similar like the off the grade groups you know that 437 00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:38,600 Speaker 2: are functioning for a higher purpose. 438 00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:44,280 Speaker 1: Sure sure sure no credit cards, right, no credit card usage? 439 00:26:44,480 --> 00:26:47,639 Speaker 1: Watch out for your phone. It as GPS it's not 440 00:26:47,760 --> 00:26:51,560 Speaker 1: about the money. It's about sending a message. Okay, sorry, 441 00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:54,320 Speaker 1: I know I'm making crazy eyes at you. I just 442 00:26:55,160 --> 00:26:55,760 Speaker 1: I get it. 443 00:26:55,880 --> 00:26:57,160 Speaker 2: Yeah. 444 00:26:57,200 --> 00:27:02,439 Speaker 1: So the Panther Party wasn't originally part of the co 445 00:27:02,600 --> 00:27:05,919 Speaker 1: Intel pro targets, right, part of the FBI targets, but 446 00:27:06,040 --> 00:27:10,640 Speaker 1: by nineteen sixty eight, j Edgar Hoover himself considered them 447 00:27:10,680 --> 00:27:14,119 Speaker 1: to be quote the greatest threat to the internal security 448 00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:19,720 Speaker 1: of the country because he saw them as commis, right, 449 00:27:19,800 --> 00:27:27,240 Speaker 1: as communists, and additionally as people stirring up the pot, 450 00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:30,639 Speaker 1: you know, almost as insurgents. He saw it as a 451 00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:32,000 Speaker 1: potential insurgency. 452 00:27:32,080 --> 00:27:34,919 Speaker 2: Well, yeah, it goes back to that existential threat to 453 00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:38,880 Speaker 2: the United States because some of the philosophy and some 454 00:27:38,960 --> 00:27:42,720 Speaker 2: of the some of the truth that is being spoken 455 00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:46,960 Speaker 2: within these groups and being televised speaks to some of 456 00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:50,480 Speaker 2: the biggest problems that exist in the country at this 457 00:27:50,560 --> 00:27:55,480 Speaker 2: time from an inequality standpoint, and that's dangerous if you 458 00:27:55,520 --> 00:27:59,720 Speaker 2: get enough people to truly follow and believe, especially if 459 00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:02,280 Speaker 2: you have main parts of this group that are armed. Right, 460 00:28:02,280 --> 00:28:04,760 Speaker 2: I can imagine why jodgre Hoover and some of his 461 00:28:04,800 --> 00:28:08,320 Speaker 2: groups were terrified of this type of organization. 462 00:28:09,119 --> 00:28:12,919 Speaker 1: Yeah, and by nineteen sixty nine, the Panthers were, you know, 463 00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:16,600 Speaker 1: one of the primary targets steered by Hoover, and the 464 00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:24,440 Speaker 1: FBI attempted a number of nefarious strategies to weaken the group. 465 00:28:24,760 --> 00:28:27,639 Speaker 1: The FBI was primarily concerned with a sort of a 466 00:28:27,720 --> 00:28:31,879 Speaker 1: domino effect or an accretion, you know of similar groups 467 00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:35,679 Speaker 1: that got together and said, hey, you're on the same page. 468 00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:39,760 Speaker 1: You also understand the idea or you agree with us 469 00:28:40,200 --> 00:28:43,200 Speaker 1: with his idea. The proletariat right and the class struggle. 470 00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:46,840 Speaker 2: Yeah, let's all work together. That's dangerous for. 471 00:28:46,960 --> 00:28:49,560 Speaker 1: As long as it lasts. Yeah, yeah, I mean human 472 00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:52,480 Speaker 1: beings have been saying let's work together until one of 473 00:28:52,480 --> 00:28:54,920 Speaker 1: them stabs the other one in the back, like before 474 00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:58,120 Speaker 1: recorded history, probably before Homo sapiens. It's just sort of 475 00:28:58,160 --> 00:29:03,760 Speaker 1: our thing. So the fact that Fred Hampton was, as 476 00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:10,880 Speaker 1: you pointed out, Matt, this enormously compelling, brilliant speaker, this 477 00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:16,280 Speaker 1: unifying force. The fact that he had these capabilities made 478 00:29:16,360 --> 00:29:19,400 Speaker 1: him a target. It put the target on his back 479 00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:22,400 Speaker 1: as far as Uncle Sam was concerned, and especially the 480 00:29:22,480 --> 00:29:25,040 Speaker 1: age of twenty one, Yeah, especially being so young, like 481 00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:29,280 Speaker 1: you said, he's just beginning. And to prevent this growth 482 00:29:29,880 --> 00:29:37,160 Speaker 1: to stop him short, the FBI started surveilling Hampton and 483 00:29:37,200 --> 00:29:40,320 Speaker 1: his associates to the best of their ability. Wire tapping, 484 00:29:40,400 --> 00:29:44,360 Speaker 1: which listening to phone calls, infiltration, They were stealing the 485 00:29:44,400 --> 00:29:48,720 Speaker 1: guy's mail, they were reading his stuff. They attempted extortion, 486 00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:53,840 Speaker 1: they did more. I mean, this is an era of 487 00:29:53,920 --> 00:29:58,080 Speaker 1: domestic security where in this same government agency, the FBI 488 00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:02,600 Speaker 1: wrote letters to doctor Martin Luther King trying to convince 489 00:30:02,640 --> 00:30:03,520 Speaker 1: him to kill himself. 