Posted on 03/01/2006 4:59:46 AM PST by Chi-townChief
It's been 37 years since Black Panther leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark were gunned down by police working under Cook County State's Attorney Edward Hanrahan in an infamous raid at Hampton's West Side apartment.
But judging from the nerve Ald. Madeline Haithcock (2nd) touched when she proposed naming a street for Hampton, you'd think the raid had happened yesterday.
"We're engaged in battle now," said Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Chicago), a former Black Panther defense minister who said he fully supports Haithcock's proposal and "will stand right beside her and, if necessary, I will stand in front of her."
"I didn't seek this fight," Rush said. "I didn't go looking for this fight. But I am determined to fight for this street designation until the bitter end. It will become a reality in the city of Chicago."
But the controversy had a lot of other Chicago politicians running for cover.
"It's a no-winner. You end up getting somebody upset" no matter what you say, said West Side Ald. Walter Burnett (27th).
South Side Ald. Freddrenna Lyle (6th) said she, too, had "nothing to say."
"A lot of people feel very strongly about it. Why would you want to say something that gets the police people mad at you? And I don't want to do anything to get people who supported the Black Panthers mad at me," Lyle said.
Haithcock to wait a month
Former Mayor Richard J. Daley considered the Black Panthers a street gang and among those he held responsible for the looting and burning that followed the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
But Richard M. Daley didn't want to touch the controversy for fear for alienating black voters.
"Everybody has a right to name things. . .. I don't go down the list. . .. There's so many of them. . .. We've got honorary after honorary. We've got some [streets] that have five names. . . . You see these honorariums going in every day now," Daley said, calling the designation a "local matter."
After being pressed repeatedly about the violence Hampton and his cohorts advocated against police officers, Daley added, "That concerns everyone any time anyone espouses . . . killing a police officer."
The Chicago Sun-Times reported earlier this week that the City Council's Transportation Committee had voted without debate to rename Monroe Street -- from Western to Oakley Blvd. -- as "Chairman Fred Hampton Way."
Haithcock sponsored the ordinance at the behest of Hampton's son, Fred Hampton Jr., a political activist who was sentenced to 18 years in prison in 1993 for the firebombing of two Korean-owned stores in Englewood. Hampton Jr., who has since been released from prison, has said he was an innocent "political criminal."
The street name proposal has infuriated Fraternal Order of Police president Mark Donahue, who called it a "dark day" in the city's history "when we honor someone who would advocate killing policemen."
Haithcock on Tuesday did not knuckle under the pressure but did say she plans to wait another month before calling the ordinance for a final vote in the full City Council. "We're going to work on this, get some support. I want to talk to my council members. It's my ward. I vote for whatever they want in their ward."
'Fred Hampton was murdered'
Northwest Side Ald. Tom Allen (38th) called the proposal "an embarrassment" and said he flat out missed it Monday when the Transportation Committee he chairs approved the designation.
Rules Committee Chairman Richard Mell (33rd) likened it to naming a Chicago street "David Duke Way" after the founder of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and the National Association for the Advancement of White People.
A handful of African-American aldermen had equally harsh things to say against those who oppose the designation.
"I'm a person who believes that Fred Hampton was murdered in his bed. So for law enforcement officers to object to some recognition for the good work the Panthers did is pretty ironic," said Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th).
Bill Hampton, brother of the slain Panther leader, predicted that "most community leaders and residents" would support the designation over the objections of those "few people who still hold that negative grudge against Fred and the Party.
"They were protesting police brutality, oppression and other social ills that were hurting the black community. . .. I don't say that justifies it. But people understood what they really meant by it," Bill Hampton said.
Contributing: Shamus Toomey, Frank Main
mailto:fspielman@suntimes.com
CHICAGOLAND PING
Yep, Black Panthers are real heros. Barf!
Chicago man's trial in cop shooting nears end
The Associated Press
February 28, 2006, 8:59 AM CST
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Closing statements are slated for today in the trial of an Illinois man accused of killing a police officer in St. Paul three decades ago.
Ronald Reed of Chicago is charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy in the death of James Sackett. A sniper shot Sackett as he responded to a false emergency call about a woman in labor in May of 1970.
Reed is accused of killing Sackett to impress the national leadership of the Black Panthers. Reed is black. Sackett was white.... Excerpt
Chicago Tribune.com
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/custom/newsroom/chi-060228reedtrial,1,592460.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Why? They'll just think of Red Foxx and his son "Lamont."
