[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 17120-17123]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            TUMULTUOUS TIMES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2013, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Rush) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Mr. RUSH. Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate the previous speaker, 
my friend from Michigan, Mike Rogers, for his distinguished service to 
this Nation and to this Congress. I had the privilege of meeting Mike 
when he first became a Member of this House. I remember his exuberance, 
the energy that he displayed, the hopeful look in his eye, and I 
watched him as he has matured into a great legislative leader and a 
leader for the Nation.
  But I guess the paradox of our Nation is probably exhibited in the 
fact that I was kind of interested, to say the least, in the fact that 
Mike Rogers was a former FBI agent, and I had to process that fact in a 
rather unique way. I had not known many FBI agents prior to shaking 
hands with Mike. Those that I did know, I had questions about their 
character and their qualities. So I was somewhat quizzical and 
interested in this fellow.
  As I listened to his final speech before the House, the thought 
occurred to me that one part of me certainly agrees with his notion of 
a Nation that represents so much hope to the rest of the world, but I 
also, to be quite honest, know that the America that should be even 
greater has not yet found the greatness that it is called to be.
  These times are tumultuous times within our Nation. These times are 
creating pain and suffering for far too many of our citizens. These 
times extinguish the hope of the young African American child. These 
times call into question the high ideals that should inspire us. These 
times are times of difficulty; times, indeed, of desperation, times of 
despair in the life and the hopes and aspirations of far too many of 
our citizens.
  W.E.B. DuBois wrote a seminal classic back at the turn of the century 
titled, ``The Souls of Black Folk,'' and there was one sentence in this 
book that really kind of rises up to question and to challenge the 
Nation that the previous speaker portrayed and the Nation that is a 
reality for me and for so many of my constituents.
  DuBois made the statement in 1903 that ``the problem of the 20th 
century is the problem of the color line.'' I don't think that W.E.B. 
DuBois, who was an eminent scholar, a graduate of Harvard with a 
doctorate degree, could ever in his wildest imagination believe that 
this one sentence written in 1903 would still be a sentence that would 
define a Nation to many of its citizens. The problem of the 20th 
century is also the problem of the 21st century: the color line, the 
problem of race, the problem of discrimination, racial inequities. 
These are current problems, even in today's America.
  Forty-five years ago, on this very same day, December 4, way back in 
the year 1969--45 years ago--in the wee hours of the morning at 4 a.m. 
in a two-bedroom apartment at 2337 West Monroe, the Chicago Police 
Department, in collusion with the FBI, led a raid on an apartment which 
resulted in the death of two young African American men, Fred Hampton 
and Mark Clark, and the wounding of seven others.

                              {time}  1600

  They came in the middle of the dark hours of the morning in a van, 
Illinois jail van. Some went to the rear of the apartment at 2337, and 
some went to the front door.
  Members of the organization that I was proud to be a member of and am 
proud today to have served in, the Illinois chapter of the Black 
Panther Party, they were in the apartment. Fred Hampton and the mother 
of his son were in the back room, and other members of the Panther 
Party were sleeping in different parts of the apartment.
  There was a knock on the door. Mark Clark answered, ``Who is it?'' He 
heard a voice from the other side of the door saying, ``Tommy.''
  Mark asked, ``Tommy who?'' The other voice on the other side of the 
door said, ``Tommy gun,'' and started firing into the apartment. This 
was at the front of the apartment.
  When those police officers at the rear heard the fire from the front, 
they came in, burst in through the rear door, shooting wildly and 
recklessly. After a few quick moments, the shooting subsided.
  There was a shout from the rear bedroom where Fred Hampton and 
Deborah Johnson had been sleeping, and there was a voice that came from 
a closet saying, ``Stop shooting. Stop shooting. There's a pregnant 
woman in here.''
  So all the Panthers were pulled from the various areas and in the 
rooms.