490 00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:06,800 Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, who, by the way, was assassinated just the 491 00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:09,120 Speaker 2: year prior to when Fred Hampton was killed. 492 00:30:09,240 --> 00:30:14,840 Speaker 1: Exactly exactly. There's an escalation. And at the time this 493 00:30:14,960 --> 00:30:17,040 Speaker 1: may sound like common knowledge to a lot of us 494 00:30:17,080 --> 00:30:22,320 Speaker 1: listening today. At the time, cointelpro was classified. 495 00:30:22,360 --> 00:30:23,720 Speaker 2: Nobody knew what was happening. 496 00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:29,240 Speaker 1: Nobody knew these operations were not public until nineteen seventy one. 497 00:30:29,360 --> 00:30:33,640 Speaker 1: And that's important because it means that during the early 498 00:30:33,720 --> 00:30:39,200 Speaker 1: morning hours December fourth, nineteen sixty nine, there was no 499 00:30:39,400 --> 00:30:44,400 Speaker 1: public scrutiny of the actions that the FBI and its 500 00:30:44,440 --> 00:30:50,719 Speaker 1: proxies local law enforcement chose to take. There was definitely 501 00:30:50,760 --> 00:30:52,400 Speaker 1: not congressional oversight. 502 00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:57,040 Speaker 2: Yeah, and even then, this is terrible to even think, 503 00:30:57,040 --> 00:31:00,120 Speaker 2: but even then, at the time if you look at Congress, 504 00:31:01,120 --> 00:31:05,200 Speaker 2: I mean, I can't, I can't say this is my opinion, 505 00:31:05,240 --> 00:31:07,840 Speaker 2: but I don't. I feel like congressional oversight wouldn't do 506 00:31:07,920 --> 00:31:12,880 Speaker 2: much for something like this unfortunately. Yeah, that's just that's 507 00:31:12,920 --> 00:31:14,760 Speaker 2: just my completely my opinion. 508 00:31:15,080 --> 00:31:18,440 Speaker 1: I agree with you. And one thing that this touches 509 00:31:18,520 --> 00:31:22,760 Speaker 1: on is something that's occurred in this government and other 510 00:31:22,800 --> 00:31:29,440 Speaker 1: governments quite often, which is the conflict between elected and 511 00:31:29,600 --> 00:31:34,320 Speaker 1: unelected officials. Right. You know, if you live in this 512 00:31:34,520 --> 00:31:37,600 Speaker 1: country and you are able to vote, you can vote 513 00:31:37,640 --> 00:31:41,320 Speaker 1: for a representative, you can vote for a president. You 514 00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:46,000 Speaker 1: cannot vote for a Supreme Court justice, those nine creepy 515 00:31:46,080 --> 00:31:49,520 Speaker 1: ring rates that run this place, and everybody still pretends 516 00:31:49,560 --> 00:31:53,200 Speaker 1: that's normal. Excuse me, different episodes, Yeah, or like you know, 517 00:31:53,440 --> 00:31:56,320 Speaker 1: people who are on the Federal reserve, people on the 518 00:31:56,320 --> 00:32:00,920 Speaker 1: federal reserve. Yeah, excellent point. So you, you and I 519 00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:06,200 Speaker 1: and anyone listening cannot directly vote for the heads of 520 00:32:06,200 --> 00:32:09,280 Speaker 1: intelligence agencies. That's never going to be on your ballot. 521 00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:14,800 Speaker 1: And presidents can come and go, but that is a different. 522 00:32:14,520 --> 00:32:17,760 Speaker 2: Game, you know what I mean. I'm getting creeped out. 523 00:32:18,320 --> 00:32:22,840 Speaker 1: You know, I'm passionate about this. I feel like I'm 524 00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:26,160 Speaker 1: preaching to the choir here, but it's true. And the 525 00:32:26,160 --> 00:32:30,120 Speaker 1: reason we bring that up is because I want to 526 00:32:30,160 --> 00:32:33,000 Speaker 1: be very clear that there are people in Congress but 527 00:32:33,120 --> 00:32:35,520 Speaker 1: the best of intentions, who had no idea what was 528 00:32:35,560 --> 00:32:37,720 Speaker 1: going on. Yes, you know what I mean. They were 529 00:32:37,760 --> 00:32:41,920 Speaker 1: concerned about their constituency, they were probably they were probably 530 00:32:41,920 --> 00:32:44,680 Speaker 1: mainly concerned with being re elected, if we're being honest, 531 00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:50,400 Speaker 1: but they would not have co signed these sorts of actions, 532 00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:53,680 Speaker 1: right because now, looking back, we have to ask ourselves 533 00:32:53,880 --> 00:32:57,600 Speaker 1: who were the terrorists who was engaging in guerrilla tactics 534 00:32:57,880 --> 00:33:02,280 Speaker 1: who successfully assassinated more people? Oh? I know, I know, 535 00:33:02,840 --> 00:33:07,280 Speaker 1: dang well, I'm just asking. I'm just asking this. This 536 00:33:07,320 --> 00:33:09,720 Speaker 1: stuff comes to a head in nineteen seventy six the 537 00:33:09,760 --> 00:33:13,280 Speaker 1: Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations, which is something you 538 00:33:13,400 --> 00:33:16,160 Speaker 1: hip me to years and years ago, Matt, the Church Committee. 539 00:33:16,240 --> 00:33:21,040 Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, they finally realize in seventy six that the 540 00:33:21,080 --> 00:33:23,800 Speaker 2: FBI was violating the law and had been violating the 541 00:33:23,880 --> 00:33:29,960 Speaker 2: law in several operations under co intel pro. Pretty rough stuff. 