Union head blasts plan to name street after Black Panther
Team Coverage
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=local&id=3947401
February 28, 2006 (CHICAGO) - The name of slain Black Panther Fred Hampton may soon be placed on an honorary Chicago street sign. The president of the Chicago police union says he outraged by this proposal by a Chicago alderman.
Chicago Congressman Bobby Rush, who was also a leader of the Black Panthers in Chicago in the late 60's, says he will stand side-by-side with Alderman Haithcock to ensure that Fred Hampton's name eventually appears on an honorary street sign on the West Side. According to Rush, Hampton lived and died fighting racism and police brutality on behalf of the poor, but Hampton's militant rhetoric, which seemed to condone the killing of police officers, has turned a routine street naming into a bitter political battle over the past.
"There should not be a sign honoring a person who was committed to violence and in his own words, kill the pigs," said Sidney Davis, Fraternal Order of Police.
The union that represents Chicago police officers vehemently opposes a plan to memorialize former Black Panther leader Fred Hampton, whose militant group coined the incendiary slogan "off the pigs" during the volatile struggles of the 1960's. The plan would designate a four-block stretch of West Monroe Street, where Hampton was killed by police officers in 1969, as Chairman Fred Hampton Way, which is something his family and West Side activists have been pushing for years.
The plan now has the support of Alderman Madeline Haithcock, whose ward includes the area.
"I know he was shot by the police. I knew all that. But I didn't think they felt threatened by him before," said Haithcock.
"It'd be OK to me. Cops was bad cops then," said Margaret Green, West Monroe Street resident.
"He espoused self-defense against police officers. I espoused self-defense against police officers," said Congressman Bobby Rush, 2nd Ward.
Congressman and former Alderman Bobby Rush, who was minister of defense for the Panthers when Hampton ran the Chicago chapter, says the group provided services for the poor and fought racism, much of it in the police department, which led to the state's attorney's raid that led to Hampton's death.
"Fred Hampton was assassinated for political reasons, and those same forces are responding to this initiative for political reasons," Rush said.
Alderman Bernie Stone says he Admires rush and some of the Panther's goals, but not Fred Hampton.
"How could anyone even think of commemorating an individual who preached the killing of police officers? Absolutely not," said Ald. Bernard Stone, 50th Ward.
Hampton was a thorn in the side of Daley's late father, Richard J., but Richard M. doesn't want to relive those days. He said he would leave it up to the aldermen.
For the record, Hampton and another Panther, Mark Clark, were killed in an early morning police raid in December of 1969. Rush and others called it murder, but no one was ever convicted, including the man who ordered the raid, former state's attorney Edward Hanrahan.
Hampton's son, who is now a community activist, was born two weeks after he was killed. He says this is a dedication that is a long time in the making.
"The proof is in the people. They have unconditional love for Chairman Fred, for his works and contributions to humanity," said Fred Hampton Jr.
As for the street naming, Alderman Haithcock says she won't push for a city council vote at Wednesday's meeting, but she aimed for the next one in late March.
While they're at it, they should name a street after Al Capone.
Don't forget Dillinger who was also "assassinated" by the Chicago PD.
They weren't heros, but they were murdered.
I would prefer Larry Lujack Avenue...
Capone gave Chicago and Los Angeles votes Keep count the votes until they come out right.
You could make a good case that Schacowsky acts the same way -- I'm pretty she's pretty active doing the bidding of feminazi's in Evaston and Skokie but wouldn't have a clue what's going on in Des Plains.
And they say Phil Crane lost because he didn't "work his disrict" enough. I submit that if Crane had "worked his district" the way Rush does out here, he'd would have acted like the ONLY contiuents he had were wealthy white guys from Barrington and Palatine.
These DemocRat politicos constantly bleat about the need for "freedom" while they tout Commie tyrants like Castro and Marxist thugs like the Black Panthers. Due to their abysmal ignorance, it would be futile to tell them that Communism was the most murderous and anti-freedom idealogy of the 20th century, because they would then start yapping about "genocide against the red man and slavery."
Just once I would like to see a Rat Pol commemorate a black hero who wasn't a Commie or a COM symp. I just got thru watching a documentary about the all black 761st tank battalion of WWII. How about MOH awardee "SSG Reuben Rivers Way"?
Maybe we oughta tell 'em that the reason "Chairman Huey" is taking a dirt nap is because he got zapped while shaking down drug dealers in Oakland.
