48th anniversary of the assassination of Illinois Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton, and Defense Captain Mark Clark observed in Chicago. (Fight Back! News/staff)

Chicago, IL – Dec. 4 marked the 48th anniversary of the assassination of Illinois Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton, and Defense Captain Mark Clark. They died in a predawn raid by a joint operation of the Chicago Police Department, Cook County State's Attorney's Office and the FBI.

Every year since 2001, people in solidarity with the Black liberation struggle gather at 2337 W Monroe Street to join Hampton’s son, Chairman Fred, Jr., Hampton’s widow, Comrade Mother Akua Njeri and the Black Panther Party Cubs in observing International Revolutionary Day (IRD) in remembrance of Fred Hampton’s contributions to the struggle.

In 1969, Hampton was organizing revolutionary education campaigns, serve the people programs and working for unity around street organizations (‘gangs’). The FBI was implementing their Counterintelligence Program (COINTELPRO) against the Panthers.

COINTELPRO and the state's war against the Black liberation movement was the theme of Chairman Fred, Jr.'s statement for IRD 2017. The statement read in part, “the Oct. 21 position by President Trump to release the long-blocked and classified JFK files, although redacted, not only opens for an objective re-analysis of the Kennedy era, its respective administration and subsequent assassination of then-President John F. Kennedy…from the perspective of a people, who have in particular been subjected to attacks, assaults, as well as assassinations, deem it pertinent to seize the time to recall the policies, positions, and practices implemented on the Black community today, yesterday, and proceeding into the future, in particular those which were responsible for the military defeat of the Black Power movement of the 1960s, the infamous COINTELPRO.”

The statement added, “We call on that same administration that acknowledged the Kennedy files be re-opened to release the COINTELPRO files - release 'em all!”