542 00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:33,440 Speaker 2: So the stated aim right of co intel pro when 543 00:33:33,720 --> 00:33:36,160 Speaker 2: they go into an office and they're like, okay, well 544 00:33:36,240 --> 00:33:37,880 Speaker 2: this is what contel pro is gonna do. We're going 545 00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:42,080 Speaker 2: to prevent violence, and that's really what it is. But 546 00:33:42,280 --> 00:33:44,440 Speaker 2: some of these the actions that they took during this 547 00:33:44,640 --> 00:33:49,920 Speaker 2: it arguably promoted violence between not not between the FBI 548 00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:52,600 Speaker 2: and other groups, but between the groups that the FBI 549 00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:56,840 Speaker 2: is surveilling under co intel Pro, specifically the Black Panthers 550 00:33:56,840 --> 00:34:01,239 Speaker 2: and several other rival organizations. We mentioned this in our 551 00:34:01,360 --> 00:34:04,160 Speaker 2: video that we made god years ago, I don't even 552 00:34:04,240 --> 00:34:07,040 Speaker 2: know when that was, but we talk about two other groups, 553 00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:10,200 Speaker 2: the United Slaves and the Blackstone Rangers, who are two 554 00:34:10,239 --> 00:34:14,960 Speaker 2: other I say similar groups, but they're very different in 555 00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:18,799 Speaker 2: many ways. But it's these two other groups were then 556 00:34:18,960 --> 00:34:22,160 Speaker 2: having major conflicts with the Black Panthers because of the 557 00:34:22,200 --> 00:34:23,720 Speaker 2: actions taken by the FBI. 558 00:34:24,320 --> 00:34:26,880 Speaker 1: Yes, and the FBI did not want these groups to 559 00:34:26,960 --> 00:34:29,440 Speaker 1: unify in the eyes of the In the eyes of 560 00:34:29,480 --> 00:34:32,720 Speaker 1: the bureau, these groups were similar enough that they should 561 00:34:32,719 --> 00:34:37,200 Speaker 1: be kept apart. They were considered trouble makers right and 562 00:34:37,719 --> 00:34:43,920 Speaker 1: the FBI also worked ardently to prevent prominent BPP members 563 00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:47,719 Speaker 1: from making public appearances. According to Noam Chompsky, who I 564 00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:50,320 Speaker 1: know it can be a controversial author for some people. 565 00:34:51,000 --> 00:34:56,759 Speaker 1: Cointelpro eventually expanded to include political assassinations. The reason we say, 566 00:34:56,840 --> 00:35:00,960 Speaker 1: according to nom Chomski, is because even today you will 567 00:35:02,600 --> 00:35:07,719 Speaker 1: quickly go down a rabbit hole of various you know what, 568 00:35:07,800 --> 00:35:10,640 Speaker 1: I'm going to call them apologetics. I'm gonna call them 569 00:35:10,719 --> 00:35:17,360 Speaker 1: various attempts at rationalization. Okay, of assassination. Okay, the official 570 00:35:17,440 --> 00:35:20,439 Speaker 1: story right here, we can just give you the blow 571 00:35:20,440 --> 00:35:23,560 Speaker 1: by blow back to the death of Fred Hampton. Supporters 572 00:35:23,600 --> 00:35:26,960 Speaker 1: of the party claimed Hampton was assassinated, and that the 573 00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:31,560 Speaker 1: government assassinated Hampton because they feared he could become a visible, 574 00:35:32,239 --> 00:35:37,160 Speaker 1: unifying leader and icon, a figurehead of the black power movement. 575 00:35:38,239 --> 00:35:39,600 Speaker 1: So how did he actually die? 576 00:35:40,120 --> 00:35:42,800 Speaker 2: We'll get to that right after a word from our sponsor. 577 00:35:48,640 --> 00:35:49,600 Speaker 1: And we're back. 578 00:35:50,520 --> 00:35:51,440 Speaker 2: In the early. 579 00:35:51,239 --> 00:35:56,480 Speaker 4: Morning hours of December fourth, nineteen sixty nine, eight Cook 580 00:35:56,520 --> 00:36:01,239 Speaker 4: County Police officers, who were acting under instructions from the 581 00:36:01,239 --> 00:36:06,280 Speaker 4: Cook County States Attorney's Office, approached the West Side Chicago 582 00:36:06,440 --> 00:36:11,480 Speaker 4: headquarters of the Black Panthers. As you might imagine in 583 00:36:11,520 --> 00:36:14,719 Speaker 4: a raid type situation, there was another group of officers 584 00:36:14,719 --> 00:36:19,200 Speaker 4: that approached from the back. Everyone inside was still asleep, 585 00:36:19,320 --> 00:36:24,040 Speaker 4: including Fred Hampton. Inside what was you say headquarters? And 586 00:36:24,080 --> 00:36:26,080 Speaker 4: it was really it was an apartment. It was a flat. 587 00:36:27,040 --> 00:36:30,239 Speaker 4: There were nine people still asleep. This is in the 588 00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:33,560 Speaker 4: very early morning hours before the sun had even risen. 589 00:36:33,920 --> 00:36:38,800 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's crowded apartment, first floor. Nineteen guns in the apartment, 590 00:36:39,800 --> 00:36:44,040 Speaker 1: more than a thousand rounds of ammunition. The way that 591 00:36:44,120 --> 00:36:48,200 Speaker 1: the Tribune reported the series of events was that this 592 00:36:48,480 --> 00:36:52,560 Speaker 1: was a national hate group known for their revolutionary politics, 593 00:36:52,640 --> 00:36:57,840 Speaker 1: more importantly for shooting police officers. There were cop killers. 594 00:36:57,920 --> 00:37:00,200 Speaker 1: That's how this was reported. 