It was December 4th, 1969, when Chicago police raided Fred Hampton’s apartment and shot and killed him in his own bed. Hampton was just 21. Evidence shows the FBI, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and the Chicago police had conspired to assassinate him.
The demand for police accountability for Fred Hampton and Mark Clark’s murder has grown in the half-century that followed. It reached a turning point in 2014, when the Chicago police murdered Black teenager Laquan McDonald. Dash-camera video of the murder shows police shot McDonald 16 times, then tried to cover it up. This and other killings by Chicago police, and the protests that followed, reinvigorated a local movement for community control of the police.
Now as part of the February 28th election, Chicago residents will have a chance to vote for candidates to local police councils. They’ll choose three representatives from each of the city’s 22 police districts to have a say on community-policing issues across the city. Seven will be part of a Community Commission for Public Safety and
— source democracynow.org | Feb 21, 2023