[[Page 17121]]

And then Michael Voss, a member of the Chicago Police Department, went 
into the bedroom where Fred Hampton had been shot, said that, ``Oh, 
he's not dead yet,'' and shot him pointblank in the head. He came out 
of that room and boasted, ``He's good and dead now. He's good and dead 
now.''
  The Panthers were taken to hospitals, and some were taken straight 
to--well, they all were taken to the jail, Monroe Street Station.
  I was supposed to have been in that apartment. The information by the 
informant, William O'Neal, that was given to the FBI stated that I and 
other leaders of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party were 
in that apartment. And we had been there less than 5 hours before 
because we were having a leadership meeting.
  Because we did not have enough sleeping areas, it was decided that 
some of us would not sleep there that night. Three members of the 
leadership group, two other members and myself, we went to our homes, 
thinking that tomorrow morning, or the next morning, that we would 
reconvene and continue our leadership meeting.
  Fred Hampton, Mark Clark were killed.
  I got a call about 4:45 that morning from another Panther Party 
member. Another member of the organization said that there had been a 
shootout at Chairman Fred's apartment, so I immediately got dressed and 
went to the basement apartment of Barbara Sankey, who lived in the 2200 
block of West Monroe. Other members of the leadership, we gathered 
there, and we turned on BBM radio to see what the latest word was.
  About 6:15, 6:30 that morning, we heard the news on the radio that 
Fred Hampton had been killed. 45 years ago, December 4, 1969.
  Our thoughts--my thoughts that morning, I was 23 years old, just had 
made 23--my thoughts were scattered and confused because my friend had 
been murdered.
  I immediately gathered myself, and we called our attorneys and got 
our attorneys on the phone, and waited awhile. Around 10:30 that 
morning, we emerged from that basement apartment to go a half a block 
west to see what had really happened.
  Just as the cowardly police came in undercover, under the wraps of 
camouflage, they quickly, after murdering Fred and murdering Mark, they 
ran from the community and left this apartment open. They didn't secure 
the premises, left it wide open, doors open, all the evidence right 
there, the bloody mattress that Fred slept in, the door, the front door 
where it was later discovered, through grand jury testimony, that 
possibly one bullet came from inside of the apartment, but there were 
99 bullets, 99 bullets from the outside to the inside, and one possible 
from the inside to the outside.
  When we walked through that apartment, we saw the evidence. In later 
testimony given in various sources, including the special grand jury 
they convened a few years later, there was a machinegun used by the 
police, the State's Attorney police, and it showed on the walls, the 
evidence of where the machinegun, just almost in a diagonal form, fired 
up and down and up and down throughout the length of that wall, a 
machinegun used by the police.
  Our attorneys examining the evidence secured the door that had been 
left behind, and with one hole in it, secured the mattress where Fred 
Hampton slept.
  We had a toxicologist that our attorneys hired, and the toxicologist 
said that Fred Hampton had been drugged the night before, that he had 
enough Seconal in his body, enough Seconal to render an elephant unable 
to move. So Fred was drugged by the police and their agents, murdered 
in his bed.
  I want to be very clear here in this House, on this 45 years later. 
This was the first time that I am aware of--and I read history, I love 
history--before or since where an American citizen has been 
assassinated by official Federal, State, and local law enforcement, the 
first and only time that an American citizen had been assassinated by 
law enforcement and the political status quo.
  So you can understand somewhat how I felt, and how I continue to feel 
about the FBI. And I am not here to castigate the FBI. This is not the 
purpose of this colloquy or soliloquy. This is not my purpose for being 
here on the floor.
  I am talking about the history of the FBI and the history of J. Edgar 
Hoover.

