The Killing of Fred Hampton and the Absence of Accountability

By Cliff Potts, CSO, and Editor-in-Chief of WPS News
Baybay City, Leyte, Philippines — February 8, 2026

What Happened in Chicago

In the early morning hours of December 4, 1969, officers of the Chicago Police Department raided an apartment on West Monroe Street in Chicago. By the end of that raid, Fred Hampton, a 21-year-old community organizer and chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, was dead.

Authorities initially described the event as a “shootout.” That description was false. Subsequent forensic analysis, eyewitness testimony, and investigative reporting demonstrated that police fired nearly one hundred rounds into the apartment. Occupants fired a single shot, likely reflexive, after being struck. Fred Hampton was shot twice in the head at close range while lying in bed.

This was not a spontaneous confrontation. It was a planned operation.

Who Fred Hampton Was

Fred Hampton was not targeted for criminal activity. He was targeted for organizing.

As a leader of the Black Panther Party in Chicago, Hampton helped establish free breakfast programs for children, community health clinics, and political education initiatives. More significantly, he worked to build multiracial coalitions among Black, Latino, and poor white communities, including labor-adjacent and Appalachian groups.

This coalition building challenged a foundational strategy of American political control: keeping poor communities divided along racial lines. Hampton’s work threatened that structure.

Federal Involvement and COINTELPRO

At the federal level, the Federal Bureau of Investigation had designated the Black Panther Party as a primary target under its Counterintelligence Program, known as COINTELPRO. Declassified FBI documents later confirmed that the program’s purpose was to infiltrate, disrupt, and neutralize political organizations deemed threatening to the existing political order.

In Chicago, an FBI informant embedded within Hampton’s circle provided authorities with a detailed floor plan of the apartment and information about Hampton’s movements. Evidence later presented in court indicated that Hampton had been drugged prior to the raid and was unconscious when police entered the apartment.

This was not simply a local police action. It was a coordinated effort involving federal intelligence and municipal law enforcement.

The Immediate Aftermath and False Narrative

Following the killing, authorities publicly praised the police officers involved. The crime scene was altered, evidence was mishandled, and a false narrative of a violent gun battle was widely circulated through the press.

Years of legal action and independent investigation were required to expose what had actually occurred. By the time the official story collapsed, the opportunity for criminal accountability had effectively passed.

No police officer was charged. No federal official was prosecuted.

The Settlement Without Justice

In 1982, more than a decade after the killing, the families of Fred Hampton and other victims reached a civil settlement with the City of Chicago, Cook County, and the federal government. Approximately $1.85 million was paid in damages.

This settlement acknowledged wrongdoing but did not establish accountability.

Civil settlements compensate harm. They do not assign criminal responsibility. In this case, the individuals who planned, enabled, and carried out the killing were never held legally accountable for their actions. The system paid money and moved on.

Why the Lack of Accountability Matters

The failure to hold anyone criminally responsible for Fred Hampton’s killing sent a lasting message: state violence, even when documented and later admitted, can go unpunished if it serves institutional interests.

This precedent did not end in 1969. It became part of a broader pattern in which official misconduct is acknowledged administratively but insulated from legal consequence. Over time, this erodes public trust and normalizes the absence of justice.

Fred Hampton’s death was not an aberration. It was an outcome produced by policy, coordination, and institutional protection.

The Lesson That Cannot Be Ignored

History is not only about what happened. It is about what was allowed to happen afterward.

The killing of Fred Hampton demonstrates that financial settlements are not substitutes for justice. Accountability deferred is accountability denied. When a society permits executions by state actors without consequence, it signals permission for repetition.

This must not be allowed to continue — at any time, under any administration, or against any community.

For more social commentary, please see Occupy 2.5 at https://Occupy25.com

References

Churchill, W., & Vander Wall, J. (1990). Agents of repression: The FBI’s secret wars against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement. South End Press.

United States District Court. (1982). Hampton et al. v. Hanrahan et al. Settlement records.

Federal Bureau of Investigation. (1970s). COINTELPRO files on the Black Panther Party (declassified).