595 00:36:59,800 --> 00:37:02,239 Speaker 4: Right, Is there any sand to that, Like I mean, 596 00:37:02,360 --> 00:37:05,560 Speaker 4: is there maybe some kind of conflict between police and 597 00:37:05,560 --> 00:37:08,280 Speaker 4: Black Panthers that resulted and a police officer being killed, 598 00:37:08,440 --> 00:37:12,239 Speaker 4: and they spun it into these are cop murdering savages. 599 00:37:14,239 --> 00:37:17,759 Speaker 2: You know, I don't have the reporting right here with 600 00:37:17,880 --> 00:37:21,200 Speaker 2: me or the police reporting, but into my mind, for 601 00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:26,880 Speaker 2: the Chicago Tribune to print that for killing cops, I 602 00:37:26,920 --> 00:37:29,840 Speaker 2: would say that at least a few instances occurred. 603 00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:34,640 Speaker 1: Yeah, there are claims that there were thirty five police 604 00:37:34,680 --> 00:37:38,040 Speaker 1: officers who were murdered by the Black Panthers and the 605 00:37:38,080 --> 00:37:42,320 Speaker 1: subsequent Black Liberation Army across the sixties, seventies, and eighties. 606 00:37:42,480 --> 00:37:45,000 Speaker 1: So there were cops who did die. They were shot, 607 00:37:46,480 --> 00:37:50,160 Speaker 1: and it's important that we mentioned this. People were dying. 608 00:37:51,920 --> 00:37:56,280 Speaker 1: It's easy and tempting, perhaps for some people to get 609 00:37:56,320 --> 00:38:01,960 Speaker 1: caught in the game of equivocation. Yeah, or to forget 610 00:38:02,400 --> 00:38:05,759 Speaker 1: that there are actual human lives at stake, you know 611 00:38:05,760 --> 00:38:10,680 Speaker 1: what I mean. So we can only imagine that of 612 00:38:10,880 --> 00:38:13,600 Speaker 1: the six officers in the back door and the eight 613 00:38:13,680 --> 00:38:17,919 Speaker 1: officers in the front, several of them may have thought 614 00:38:17,960 --> 00:38:22,480 Speaker 1: they were on a mission of dare I say, vengeance? Right, So, 615 00:38:22,520 --> 00:38:25,440 Speaker 1: at about four forty five am, a sergeant Daniel Growth 616 00:38:25,560 --> 00:38:31,440 Speaker 1: knocked on the front door of the apartment. There was 617 00:38:31,600 --> 00:38:40,200 Speaker 1: no answer, so he knocked with his gun and presumably 618 00:38:40,239 --> 00:38:47,279 Speaker 1: shouted yeah. Presumably shouted yeah. Then they busted in the door. 619 00:38:47,960 --> 00:38:52,760 Speaker 1: The next seven minutes of gunfire become one of the 620 00:38:52,800 --> 00:38:57,960 Speaker 1: most intensely debated and disputed incidents of the entire decade. 621 00:38:58,160 --> 00:39:01,000 Speaker 4: Yeah, there was a federal grand jury instigation that found 622 00:39:01,040 --> 00:39:04,640 Speaker 4: that the police fired in the neighborhood of ranging between 623 00:39:04,680 --> 00:39:07,200 Speaker 4: eighty three to ninety shots. 624 00:39:07,560 --> 00:39:08,680 Speaker 2: Yeah, into this apartment. 625 00:39:08,760 --> 00:39:10,719 Speaker 4: And this is a small again, this is an apartment 626 00:39:10,960 --> 00:39:14,560 Speaker 4: in Chicago. This is gonna that would just be chaos. 627 00:39:14,800 --> 00:39:16,719 Speaker 4: I would fear for the lives of the neighbors. 628 00:39:17,120 --> 00:39:21,400 Speaker 1: And again the one of the nineteen guns in the 629 00:39:21,400 --> 00:39:26,279 Speaker 1: apartment owned by the VPP. One shotgun discharged once there 630 00:39:26,320 --> 00:39:27,320 Speaker 1: was one shot fired. 631 00:39:28,040 --> 00:39:31,720 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's pretty it's pretty rough, pretty damning. 632 00:39:32,000 --> 00:39:36,920 Speaker 1: Actually, after the shooting stopped, Fred Hampton was dead at 633 00:39:36,960 --> 00:39:41,239 Speaker 1: twenty one and a party leader from Peoria named Mark 634 00:39:41,280 --> 00:39:45,240 Speaker 1: Clark twenty two was also shot fatally. 635 00:39:45,800 --> 00:39:48,120 Speaker 4: And I believe the grand jury found that he was 636 00:39:48,160 --> 00:39:51,200 Speaker 4: the one who who discharged that one shotgun blast. 637 00:39:51,320 --> 00:39:54,239 Speaker 1: Right, he was as he was set to be security, right, 638 00:39:55,480 --> 00:40:01,080 Speaker 1: And now we returned to William O'Neill, Panther and informant. 639 00:40:02,080 --> 00:40:06,400 Speaker 1: People didn't originally know the extent of his involvement with 640 00:40:06,480 --> 00:40:07,440 Speaker 1: the FBI, isn't that. 641 00:40:07,480 --> 00:40:10,719 Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, it wasn't until so this occurred. The death 642 00:40:10,719 --> 00:40:14,920 Speaker 2: occurred in nineteen sixty nine, and his role wasn't revealed 643 00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:22,760 Speaker 2: until nineteen seventy three. And yeah, it's pretty rough actually. 644 00:40:23,400 --> 00:40:25,719 Speaker 2: So we mentioned that he was a member of the 645 00:40:25,760 --> 00:40:29,240 Speaker 2: Black Panther Party. He was on the inside working closely 646 00:40:29,280 --> 00:40:33,640 Speaker 2: with Fred Hampton as well as Mark Clark, and he 647 00:40:33,960 --> 00:40:39,080 Speaker 2: was simultaneously serving as an informant for the FBI. He 648 00:40:39,080 --> 00:40:43,160 Speaker 2: would send information to the FBI. And by the way, 649 00:40:43,200 --> 00:40:45,560 Speaker 2: he's a teenager at this time. He's a young guy 650 00:40:45,600 --> 00:40:48,080 Speaker 2: when he's starting out working with these guys. 651 00:40:48,160 --> 00:40:50,120 Speaker 1: It's a tragedy. These people were so young. 