                              {time}  1615

  This is the FBI I grew up with. I grew up under the J. Edgar Hoover 
FBI, and he considered me and others like me in my organization to be 
the greatest threat to the security of this Nation.
  I had been honorably discharged from the military for 4 years--a 
veteran, serving 4 years in the U.S. Army. I volunteered for the Army, 
and all of a sudden, some 3 years later, I am the number one threat to 
the security of the Nation to which I had pledged to give my life only 
6 years earlier.
  Why did they kill Fred? Why did they kill Fred Hampton, the Fred I 
knew, the Fred Hampton I spent time day in and day out with?
  Fred Hampton, the man full of humor and compassion, strong-willed, 
but softhearted; the Fred Hampton who could move crowds with his 
eloquence; the Fred Hampton who wanted me and others to learn the art 
of speaking, who would take us and force us to listen to the speeches 
of African American preachers and other orators; the Fred Hampton whose 
laughter was infectious, strong-voiced; the Fred Hampton who said what 
he meant and meant what he said; the Fred Hampton you could count on 
and call on, a spokesman for the voiceless--yes, Fred allowed his voice 
to be an instrument for those without a voice; the Fred Hampton who 
could take complex and philosophical thought and break them down and 
make them relevant to even those who were uneducated and unconcerned;
  The Fred Hampton who would say, ``I am so revolutionarily intoxicated 
that I cannot be astronomically intimidated,'' which meant that Fred 
Hampton was going to fight for the least of these;
  The Fred Hampton who was the inspiration for the Rainbow Coalition--
not just for Black people, but for poor people in general--the Rainbow 
Coalition that reached out to Appalachian Whites in the uptown area and 
that reached out to the Young Lords in the Hispanic west town area, and 
said: ``Let's coalesce. We have the same kinds of interests, the same 
kinds of problems. So, preacher man, I am going to use my voice and 
speak to the problems of black lung disease and of the poverty in 
Appalachia, and I am going to use my voice to speak to the problems of 
migrant workers and the problems of the Latino community, not just for 
Blacks'';
  The Fred Hampton who told some of my liberal friends, ``I understand 
your willingness to work, and I understand your cries for justice, and 
I understand how you want to sacrifice for justice, but we don't 
necessarily need you to organize in the Black community. You need to go 
and organize in the White community to tell your brothers and your 
sisters that we are all in this struggle together, that we are all a 
rainbow of a coalition for justice and equality here in America'';
  The Fred Hampton who loved to dance and loved to play basketball; the 
Fred Hampton who never smoked or drank; the Fred Hampton who loved his 
mother and his father and who loved his brothers and sisters;
  The Fred Hampton who was tried and convicted of robbing a Good Humor 
Man for $310 worth of ice cream bars on a summer's day in Maywood, 
Illinois. Fred would say to anyone who would hear, ``I am a big man, 
but I can't eat 310 ice cream bars.''
  Even those who prosecuted Fred said that if he took the ice cream 
bars from the Good Humor Man, then he passed them out, that he gave 
them to the young people in the hot summer Sun there in Maywood, 
Illinois, so even those who prosecuted him had to admit that, if he 
did, he robbed the rich and gave to the poor.
  This was the Fred Hampton I knew. This was the Fred Hampton of my 
life, this man who had such an unabashed commitment to the great ideals 
of this Nation, in that this Nation should be a

[[Page 17122]]

Nation where everybody is equal and everybody has the right to life, 
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. He was one of the better spirits 
that this Nation produced.
  He only lived to be 21 years old. His family's loss was great, and 
his friends' loss was great, but this Nation's loss was even greater 
because, had he lived, he would have been a tremendous, incomparable, 
and unconquered advocate for those high ideals that inspire all 
segments of this society.
  There was a grand jury that convened and a report that was issued 
that stated that 99 bullets were fired into that apartment on December 
4, 1969, and possibly one fired out of that apartment.
  The political machine in Chicago--the Daley machine, the political 
establishment, those who were in power--thought by killing Fred and 
Mark and wounding seven others, that they would be heralded as heroes.
  Little did they know, when they left that apartment wide open--
unsecured--then, step by step, person by person--men, women, and 
children alike--marched through that apartment and observed for 
themselves what had gone on and what had happened on the morning of 
December 4, 1969.
  They reached the conclusion that Fred Hampton and Mark Clark had been 
murdered and that one Edward V. Hanrahan--the State's attorney who 
later that same morning, on December 4, went before the television 
cameras and cried out how his police officers had been attacked 
viciously by the members of the Black Panther Party, the residents of 
that apartment--lied; yet instead of being heralded as heroes, the very 
same community--the very same people--denounced him as a murderer.
  In the election that came a few years later, this very same community 
defeated this State's attorney in his bid for reelection. He was being 
lifted up, and he was being paraded around as the heir to the Richard 
J. Daley machine.
  He was going to be Mayor Richard J. Daley's successor, but the 
African American community--the Black community--said, ``No, you will 
not,'' and they elected a Republican State's attorney, Bernard J. 
Carey. It was the first time that the Black community, en masse, told 
the Daley machine, ``No, we will not vote with you. We are going to 
vote against you.''
  That independent action--that independent and courageous act, that 
astounding act--defined urban politics not only in Chicago, but in 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in New York, and in many other places.

