The Murder of Fred Hampton (1971)

Fred Hampton: Self

Photos 

Quotes 

• Fred Hampton : I'm the Deputy Chairman of the State of Illinois, Black Panther Party, Fred Hampton. I have the pleasure now to introduce who I believe is one of the baddest muthafuckers in the world.

• Fred Hampton : You can jail revolutionaries, but you can't jail a revolution. Right. You might run a liberator like Eldridge Cleaver out of the country, but you can't run liberation out of the country. You might murder a freedom fighter like Bobby Hutton, but you can't murder freedom fightin'. And if you do, you come up with answers that don't answer, explanations that don't explain, you come up with conclusions that don't conclude.

• Fred Hampton : School is not important and work is not important. Nothing is more important than stopping fascism. Because, fascism will stop us all.

• Fred Hampton : Black people needs some peace. White people needs some peace. And we are going to fight. We are going to have to struggle. We're going to have to snuggle religiously, to bring about some peace. Because the people who we are asking for peace, are a bunch of meglomaniac warmongers and they don't even understand what peace means. And we've got to fight 'em. We got to struggle with 'em to make them understand what peace means.

• Fred Hampton : Without education you have neocolonialism instead of colonialism, like you got in Africa now, like you got in Haiti.

• Fred Hampton : They were talkin' about giving me 20 years - for an ice cream truck robbery. That's right. Seventy-one dollars worth of ice cream, 710 ice cream bars. I might be big, but I can't eat 710 ice cream bars.

• Fred Hampton : We'll blow their brains out - if they bother the people.

• Fred Hampton : They want to get rid of me because I'm sayin' something that might wake up some other exploited people.

• Fred Hampton : The Black Panther Party said, we don't care what anybody says, we don't think you fight fire with fire, we think you fight fire with water, bitch.

• Fred Hampton : We always say at the Black Panther Party, that they can do anything they want to - to us. We might not be back. I might be in jail. I might be anywhere. But, when I leave, you can remember I said, with the last words on my lips: I am - a revolutionary. And you will have to keep on sayin' that. You're going to have to say that I am a a proletariat. I am the people. I'm not the pig. You got to make a distinction. And the people are going to have to attack the pigs. The people are going to have to stand up against the pigs. That's what the Panthers are doing and that's what the Panthers are doing all over the world.

• Fred Hampton : Muthafucker, you went to far. You dig? Because, I got my gun, muthafucker and you got yours. And if you try to shoot me with your gun, muthufucker, if you try to take my gun, well, then, I had to blow your muthafuckin' brains out.

• Fred Hampton : We say we're not going to fight capitalism with black capitalism; but, we going to fight it with socialism.

• Fred Hampton : No matter what color you are, there are only two classes. And that's saying there's a class over here and there's a class over there. And the reason that this class over here has never did anything to get this class off his back; because, this is lower, this is upper. This is the oppressed, this is the oppressor. This is the exploited, this is the exploiter. And these people in this class has divided themselves. I'm black and I hate white people. I'm white and I hate black people. I'm Latin American and I hate hillbillies. I'm hillbilly and I hate Indians. So, we fight amongst each other.

• Fred Hampton : You got pigs of all colors, you know that. You got pigs that are white. You got pigs that's black. You even got pigs that are black and white.

• Fred Hampton : Black power for black people.

• Fred Hampton : Why don't you live for the people. Why don't you struggle for the people. Why don't you die for the struggle.

• Fred Hampton : You have to understand that people have to pay the price for peace. If you dare to struggle, you dare to win. If you dare not struggle, then, God damn it, you don't deserve to win. Let me say peace to you, if you're willing to fight for it.

• Fred Hampton : Like we always said, if you're asked to make a commitment at the age of 20 and you say, "I don't want to make a commitment, only because of the simple reason that I'm too young to die, I want to live a little bit longer." What you did is, you're dead already.

• Fred Hampton : I don't believe that I'm going to die in a car wreck. I don't believe that I'm going to die slipping on a piece of ice. I don't believe that I'm going to die because I got a bad heart. I don't believe I'm going to die because of lung cancer. I believe that I'm going to be able to die for doing the things I was born for. I believe that I'm going to be able to die high off the people. I believe that I will be able to die as a revolutionary in the International Revolutionary Proletarian Struggle. And I hope that each one of you will be able to die in the International Proletarian Revolutionary Struggle or you'll be able to live in it. And I think that struggle's going to come.

• Fred Hampton : I think I'm speakin' for the whole Party of the State of Illinois. I know I am, when I said that we love Huey P. Newton.

  Audience : Right on!

  Fred Hampton : We love Eldridge Cleaver.

  Audience : Right on!

  Fred Hampton : We love Bobby Hutton.

  Audience : Right on!

  Fred Hampton : And we love the Black Panther Party.

  Audience : Right on!

  Fred Hampton : And love Chairman Bobby Seale.

  Audience : Right on!

  Fred Hampton : We love them because they first ones who took a stand against capitalism and racism and said we are fighting till the end. We said we're drawing the line somewhere, muthafucker. If you try to pass us, we'll blow your brains out.

• Fred Hampton : Pappa Doc in Haiti hated everything whitey. Man, you couldn't put this white paper in front of Pappa Doc's face. But, he moved all the white people out and he took over the oppression, he did. Because, no education. If the people had been educated, they'd have said, we don't hate the muthafucker white people, we hate the oppressor, whether he be white, black, brown or yellow.

• Fred Hampton : There has to be an educational program - that's very important. As a matter of fact, it is so important to us that a person has to go through six weeks of our political education before we can consider himself a member of the Party, able to even run our ideology for the Party. Why? Because if they don't have an education, then, they're nowhere. You dig what I'm sayin'? They're nowhere; because, they don't even know why they doin' what they doin'. You might get people caught up in the emotions of the movement. You understand me? You might get them caught up because they're poor and they want something. And then if he's not educated, they'll want more and before you know it, they'll be capitalist and before you know it we'll have negro imperialism.

• Fred Hampton : If you ever think about me, niggers and if you ain't gonna do no revolutionary act, forget about me. I don't want myself on your mind, if you're not going to work for the people.