652 00:40:50,760 --> 00:40:55,520 Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. Among the things that he sent to the FBI, 653 00:40:56,160 --> 00:41:00,279 Speaker 2: the primary thing I guess that people focus on is 654 00:41:00,840 --> 00:41:04,720 Speaker 2: a floor plan for this apartment that was eventually raided. 655 00:41:05,760 --> 00:41:10,920 Speaker 2: His cover was blown and at one point there I 656 00:41:10,960 --> 00:41:14,439 Speaker 2: believe it was I believe it was seventy three when 657 00:41:14,440 --> 00:41:17,480 Speaker 2: his cover was blown, but I am not completely positive. 658 00:41:17,600 --> 00:41:20,120 Speaker 2: It might have been earlier than that. I do not, unfortunately, 659 00:41:20,160 --> 00:41:23,480 Speaker 2: have that specific information. But he ended up going into 660 00:41:23,480 --> 00:41:27,359 Speaker 2: the Federal Witness Protection Program. We can say it here. 661 00:41:27,680 --> 00:41:29,839 Speaker 2: His name at the time or when he went into 662 00:41:29,840 --> 00:41:32,719 Speaker 2: the program was William Hart, and he moved out to California, 663 00:41:33,600 --> 00:41:36,120 Speaker 2: and then eventually he moved back to Chicago in nineteen 664 00:41:36,160 --> 00:41:40,480 Speaker 2: eighty four. And the reason we're talking about O'Neil in 665 00:41:40,520 --> 00:41:44,200 Speaker 2: this way is because in January of nineteen ninety, on 666 00:41:44,600 --> 00:41:47,600 Speaker 2: Martin Luther King Junior Day, he actually took his own 667 00:41:47,640 --> 00:41:50,359 Speaker 2: life by running out into traffic. And we know this 668 00:41:50,480 --> 00:41:54,400 Speaker 2: because he had an uncle named Ben Hurd who was 669 00:41:54,440 --> 00:41:56,560 Speaker 2: with him that day. And his story is told by 670 00:41:56,600 --> 00:41:59,319 Speaker 2: the Chicago Reader and that's what we're reading about here, 671 00:41:59,320 --> 00:42:03,520 Speaker 2: and specifically, this guy ben Heard has some insight into 672 00:42:03,760 --> 00:42:04,680 Speaker 2: O'Neill's life. 673 00:42:05,040 --> 00:42:10,080 Speaker 1: Yes, he learned of O'Neill's work with the FBI shortly 674 00:42:10,120 --> 00:42:13,040 Speaker 1: after the death of Fred Hampton in nineteen sixty nine, 675 00:42:13,600 --> 00:42:21,840 Speaker 1: and per ben Heard, O'Neil denied everything that he was 676 00:42:21,880 --> 00:42:25,520 Speaker 1: asked about, and Heard says, I thought about some of 677 00:42:25,560 --> 00:42:27,480 Speaker 1: the things he did and said I asked him, but 678 00:42:27,520 --> 00:42:30,719 Speaker 1: he denied it. And then later O'Neil opened up, told 679 00:42:30,760 --> 00:42:34,680 Speaker 1: his uncle he'd been in trouble for everything from car 680 00:42:34,719 --> 00:42:38,799 Speaker 1: theft to kidnapping and torture and so on and listen, 681 00:42:38,880 --> 00:42:42,759 Speaker 1: pretty heavy things, pretty heavy things. Heard says that his 682 00:42:42,840 --> 00:42:45,560 Speaker 1: nephew told him they had tied someone up and were 683 00:42:45,560 --> 00:42:48,000 Speaker 1: pouring hot water over his head. They're trying to get 684 00:42:48,080 --> 00:42:51,440 Speaker 1: him to do something. So an FBI agent told O'Neil 685 00:42:51,760 --> 00:42:55,160 Speaker 1: he would take care of all of it if he 686 00:42:55,239 --> 00:42:59,200 Speaker 1: turned if he infiltrated the panthers, and Heard believe that 687 00:42:59,239 --> 00:43:02,000 Speaker 1: O'Neill had regrets, right. 688 00:43:01,920 --> 00:43:03,879 Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's pretty safe to say. 689 00:43:04,239 --> 00:43:06,160 Speaker 4: So he went on to say he was sorry that 690 00:43:06,200 --> 00:43:09,160 Speaker 4: he did what he ended up doing and that he 691 00:43:10,000 --> 00:43:14,080 Speaker 4: it was his impression that this was an FBI raid 692 00:43:14,480 --> 00:43:19,080 Speaker 4: of the house, But the FBI gave it over to 693 00:43:19,600 --> 00:43:23,440 Speaker 4: the state's attorney and then state police local law enforcement 694 00:43:23,719 --> 00:43:27,759 Speaker 4: took the reins. From there, they killed Fred Hampton and 695 00:43:28,880 --> 00:43:32,719 Speaker 4: in this person's estimation, and made sure that he was dead. 696 00:43:33,040 --> 00:43:38,040 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a crucial point here. O'Neil, according to his 697 00:43:38,080 --> 00:43:42,360 Speaker 1: own statements before his death, O'Neill thought this was just going. 698 00:43:42,280 --> 00:43:42,879 Speaker 2: To be a raid. 699 00:43:43,680 --> 00:43:47,680 Speaker 1: Maybe people would get arrested for possession of firearms or 700 00:43:47,719 --> 00:43:52,759 Speaker 1: some sort of violation of possession laws. Right, Maybe it 701 00:43:52,760 --> 00:43:57,680 Speaker 1: would have been a drug possession possibly, right. Heck, you know, 702 00:43:58,040 --> 00:43:59,880 Speaker 1: if they were looking for something, maybe it would have 703 00:43:59,880 --> 00:44:03,359 Speaker 1: been violation of the fire code. Yeah, I don't know. 704 00:44:03,719 --> 00:44:05,759 Speaker 2: I mean, the biggest thing is the firearms charges. You 705 00:44:05,800 --> 00:44:09,720 Speaker 2: probably have sent them to prison on just firearm charges. 706 00:44:11,320 --> 00:44:12,799 Speaker 2: But that's not how it went down. 707 00:44:13,040 --> 00:44:18,000 Speaker 1: Right, So from O'Neill's perspective. Now, as far as we 708 00:44:18,040 --> 00:44:22,480 Speaker 1: know today, O'Neill did not say that the FBI on 709 00:44:22,560 --> 00:44:26,879 Speaker 1: records say that the FBI lied to him, but they 710 00:44:27,000 --> 00:44:29,840 Speaker 1: did say originally that this was simply going to be 711 00:44:30,040 --> 00:44:35,600 Speaker 1: a raid. And he was with his nephew the morning 712 00:44:36,000 --> 00:44:44,759 Speaker 1: after the raid in Hampton's apartment and he saw the 713 00:44:45,280 --> 00:44:46,839 Speaker 1: he saw the aftermath. 