                              {time}  1630

  You see, because Fred Hampton died, then Harold Washington became the 
first African American mayor of the city of Chicago, which, again, 
astounded the world. The rising up of the Black community body politic 
created the necessary conditions to elect Harold Washington as mayor of 
the city of Chicago; created the necessary conditions to elect Carol 
Moseley Braun as the first African American U.S. Senator from the State 
of Illinois and in the history of the U.S. Senate; created the 
conditions to elect Barack Obama as the U.S. Senator from the State of 
Illinois, the first African American male to be a U.S. Senator from the 
State of Illinois; created the conditions, yes, for Barack Obama to be 
elected President of the United States; created conditions for the 1984 
and 1988 campaigns for the Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson when he ran for 
President.
  Fred. Mark. 45 years ago, they assassinated Fred while he was drugged 
beyond any capacity to defend himself.
  Even today, W.E.B. Du Bois, your statement is troubling this Nation 
even today.
  We travel beyond the 20th century. We are in the 14th year of the 
21st century, and even today the problem of the color line is still the 
problem of this Nation.
  When we look at Ferguson, Missouri, in the case of Michael Brown and 
his murder and the horrendous conclusions drawn by the grand jury and 
the atrocious acts of the Governor of Missouri, the problem of the 
color line is preeminent. Justice for Michael Brown still has not 
occurred. Police brutality is still the main issue that we have 
regarding the establishment. Young Black men are still being murdered 
by police even today.
  New York City, Eric Garner, a father of six, the grand jury could not 
even respond adequately to the evidence that everyone who has eyes to 
see can see that this man, Eric Garner, was choked to death by racist 
police in New York City.
  Even today, Trayvon Martin still cries out for justice in this 
Nation, even today.
  And there have been so many, from border to border, the North, South, 
East, and West. Young Black men are being murdered in the streets by 
law enforcement who know beyond the shadow of a doubt that they can 
kill young Black men and that the culture of the police across this 
Nation won't protect them, that they will not be called to answer for 
their atrocious actions for the killing of young Black men, be they 
students, be they fathers, be they 12-year-old babies, such as what 
happened in Cleveland.
  When will the lunacy end? The lunacy that is in law enforcement must 
come to a screeching halt. The police and the police departments all 
across this Nation are not viewed as officer friendly, are not viewed 
as protectors who serve and protect. They are viewed as occupying 
forces who are at war with young Black men. That is the lunacy that we 
are confronted with even today.
  So, Mr. Speaker, Members of the House, for the last 45 years, I have 
carried in my heart, in my spirit, the pain, the agony of losing my 
great friend and my great leader, Fred Hampton. Yes, he inspires me in 
my daily walks, but there is still pain that I carry with me in my 
heart. I won't forget, and I won't allow this Nation to ever forget as 
long as there is breath in my body, the legacy and the life of this 21-
year-old American revolutionary, this simple yet brilliant man, this 
man who had insurmountable courage, the man who could move crowds with 
his eloquence and his sincerity, the man who had not even reached the 
fruit of his promise and potential, who was murdered, assassinated 
after he was drugged the night before, the man who was wounded in his 
bed and an animal, an armed animal walked in the room and fired two 
bullets in his head and said: He is good and dead now.
  We can't forget. We have to remember. We have to keep a fire lit.
  Only when we can deal with justice for everybody can we ever achieve 
the greatness that we have promised each other. Don't leave young Black 
men, young Hispanic men, don't leave them out of the equation. When you 
speak about justice and the greatness of this Nation, include them in 
in meaningful ways; not with just platitudes but with everyday 
practices, include them in.
  Mr. Speaker, I have come this evening because we have to embrace the 
truth, and Scripture tells us: Know ye the truth, and the truth shall 
set you free.

