You can kill a revolutionary, but you canʼt kill the revolution. Chairman Fred Hampton was 21 years old when he was assassinated by the FBI, who coerced a petty criminal named William OʼNeal to help them silence him and the Black Panther Party. But, they couldnʼt kill Fred Hamptonʼs legacy, and, 50 years later, his words still echo louder than ever: “I am a revolutionary!”
In 1968, a young, charismatic activist named Fred Hampton becomes Chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, which is fighting for freedom, the power to determine the destiny of the Black community, and an end to police brutality and the slaughter of Black people.
Chairman Fred iss inspiring a generation to rise up against oppression, which puts him directly in the line of fire of the government, the FBI, and the Chicago Police. Facing prison, William OʼNeal is offered a deal by the FBI: If he will infiltrate the Black Panthers and provide intel on Hampton, he will walk free.
Now a comrade in arms in the Black Panther Party, OʼNeal lives in fear that his treachery will be discovered even as he rises in the ranks. But, as Hamptonʼs fiery message draws him in, OʼNeal cannot escape the deadly trajectory of his ultimate betrayal.
Though his life was cut short, Fred Hamptonʼs impact has continued to reverberate. The government saw the Black Panthers as a militant threat to the status quo and sold that to a frightened public in a time of growing civil unrest. The perception of the Panthers was not reality. In inner cities across America, they were providing free breakfasts for children, legal services, medical clinics and research into sickle cell anemia, and political education. And, it was Chairman Fred in Chicago, who, recognising the power of multicultural unity for a common cause, created the Rainbow Coalition—joining forces with other oppressed peoples in the city to fight for equality and political empowerment.
Cast
Daniel Kaluuya, LaKeith Stanfield, Jesse Plemons, Dominique Fishback, Ashton Sanders, Martin Sheen, Algee Smith, Darrell Britt-Gibson, Dominique Thorne, Lil Rel Howery
Directed by
Shaka King
Music
Mark Isham
Screenplay
Shaka King, Will Berson, Keith Lucas, Kenneth Lucas