714 00:44:47,160 --> 00:44:50,600 Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, so there were papers strown all over the floor, 715 00:44:50,680 --> 00:44:53,719 Speaker 2: blood all over. There was a trail of blood from 716 00:44:53,760 --> 00:44:57,400 Speaker 2: where they the police had dragged Fred's body and William 717 00:44:57,400 --> 00:45:01,279 Speaker 2: O'Neil in this case, Bill, he says, just stood there 718 00:45:01,320 --> 00:45:05,080 Speaker 2: in shock and he never thought it would come to this, 719 00:45:05,280 --> 00:45:08,960 Speaker 2: like all of his involvement with the FBI, like we 720 00:45:09,040 --> 00:45:11,080 Speaker 2: keep saying, he didn't think it would be a massacre. 721 00:45:11,320 --> 00:45:14,440 Speaker 2: And that's only to speak to this person who has 722 00:45:14,480 --> 00:45:20,320 Speaker 2: been i guess reviled throughout history now at this point 723 00:45:20,760 --> 00:45:23,560 Speaker 2: as being the guy that set up Fred Hampton painted 724 00:45:23,600 --> 00:45:27,000 Speaker 2: as Judas. Yeah, and you know, there's two sides of it. 725 00:45:27,000 --> 00:45:29,319 Speaker 2: In a way, he was, but in another way, he 726 00:45:29,360 --> 00:45:30,200 Speaker 2: didn't understand. 727 00:45:30,760 --> 00:45:34,480 Speaker 1: And to be very clear, to be crystal clear, the 728 00:45:34,680 --> 00:45:43,120 Speaker 1: FBI actively conspired to assassinate, or to neutralize, at the 729 00:45:43,239 --> 00:45:47,120 Speaker 1: very least a twenty one year old boy for his 730 00:45:47,160 --> 00:45:50,080 Speaker 1: political beliefs because they saw it as a threat to 731 00:45:50,120 --> 00:45:53,359 Speaker 1: both the economic and the racial or social status quo 732 00:45:53,640 --> 00:45:57,160 Speaker 1: of the United States. This also occurred during the Vietnam era, 733 00:45:57,440 --> 00:46:00,320 Speaker 1: wherein Hampton and many others like him would be lumped 734 00:46:00,400 --> 00:46:06,640 Speaker 1: together as potentially existential threats to the solvency of the nation, right, 735 00:46:06,719 --> 00:46:11,440 Speaker 1: because this is again this stuff sounds so crazy. It 736 00:46:11,440 --> 00:46:15,080 Speaker 1: sounds like people getting in a bubble and getting carried away. 737 00:46:15,120 --> 00:46:16,440 Speaker 1: This bubble was real. 738 00:46:16,880 --> 00:46:18,879 Speaker 4: Yeah, I think there was something in the outline here, 739 00:46:18,880 --> 00:46:21,280 Speaker 4: Ben that you didn't end up saying. But our buddies, 740 00:46:21,320 --> 00:46:23,319 Speaker 4: the culture Kings, have a phrase they use where it's 741 00:46:23,320 --> 00:46:26,520 Speaker 4: talking about messing with the money. And that's when the 742 00:46:26,560 --> 00:46:30,759 Speaker 4: government starts really paying attention, you know, when I get 743 00:46:30,960 --> 00:46:34,440 Speaker 4: upsetting the apple cart in a way that affects economics. 744 00:46:34,640 --> 00:46:37,040 Speaker 1: I did put that in and yes, in a shout 745 00:46:37,080 --> 00:46:41,360 Speaker 1: out to Jaikis and Edgar. I didn't originally say it 746 00:46:41,400 --> 00:46:44,479 Speaker 1: because I think we still owe them a song. 747 00:46:45,320 --> 00:46:48,279 Speaker 4: We do, and I'm gonna I'm going to at least 748 00:46:48,560 --> 00:46:50,840 Speaker 4: make the track for this next one. I don't claim 749 00:46:50,880 --> 00:46:53,720 Speaker 4: to be see, but I can definitely make some beats. 750 00:46:54,000 --> 00:46:56,360 Speaker 4: So let's yes, let's I commit to that. You're great 751 00:46:56,360 --> 00:46:59,480 Speaker 4: at that too, Thanks for the gift, fantastic. 752 00:46:59,160 --> 00:47:01,480 Speaker 2: MC, I say put out in twenty twenty just to 753 00:47:01,560 --> 00:47:02,960 Speaker 2: surprise amount of nowhere. Yeah. 754 00:47:03,000 --> 00:47:04,160 Speaker 1: Oh, and call it hindsight. 755 00:47:04,280 --> 00:47:06,319 Speaker 4: Yeah, and we know they don't listen to the show, 756 00:47:06,360 --> 00:47:07,320 Speaker 4: so it's gonna be abo. 757 00:47:08,239 --> 00:47:10,120 Speaker 1: We should have them back on. I had a lot 758 00:47:10,120 --> 00:47:12,320 Speaker 1: of fun in the Michael Jordan episode. 759 00:47:12,320 --> 00:47:13,880 Speaker 4: Oh I wasn't around for that one, that's right. I 760 00:47:13,880 --> 00:47:15,480 Speaker 4: forgot they were on. Maybe they did listen to the show. 761 00:47:15,480 --> 00:47:16,040 Speaker 4: What am I saying? 762 00:47:16,040 --> 00:47:17,880 Speaker 2: Hey, guys, I was gonna say, you missed out. It 763 00:47:17,920 --> 00:47:19,520 Speaker 2: was actually really great. I'm sure it was. 764 00:47:19,719 --> 00:47:23,719 Speaker 1: They're great people as far as we know. They are 765 00:47:23,760 --> 00:47:29,359 Speaker 1: not elements of co Intel Pro. True, and hopefully either 766 00:47:29,400 --> 00:47:32,960 Speaker 1: of you guys. But it's like witch hunt rules, right, Like, 767 00:47:34,000 --> 00:47:36,680 Speaker 1: if you tell me you're not, that's more evidence that 768 00:47:36,800 --> 00:47:37,080 Speaker 1: you are. 769 00:47:37,480 --> 00:47:39,560 Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you'd have to say no. 770 00:47:40,040 --> 00:47:41,960 Speaker 4: And it's also, I'm sure we've said this before, a 771 00:47:42,000 --> 00:47:44,160 Speaker 4: complete myth that if you ask an undercover cop, if 772 00:47:44,200 --> 00:47:46,480 Speaker 4: they're an undercover cop, they don't have to tell you. 773 00:47:47,000 --> 00:47:50,759 Speaker 1: It's a total myth. They can commit crimes with you. Yeah, 774 00:47:51,239 --> 00:47:53,479 Speaker 1: it's in my five rules for sure. And people would 775 00:47:53,480 --> 00:47:57,000 Speaker 1: say that's for greater good, And that's the argument, right 776 00:47:57,080 --> 00:48:01,640 Speaker 1: that I'm succeeded in pitching co Intel pro and in 777 00:48:01,800 --> 00:48:05,680 Speaker 1: violating the laws and the rights of US citizens. 