                              {time}  1645

  Today, Mike Brown, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, and a young 12-year-
old lad from Cleveland are crying from their graves. They want justice. 
The young people who are marching throughout the Nation want justice. 
And I want to say to those young people, fight on, march on, protest 
on, and don't stop. I believe in the power of the youth, the power of 
the youth won't stop.
  Fred Hampton lives today in the hearts, the minds, and the spirits of 
some of these young people today who are taking to the streets in 
protest of police brutality here in our Nation, police murder here in 
our Nation.
  I say to you that Chairman Fred, my friend, Chairman Fred still 
lives. His spirit permeates the minds and hearts of all justice-seeking 
people, particularly the young people, even today.
  Mr. Speaker, may I ask how much time do I have remaining?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman has 6 minutes remaining.
  Mr. RUSH. Mr. Speaker, I would love to ask my colleague from Chicago, 
Mr. Danny K. Davis, I yield to him.

[[Page 17123]]


  Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois. Thank you, my friend and colleague, 
Congressman Rush for calling this Special Order. I have thought that I 
wouldn't be able to be here, but I actually changed my schedule. I want 
to commend you for calling this Special Order and especially for the 
subject which you have addressed.
  As I listened to you, I thought about the fact that the day of the 
assassination, my friend, Frank Lipscomb, and I went through the 
apartment. We saw the blood on the sheets, we saw the bullet holes, and 
we saw the tape. We were young schoolteachers, becoming activist-
oriented, caught up in what was taking place in our country. I am so 
grateful that you were not there because had you been, in all 
probability, not only would we be talking about Fred and Mark, but we 
would also be talking about Bobby Rush. But I do believe that the good 
Lord spared you and somehow or another took you in another direction at 
that moment so that 45 years later we could look at and appreciate the 
many public contributions that you have made in efforts to try and make 
this world a better place, a more just place, a place where all life 
could be considered sacred.
  The location is in my congressional district, the district that I 
represent, the district that I serve, less than a mile away. The 
building that I inhabit as a district office has a mural on the wall on 
the side of the building of Chairman Fred. His son, Fred, Jr., Fred's 
mother, and members of their organization come with regularity to pay 
homage and tribute. Of course, Fred's mother, brother, and sister live 
in my district in Maywood, Illinois. Never does a year go by when they 
don't have some event, some activity, some groupings of progressive-
thinking people who come and spend time at their home talking about 
progressive causes and progressive issues.
  It is kind of interesting that here we are 45 years later when law 
enforcement misconduct and police brutality are all at the forefront of 
issues plaguing our society today. I think the one thing that Fred's 
life and legacy has taught us is that freedom is a hard-won thing. Each 
generation has to win it and win it again. So when we look at what is 
taking place in St. Louis, in Chicago, in Ferguson, in Cleveland, in 
New York, and in Florida, all across the country, it tells us what 
Frederick Douglass taught, and that is that struggle, struggle, strife, 
and pain are the prerequisites for change. If there is no struggle, 
then there is no progress. Fred taught us that struggle must continue 
even to the last breath of injustice.
  So we commend you, just as we commend your friends, Fred and Mark, 
for the leadership that you have provided in trying to help make 
America the America that has never been but all of us know must and 
will be.
  I thank you for calling this Special Order.
  Mr. RUSH. Well, I want to thank my friend and colleague, Danny K. 
Davis, from my home State, my former city council colleague and my 
compatriot in all things that are in the nature of justice, equality, 
and standing for the goodness of not only this Nation.
  I just want to say to you when you mentioned me, I just have to, in a 
humble way, the most humble way--and it didn't have anything to do with 
me. I am a devout Christian, a pastor, theologian, seminary graduate, 
and pastor of a church, so I know it wasn't me, but I have had to 
remind you and others that the very next morning after December 4, on 
December 5, which ironically was my mother's birthday, the police came 
to my apartment to kill me and shot my door down, but I had gone 
underground.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________