Our Martyrs’ Day
A Day of Remembrance and Honor for all of OUR MARTYRS Interrupted or Cut Down!
A Martyr is someone who suffers or is killed because of their religious or political beliefs. For us, it is also someone who suffers death or imprisonment for standing up against oppression or because of racism!
December 4th is Our Martyrs’ Day in Honor of the Life and Memory of the Murder of Fred Hampton and Others Like Him!
“Uncle Sam’s hands are dripping with blood, dripping with the blood of the black man in this
country. He’s the earth’s number-one hypocrite . . .
Let the world know how bloody his hands are. Let the world know the hypocrisy that’s practiced
over here.” (Malcom X)
Who is Fred Hampton?
Fred Hampton was an extraordinary young man that chose us over himself! In a hostile and murderous climate towards Civil Rights and Positive Change Leaders, he stood tall for change. Like many of the other taller trees in the woods, the American Government cut him down, at the tender age of 21.
A Selfless Servant
As Chairman of the Chicago local Black Panther Party, Fred Hampton helped organize a number of successful community programs. These included five different breakfast programs on the West Side, a free medical center, a door to door program of health services (which offered testing for sickle cell anemia), and blood drives for the Cook County Hospital. The Chicago party also reached out to local gangs to clean up their acts, get them away from crime and bring them into the fight against oppression. Prior to his role of Chairman for the Black Panthers Party, Fred Hampton was a former NAACP youth organizer.
A Brave Visionary
In spite of Fred Hampton’s young age, he was a man with an extraordinary vision. He was able to intuit that Captialism was a system of greed that oppressed and impoverished not only Black Americans. He not only spoke out against it but more importantly, he dedicated his life to doing something about.
A Powerful Healer
As a Powerful Healer Fred was able to successfully bring warring groups of people together. Fred Hampton founded the antiracist, anticlass Rainbow Coalition, a prominent multicultural political organization that initially included the Black Panthers, Young Patriots (which organized poor whites), and the Young Lords (which organized Hispanics), and an alliance among major Chicago street gangs to help them end infighting and work for social change. Bringing these groups together made Fred enemy#1 of the racist and oppressive American government.
The MOVE Massacre!
On May 13, 1985, nearly 500 police officers, along with city manager Leo Brooks, arrived in force and attempted to clear the building and execute pety arrest warrants. Water and electricity were shut off in order to force MOVE members out of the house. Commissioner Sambor read a long speech addressed to MOVE members that started with, “Attention MOVE: This is America. You have to abide by the laws of the United States.” Laws that allow black men, women and children to be murdered at the hands of racist police officers. That is exactly what happened next. When the MOVE members did not respond, the police decided to forcibly remove the people who remained in house, which consisted of seven adults and six children.
Police used more than 10,000 rounds of ammunition before Commissioner Sambor ordered that the compound be bombed. From a Pennsylvania State Police helicopter, Philadelphia Police Department Lt. Frank Powell proceeded to drop two 1-pound bombs onto the house that was occupied by the MOVE members, killing 11 of the people in the house, six adults and five children: John Africa, Rhonda Africa, Theresa Africa, Frank Africa, Conrad Africa, Tree Africa, Delisha Africa, Netta Africa, Little Phil Africa, Tomaso Africa, and Raymond Africa. The fire spread and eventually destroyed approximately 65 nearby houses.
The Tulsa Massacre!
The Tulsa race massacre took place on May 31 and June 1, 1921, when mobs of White residents, some of whom had been deputized and given weapons by city officials,attacked Black residents and destroyed homes and businesses of the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma, US. The Greenwood District was a segregated town of Blacks that built their own town brick by brick and flourished with prosperity. Alternatively known as the Tulsa pogrom, the Tulsa race riot or the Black Wall Street massacre,the attack is considered one of “the single worst incident[s] of racial violence in American history”. The attackers burned and destroyed more than 35 square blocks of the neighborhood, which at the time wase ONE of the wealthiest Black communities in the United States, known as “Black Wall Street”. It is estimated that nearly 300 (possibly more) people were murdered. More than 10,000 Black people were left homeless, and property damage amounted to more than $1.5 million in real estate and $750,000 in personal property (equivalent to $32.65 million in 2020). Many survivors left Tulsa, while Black and White residents who stayed in the city largely kept silent about the terror, violence, and resulting losses for decades. The massacre was largely omitted from local, state, and national histories.
“Join me in creating a space of reverence to remember & honor OUR Martyrs. In doing so, we keep their energy ALIVE in us and in the world!”
Righteousness will Prevail as Long as we Keep Fighting Against Unrighteousness!