778 00:48:06,520 --> 00:48:10,520 Speaker 5: And taking the lives and taking the lives taking the 779 00:48:10,560 --> 00:48:15,120 Speaker 5: one thing that cannot be returned, and to this day, 780 00:48:15,640 --> 00:48:20,000 Speaker 5: officially the FBI, the Justice Department, the Chicago Police Force, 781 00:48:20,400 --> 00:48:23,800 Speaker 5: they reject claims of political skullduggery. 782 00:48:24,480 --> 00:48:29,000 Speaker 1: They say that the raid was unfortunate, it was not 783 00:48:29,080 --> 00:48:32,360 Speaker 1: the ideal outcome, but on their side, it was conducted 784 00:48:32,600 --> 00:48:35,279 Speaker 1: correctly into the letter of the law. We're conducting a 785 00:48:35,400 --> 00:48:40,080 Speaker 1: raid to find illegal firearms to neutralize a threat. In 786 00:48:40,200 --> 00:48:43,800 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy one, however, an activist group called the Citizens 787 00:48:43,840 --> 00:48:48,640 Speaker 1: Commissioned to Investigate the FBI stole co intel Pro documents. 788 00:48:48,680 --> 00:48:52,439 Speaker 1: They stole the paperwork from a field office. And this 789 00:48:52,520 --> 00:48:55,600 Speaker 1: is how, this is how co intel Pro became a 790 00:48:55,640 --> 00:49:00,680 Speaker 1: public thing. Had they not conducted that raid, you see 791 00:49:00,719 --> 00:49:04,200 Speaker 1: the parallels here. Have they not conducted that illegal raid, 792 00:49:04,719 --> 00:49:08,720 Speaker 1: then it is possible, if not plausible, that co intel 793 00:49:08,719 --> 00:49:11,279 Speaker 1: Pro would remain a myth and. 794 00:49:11,280 --> 00:49:16,240 Speaker 2: A rumor and a conspiracy theory, an unproven conspiracy theory 795 00:49:16,320 --> 00:49:17,080 Speaker 2: even today. 796 00:49:17,239 --> 00:49:19,920 Speaker 1: Yes, in April of the same year. By the way, 797 00:49:19,920 --> 00:49:23,040 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy one, the FBI officially terminated cointel Pro. 798 00:49:23,160 --> 00:49:26,560 Speaker 1: Yet numerous critics of the US government believe that programs 799 00:49:26,640 --> 00:49:31,279 Speaker 1: like this never really go away. The name's change. But 800 00:49:31,680 --> 00:49:35,480 Speaker 1: like Doctor Manhattan says in Watchmen, nothing nothing ever ends. 801 00:49:35,719 --> 00:49:38,800 Speaker 4: Oh yeah, have you guys seen there's a Watchman series 802 00:49:38,840 --> 00:49:42,600 Speaker 4: that's coming to HBO. It looks a lot less shiny 803 00:49:42,800 --> 00:49:44,080 Speaker 4: than the Zack Snyder movie. 804 00:49:44,920 --> 00:49:45,560 Speaker 2: Less shiny. 805 00:49:45,719 --> 00:49:46,720 Speaker 1: Yeah, I felt like the Zach. 806 00:49:46,600 --> 00:49:49,000 Speaker 4: Snyder movie was a little like overly. 807 00:49:50,280 --> 00:49:52,360 Speaker 1: Polished every scene of painting. 808 00:49:52,440 --> 00:49:55,120 Speaker 4: Yeah, kind of this one, like what's his name? Rorschach's 809 00:49:55,160 --> 00:49:57,279 Speaker 4: mask is literally just like a sack with kind of 810 00:49:57,360 --> 00:50:00,840 Speaker 4: like you know, well, their prequels, right, I think maybe no, 811 00:50:00,920 --> 00:50:02,320 Speaker 4: I think it's the I don't I don't know. I 812 00:50:02,480 --> 00:50:03,200 Speaker 4: don't think it's. 813 00:50:04,680 --> 00:50:04,839 Speaker 2: Right. 814 00:50:04,880 --> 00:50:05,799 Speaker 1: I don't know that it is. 815 00:50:05,920 --> 00:50:08,239 Speaker 4: I think it's I think it might even be either 816 00:50:08,320 --> 00:50:11,320 Speaker 4: a deeper exploration of the series with more of that, 817 00:50:11,400 --> 00:50:14,160 Speaker 4: because come on, you need more than a movie to 818 00:50:14,239 --> 00:50:17,000 Speaker 4: really like go deep into that book, right, there's so 819 00:50:17,120 --> 00:50:17,840 Speaker 4: much stuff. 820 00:50:17,560 --> 00:50:18,600 Speaker 1: In there that they couldn't put in. 821 00:50:18,719 --> 00:50:21,080 Speaker 2: Dude, I just rewatched it, and he holds up. 822 00:50:21,120 --> 00:50:21,759 Speaker 1: I didn't like it. 823 00:50:21,840 --> 00:50:23,680 Speaker 2: I don't know. I loved it, like it? 824 00:50:23,840 --> 00:50:24,080 Speaker 1: Love it? 825 00:50:24,239 --> 00:50:26,200 Speaker 2: You love this, okay, all right? I don't know, And 826 00:50:26,239 --> 00:50:27,560 Speaker 2: maybe it is just a nostalgia. 827 00:50:27,680 --> 00:50:29,520 Speaker 4: I think the reason for me was that that was 828 00:50:29,560 --> 00:50:31,719 Speaker 4: such a formative graphic. That was the first graphic novel 829 00:50:31,719 --> 00:50:33,080 Speaker 4: I ever read where I was like, oh, I see 830 00:50:33,080 --> 00:50:35,640 Speaker 4: what graphic novels can accomplish, And it was just like 831 00:50:35,719 --> 00:50:37,400 Speaker 4: mind blowing to me. So I felt like it was 832 00:50:37,520 --> 00:50:40,279 Speaker 4: very sacred to me and to see someone try to 833 00:50:40,280 --> 00:50:41,800 Speaker 4: do I felt like it was a valiant effort. But 834 00:50:41,800 --> 00:50:44,480 Speaker 4: I also didn't really care for Zack Snyder's style anyway. 835 00:50:44,680 --> 00:50:47,799 Speaker 1: Alan Moore hated it. Yeah, yeah, Alan Moore is like, 836 00:50:47,960 --> 00:50:48,720 Speaker 1: I don't think he watched. 