Fred Hampton on Revolution And Racism

Fred Hampton: I'm the Deputy Chairman of the State of Illinois Black Panther Party, Fred Hampton. And a lot of people don't understand the Black Panther Party's relationship with white mother country radicals. A lot of people don't even understand that word that they'll use a lot. But what we're saying is that there are white people in the mother country that are for the same types of things that we are for stimulating revolution in the mother country. And we've said that we'll work with anybody and form coalitions with anybody that has revolution on their mind. We're not a racist organization because we understand that racism is an excuse used for capitalism. And we know that racism is a byproduct of capitalism. Everything will be alright if everything was put back in the hands of the people. And we're going to have to put it back in the hands of the people. Everybody in the state of Illinois is going to have to be involved or even around the revolution because we're going to have one. We're going to have to do more than talk. We're going to have to do more than listen. We're going to even have to do more than learn. We're going to have to start practicing, and that's very hard. We're going to have to start learning, and you learn through practice. We're going to have to start making mistakes, and you learn through making mistakes. We're going to have to start getting out there with the people. And a lot of times we think we're better than the people, but that's an insult, and that's criminal. We think we're better than the people. We've got to get together and learn where it's at. It's going to take a lot of hard work. But for children, it's something else. You oughta dig on it. All, every sustenance in this, in this, in this, uh, in this audience. I'm saying every sustenance audience oughta get themselves together and come on down and help us with that Breakfast for Children program. Y'all oughta help come down and help feed them children in the morning. We have Breakfast for Children because we teach the people through practice, through observation and participation, that people can be made free. That people stand. Socialism is the people. You're afraid of yourself. If you're afraid of socialism, you're afraid of yourself. We know they have our pictures, we know they're looking for us, we know they want us, but we still say that even though we could be innocent, As far as this system goes, on the mountaintop, we in the Black Panther Party, because of our dedication and understanding what's in the valley, knowing that there's people in the valley, knowing that we originally came from the valley, knowing that our flag is the same flag as the people in the valley, knowing that our enemy is on the mountaintop, our freedom is in the valley, we say even though it's nice to be on the mountaintop, we're going back to the valley. I'd be in the office every day. I'd be in the streets propagandizing every day. I'd be working with everybody every day. I'd be teaching that solidarity is the same. The end of a complete wipeout of imperialism is the same. So if you're going to be thinking about me, that's what Rodney would be teaching. If you're going to be thinking about us, all we say is we don't, ain't no thing about going nowhere, getting killed. All we want to know is that you're doing what we'd be doing if we were here. And you've got to do that. You can't do it unless you believe that you can do it. In the spirit of liberation, we understand that they want everybody in the party in jail. And we know that if we try to figure out and separate and decide who should go and who shouldn't go, we'd spend more time doing that than working for the people. So the quick solution, the speedy one, nobody goes. Nobody goes. We all stay right here. Because we love the people. Because we love the people. Okay, you can put your hands down now. We say all power to all people. All power to all people. We say white power to white people. White power to white people. Brown power to brown people. Brown power to brown people. Yellow power to yellow people. Yellow power to yellow people. Black power to black people. Black power to black people. X power to bulls that we left out. X power to bulls that we left out. We say Panther power to the Vanguard Party. When you leave here, leave here saying the last words. Now, before you go to bed tonight, say, I am a revolutionary. Make that the last word. In case you don't wake up, then somebody might believe it, and you might, you know, end up in what they call a revolutionary happy hunting ground. Say that. Say, I am a revolutionary. I am a revolutionary. Say it when you're going out. Everybody on the TV, listen to me. Okay? We're going to say it while we're going out. Hey, we're going to start a fair called Free Fred. Don't that sound nice? Hey, let's do that. Free Fred! Free Fred! Free Fred! Free Fred! Free Fred! Hey, I ain't even there yet.