Honor the Memory of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark

December 4, 2009, represents the 40th commemoration of the murder of Black Panther Deputy Minister of Defense Fred Hampton and Mark Clark in Chicago, Ill. We should take time to pay tribute to our fallen comrades this December. It must be understood that the Chicago police, in conjunction with the FBI, systematically planned and carried the raid and cold blooded murder of these two courageous fighters. The details of the government's slimy role in carrying out these murders are well documented and need not be repeated here. The point of this article is to reinforce that the U.S. government has a long history of engaging in violence against people when those people express dissent against the daily capitalist agenda. In 1969 it was the murder of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark, among others. In 2009 its the illegal detention, torture, and murder of Iraqi and Afghani citizens. The systematic murder of Palestinians with weapons supplied to zionist israel by the U.S., and the murder of Mexican citizens due to the loss of social services as a result of the International Monetary Funds ridiculous structural readjustment programs.

We could go on and on talking about the terrorist activities that are financed and/or carried out against the people of the world by U.S. imperialism. The point here is that anyone in 2009 who still believes the U.S. is the land of democracy didn't pay attention to real history.

The other note regarding this issue is there these murders destroy the incorrect notion that free speech exists in the U.S. You can say what you want in the U.S. as long as enough people aren't listening and acting. When those things start to happen, you will immediately become the victim of repressive actions by the government. The murders of Hampton and Clark illustrate this just as the murders of MLK Jr., Malcolm X, Patrice Lumumba, Che Guevera, Salvadore Allende, Steve Biko, and thousands of others. All of these murders were carried out with either directly by U.S. imperialism, or from its urging. We can go forward adding the overthrow of a number of legitimately elected governments from the overthrow of Arbenz in Guatamala in 1954, Lumumba in the Congo in 1960, Sukarno in Indonesia, Bishop in Greneda, Aristide in Haiti in 1994, and on and on. Democracy under U.S. imperialism is defined solely as the candidate backing the U.S. agenda is the one who will be elected. If not, he/she will be removed.

So respect goes out to the memories of Fred and Mark. Forty years later, the U.S. continues to be the land for a fee and the home of the slaves.