837 00:50:48,719 --> 00:50:52,600 Speaker 4: He probably didn't even know he he he he uh 838 00:50:52,880 --> 00:50:57,200 Speaker 4: does write excellent comics for fun, but I think it's. 839 00:50:56,960 --> 00:51:01,319 Speaker 1: To support his main hobby is me passion, which is 840 00:51:01,560 --> 00:51:02,480 Speaker 1: just hating stuff. 841 00:51:02,719 --> 00:51:08,040 Speaker 2: Oh geez. It's just interestingly enough here in this show 842 00:51:08,120 --> 00:51:10,920 Speaker 2: is not brought to you by Watchman or HBO. Just 843 00:51:11,040 --> 00:51:13,080 Speaker 2: so you know that if you go to HBO dot 844 00:51:13,120 --> 00:51:16,360 Speaker 2: com slash Watchman, the first thing you see is nothing 845 00:51:16,400 --> 00:51:17,200 Speaker 2: ever ends. 846 00:51:19,200 --> 00:51:22,800 Speaker 4: Yeah, and the little blurb. Oh and Trent Reznor and 847 00:51:22,840 --> 00:51:26,160 Speaker 4: Atticus Ross doing the music. That's pretty dope. And it's 848 00:51:26,200 --> 00:51:30,880 Speaker 4: a show run by Damon Lindeloff, who I believe did Lost. 849 00:51:31,760 --> 00:51:37,520 Speaker 1: That's correct, along with jj Abrams and unlike doctor Manhattan's quote, 850 00:51:37,600 --> 00:51:41,480 Speaker 1: unlike his observation in the fictional world of Watchman, this 851 00:51:42,320 --> 00:51:45,560 Speaker 1: love it or hate it is the reality in which 852 00:51:45,600 --> 00:51:48,799 Speaker 1: we have collectively lived for the span of this episode, 853 00:51:49,160 --> 00:51:52,600 Speaker 1: and some things do end, namely this episode, but not 854 00:51:52,760 --> 00:51:56,640 Speaker 1: our show. We hope that you enjoyed this cursory journey 855 00:51:56,719 --> 00:52:06,160 Speaker 1: into the murky murky, morally problematic, ethically bankrupt world of 856 00:52:06,760 --> 00:52:12,040 Speaker 1: domestic intelligence. We hope that, regardless of whether or not 857 00:52:12,160 --> 00:52:16,440 Speaker 1: you agree with the views of various groups mentioned in 858 00:52:16,480 --> 00:52:18,920 Speaker 1: this show, we hope that you can agree that the 859 00:52:19,000 --> 00:52:22,560 Speaker 1: loss of any human life is a tragedy. We also 860 00:52:22,719 --> 00:52:27,359 Speaker 1: want to know if you think Cointelpro really ended, do 861 00:52:27,440 --> 00:52:30,480 Speaker 1: you think it's still around, and if so, in what iteration? 862 00:52:31,360 --> 00:52:37,720 Speaker 1: Do you have a story or a particularly suspicious death 863 00:52:37,840 --> 00:52:41,040 Speaker 1: that you think deserves more attention. Let us know. You 864 00:52:41,040 --> 00:52:43,360 Speaker 1: can find us on Facebook, you can find us on Instagram, 865 00:52:43,440 --> 00:52:47,280 Speaker 1: you can find us on Twitter. We are conspiracy stuff 866 00:52:47,280 --> 00:52:50,000 Speaker 1: at any number of those, and you can meet the 867 00:52:50,040 --> 00:52:52,959 Speaker 1: best part of the show, your fellow listeners on our 868 00:52:53,080 --> 00:52:57,319 Speaker 1: Facebook community page. Here's where it gets crazy. Matt will not, 869 00:52:57,640 --> 00:53:03,200 Speaker 1: for various reasons, on sketchy reasons, reveal his personal Instagram Noel, 870 00:53:03,239 --> 00:53:05,160 Speaker 1: and I will I am at Ben. 871 00:53:05,000 --> 00:53:08,000 Speaker 4: Bowling and I'm at Embryonic Insider. And if I'm not mistaken, Matt, 872 00:53:08,040 --> 00:53:10,400 Speaker 4: you sort of dropped a few clues last time. You're 873 00:53:10,400 --> 00:53:11,759 Speaker 4: gonna keep it on the DL like that. 874 00:53:12,239 --> 00:53:16,480 Speaker 2: I am at an egg shaped object, the Twitter egg. 875 00:53:16,960 --> 00:53:20,759 Speaker 1: You're just the Twitter me, the whole anonymous Twitter user. 876 00:53:20,960 --> 00:53:24,839 Speaker 1: But what if somebody doesn't care for the Internet, you guys. 877 00:53:24,480 --> 00:53:27,440 Speaker 4: Well then I don't know how you're getting by in 878 00:53:27,520 --> 00:53:28,560 Speaker 4: life these days. 879 00:53:28,600 --> 00:53:30,120 Speaker 1: But no, you know what, that's not true. 880 00:53:30,200 --> 00:53:37,000 Speaker 4: There are ways you can there's telephony telophany to tellophany, remember. 881 00:53:36,840 --> 00:53:41,920 Speaker 2: You guys know, telophany, telophany, telophany jones, that's what. 882 00:53:41,880 --> 00:53:42,640 Speaker 1: They used to call it. 883 00:53:42,680 --> 00:53:44,200 Speaker 4: You guys back in the day, remember when, like the 884 00:53:44,280 --> 00:53:45,759 Speaker 4: early days of the Internet, where there would be like 885 00:53:45,800 --> 00:53:50,200 Speaker 4: a telephone teleophony suite in a like Prodigy or something 886 00:53:50,200 --> 00:53:52,040 Speaker 4: where you can make phone calls through the computer. 887 00:53:52,239 --> 00:53:56,359 Speaker 1: It was crazy phony literally phony web. 888 00:53:56,719 --> 00:53:59,600 Speaker 2: And that's the end of this classic episode. If you 889 00:53:59,640 --> 00:54:03,640 Speaker 2: have any any thoughts or questions about this episode, you 890 00:54:03,680 --> 00:54:05,680 Speaker 2: can get into contact with us in a number of 891 00:54:05,760 --> 00:54:07,839 Speaker 2: different ways. One of the best is to give us 892 00:54:07,840 --> 00:54:12,440 Speaker 2: a call. Our number is one eight three three STDWYTK. 893 00:54:12,840 --> 00:54:14,640 Speaker 2: If you don't want to do that, you can send 894 00:54:14,719 --> 00:54:16,120 Speaker 2: us a good old fashioned email. 895 00:54:16,360 --> 00:54:20,480 Speaker 3: We are conspiracy at iHeartRadio dot com. 896 00:54:20,680 --> 00:54:22,720 Speaker 2: Stuff they don't want you to know is a production 897 00:54:22,840 --> 00:54:27,359 Speaker 2: of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 898 00:54:27,440 --> 00:54:30,320 Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.