They Sold Us Out: Hijacking the Revolution — Fred Hampton Jr. Silenced at Commemoration of His Father’s Murder Site

July 27, 2025 | John Kugler |
July 27, 2025 | John Kugler |

On July 26, 2025, Chicago politicians and nonprofit allies gathered outside a Walgreens at 2350 W. Madison Street to unveil a historical plaque marking the former Illinois Black Panther Party headquarters.

Billed as a tribute to radical resistance, the event excluded the most direct living link to that history: Fred Hampton Jr., the son of the slain revolutionary leader.

The site, on the block of the apartment where Fred Hampton and Mark Clark were assassinated in a 1969 FBI–Chicago Police raid, was the first of 13 planned markers along what organizers are calling the Black Panther Party Heritage Trail.

The ceremony was fronted by city-approved dignitaries: Cook County Commissioner and CTU Employee Tara Stamps, Aldermen Walter Burnett Jr. and Desmon Yancy, and Fredrika Newton, widow of Panther co-founder Huey P. Newton.

Fred Hampton Jr., a former political prisoner and lifelong activist, was not on the program. He wasn’t invited to speak.

He showed up anyway.

In a confrontation captured on video, Hampton Jr. challenged the legitimacy of the event and its organizers, calling them “hijackers of history” and accusing them of selling out the revolutionary legacy for state-sanctioned pageantry and nonprofit grants.

“No investigation, no right to speak,” he repeated, invoking Maoist principles and Black Panther teachings.

“If you understood, you’d be on the right side of history.”

The clash laid bare deep contradictions: city officials praising the Panthers while aligning with the very institutions that destroyed them; a legacy of liberation co-opted by bureaucrats and career politicians; and media outlets, like the Chicago Sun-Times—partly owned by the Chicago Teachers Union—portraying Hampton Jr. as a disruptor who “crashed” the event.

As tension peaked, chants of “We love you, Fred” rose from the crowd.

The call was led by none other than former Black Panther Bobby Rush, now fully integrated into the political machine.

Hampton Jr. walked away excluded, but unbroken.

Outside the scripted tributes and symbolic plaques, the site remains what it has always been: the ground where revolution was met with state violence.

The original apartment at 2337 W. Monroe where Hampton and Clark were killed is gone—demolished. A sanitized monument now stands a few blocks way where real blood once spilled.

Hampton Jr.’s message, broadcast across social media and from the crowd itself, was not just about exclusion. It was a warning.

“We’re already losing our land,” one supporter said. “They sold us out already.”

Others spoke of years of bullets fired at Hampton’s gravesite, ignored by every politician now standing under canopies and sound systems.

The real revolutionaries are still being erased—sometimes with a bullet, sometimes with a plaque.

[ Sent in after the article was published by Leila Wills … The fact is that Junior was invited to be a part of our preservation efforts three times. Instead of being influential in our work, he has decided to oppose us by crashing events. Please issue a correction to this libel. Also, there are thousands of people born to Black Panther parents. There is no one person that has been anointed to commemorate the Party’s legacy. Additionally, the site was 2350 W Madison, the former headquarters of the Illinois Chapter, not the assassination site of 2337 W. Monroe.]

Transcript: Fred Hampton Jr. Takes the Mic at Dedication for the site where His Father was assassinated by police — July 26, 2025

[Fred Hampton Jr. takes the mic from Leila Wills]

Fred Hampton Jr.:
I’d like to say a few words. I’ll say a few words.

I didn’t want to come in earlier, out of respect for the speakers. But the fact that Leila Wills, who has disrespected and snatched the legacy of Minister Huey P. Newton, Chairman Fred, and the Black Panther Party—because yes, she has, yes she has—she has continued to.

She was sent in by the state to hijack this legacy of the Black Panther Party.

What Leila Wills has done is attack the Black Panther. The fact that Wills grabs down the grave with the Black Panther Party is like Puffy going on 2Pac’s corpse.

Leila Wills was sent by the United States government to hijack the legacy of the Black Panther Party.

Let the record reflect that. It’s not nothing personal. I try to respect all the speakers. But the fact—the criminals don’t cease.

This is a sin against Minister Huey P. Newton.

With all due respect: she has attacked the Black Panther Party.

I said it. I’m stating it. It’s a fact. It’s a fact.

No, no, no, no, no—here. No. Here. No. Here. Here. No. No. You’re wrong.

This agent provocateur was sent in — and Billy Brooks, you validated it.

Audience Member:
All power to the people!

Billy Che Brooks:
Keep my name out your mouth!

Fred Hampton Jr.:
What’s gonna happen, Billy Brooks?

Unknown voice:
Hey, hey, hey!

Female voice:
It’s Chairman Fred. It’s Chairman Fred. You be cool.

Bobby Rush:
We love you, Fred. We love you. You are beautiful. Everyone here, give Fred Hampton Jr. a big round of applause. Fred Hampton Jr., we love you.

Leila Wills (returning to the mic):
One thing that I forgot to mention about the marker—
[interrupted by crowd: “Who is she?”] —we are about to take pictures. Sorry about that, everyone, let’s please … Now if I can ask the speakers, Alderman Yancy and Burnett, to gather around the marker for our pictures.

Heightening The Contradictions by @officialchairmanfredhamptonjr
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMlAWN-xcNF/

@officialchairmanfredhamptonjr – Live Statement, July 26, 2025
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMlCGE9xQYi/

Former Illinois Black Panther Party HQ on Near West Side Honored With Plaque to Preserve History By Violet Miller, Chicago Sun-Times, July 26, 2025
https://chicago.suntimes.com/chicago/2025/07/26/former-illinois-black-panther-party-headquarters-plaque-chicago

Historic Plaque to Honor Illinois Chapter of Black Panther Party
Chicago Crusader, July 17, 2025
https://chicagocrusader.com/historic-plaque-to-honor-illinois-chapter-of-black-panther-party/

The 1969 Raid That Killed Black Panther Leader Fred Hampton
By Dave Roos, History.com, originally published January 29, 2021; last updated May 28, 2025
https://www.history.com/articles/black-panther-fred-hampton-killing

Search and Destroy: A Report by the Commission of Inquiry into the Black Panthers and the Police By Roy Wilkins and Ramsey Clark, 1973
https://archive.org/details/Search-And-Destroy-1973

SubX.News® on-the-spot reporting

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