Name a street after a crooked politician? a Black Panther? Is there a difference in morality? Why are some so upset over one and not the other.
Ald Tom Keane was #2 power in the city at that time. He ordered the arson of the 2 blocks between Leavitt and Oakley, Division and Potomac (including my building) that murdered a little kid. He and his "gang" murdered others. Why do people in 2006 still get worked up about the Black Panthers and not the other atrocities that occurred then, and still occur?
I knew Fred and some of the other Black Panthers casually, especially when we hung around Sammy Rayner's Funeral Home on Madison, just east of Western. I was very close to Latinos and Whites who were very close to Panthers (eg often sleeping with them). They were not as "scary" if you knew them than the crooked politicians were scary when you knew them. (During that period I also knew Dick Mell, who was part of the group that threw Daley out of the national convention. He was a lot more scary.)
The first thing to recognize is that the Panthers were not logically consistent and did not try to be. None were mental giants (although Maywood's Fred was a lot more intelligent than Bobby). It is a futile exercise to examine their "ideology".
The Panthers were about "action", not ideology.
As far as street naming goes, it should be remembered that when Rev King came to Chicago, not a single Black (elected/successful) politician would meet with him or support him. The only politicians to meet with him were white HydePark-Leon DePres and Republican Bernie Empton-Susan Catania types.
After King was killed, Leon DePres proposed naming South Parkway after King. Initially not a single Black alderman supported it. Gradually, after white Bill Singer-Dick Simpson types supported it the Black aldermen gradually came on board one by one. If I recall correctly, Dorothy Tillman was the first Black alderman to support renaming South Parkway. And she was not elected until many years after King was killed.
So there is a history of street naming here.
IMHO, The Panthers' ghetto gestapo was kind of our version of the KKK with Bobby Rush, like David Duke, being the cleaned-up, blow-dried "reformed" ex-hood.
The time I met Bobby was back in the mid-70s, maybe a little later; if I recall correctly, it was at Wampum Lake way down on the far southeast side, some political picnic-type thing and he was already testing the waters for a congressional run, I think. I was there with some of my lefty hipster friends for the free beer, of course.
Bobby had this big entourage and he was polite although seemingly kind of drugged out; maybe he was just trying to act cool. But the funniest thing was that it was probably 90 degrees out there and he's wearing this heavy velour jogging suit. Still cracks me up.
Speaking of brushes with "greatness", I also met Chuck Panici in the mid-70s as well. Every Friday after Thanksgiving, a lot of us guys of Italian extraction (about 1/2 in my case) would get together for a reunion at Kelo's Three Star on Hungry Hill in da Heights (translation: Chicago Heights, East 22nd Street.) Panici walks in, intoduces himself, buys us all drinks, and, like idiots, we all vote for him for mayor. And you probably all know how well that worked out.
:like idiots, we all vote for him "
Sometimes we just like the game. In '74 I worked 3 precincts in Rostenkowski's ward for Al Ronan and Mell's organization against incumbent Bruce Farley of Park District Kelly's 47th Ward. I was quite friendly to the DickMell-PatQuinn-DanWalker coalition of the time.
Back then a voter had 3 votes for St Rep in the 3 member district. Rosty's captains backed both incumbents. I pulled the "bullet" for Ronan and carried the precincts 900 votes to 300 votes. Two of the three Rosty captains got fired from their patronage jobs. But the captain I really wanted to get fired and my #1 motivation was protected by Mell's arch-enemy Finance committee chair and #2 power in the city, Ald Tom Keane and Rosty could not fire him.
Al Ronan lost that time. He won the next time as Mell and the Vrdolyak coffee klatch had risen from outsiders to insiders in those 2 years. But it was volunteers like me that carried precincts against the machine captain that gave Ronan and Mell gravitas.
As chair of the transportation committee in Springfield, Ronan told me he owed me and I should just name what I wanted. When I applied to the CTA in '85 I was tempted. The CTA wanted me to write a system that rated workers comp claims based on who was the attorney for the claimant. They used the example of law firm "Eddie & Eddie" which was obviously a reference to Vrdolyak and Burke. The CTA said that my salary range would be based on my references. With references like the chair of the committee in Springfield that controlled their subsidy and both Republican and Dem members of the CTA and RTA board as "references", I could have easily gone over to the dark side.
For me, a volunteer lark creating friction between the Mell, Rosty, Keane and Kelly organizations was not the dark side. But going on the payroll obligated to a chinaman was the dark side.
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