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LOCAL News :: Civil & Human Rights

Feds 'Visit' Fred Hampton Jr.'s Home

The FBI paid Akua (Deborah) Njeri a visit early in the wee hours on Wednesday morning July 13. Akua is a former Black Panther and mother of Fred Hampton Jr., Chairman of the POCC – the Prisoners of Conscience Committee – and son of slain civil rights leaders Fred Hampton Sr.
The FBI paid Akua (Deborah) Njeri a visit early in the wee hours on Wednesday morning July 13. Akua is a former Black Panther and mother of Fred Hampton Jr., Chairman of the POCC – the Prisoners of Conscience Committee – and son of slain civil rights leaders Fred Hampton Sr.

Akua and Fred live right smack dab in the heart of Englewood on a close-knit, tree-lined block, where everybody looks out for each other. Well, today was no different

Neighbors and friends walked past and asked questions to the federal agents who had surrounded Fred and his mother's house.

But all Fred and his mother could remember was what they heard earlier that day while still half asleep -- dogs barking, and the ruffling of leaves in their yard as Federal agents’ footsteps approached their front door.

A young man that was driving by Fred’s house was allegedly very angry at the show of force the Federal agents had demonstrated.

“A young man got out of his car and stood up in the middle of the street allegedly not too far from the agents and said out loud that this is a bunch of crap he let it be known that he just received a case for a felony yesterday,” Fred said.

The Federal Investigators knocked hard on their door and told Njeri to let them in -- they wanted to talk to her about a threat she allegedly made on a U.S Attorney’s life that supposedly took place in the Federal building last week. When Njeri came to look out of the peep hole, she couldn’t believe her eyes.

“Federal agents in bulletproof vests were everywhere, at the top of my stairs, at the bottom of my stairs, across the street -- everywhere,” Njeri said, still highly shaken and upset from the ordeal.

“They said that I (allegedly) said that there is a mark on the US Attorney’s forehead,” Njeri went on to say.

“Anybody that knows who I am knows that I do not speak like that, I never threaten anyone,” Njeri continues. “The agents told me that if anything happens to the U.S. Attorney that I would be the first one that they will come to. And I told the agents that if anything happens to me, the people will know who did it.”

Fred and Njeri couldn’t believe what they were hearing. They alerted sctivists and others by cell phone to what was taking place in front of their home.*

After all, she had woken up to something similar to this a long time ago on a cold December morning when she was living on the west side while she was 8 months pregnant with Fred Hampton Jr. on the day his father and another Black Panther member was slain in the late 1960’s.

Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. expressed to me that in war-torn times those are the last people that you want to see knocking at your door. After all, Hampton and his mother are no stranger to the FBI. Fred and his mother are known for rallying activists concerning the Aaron Patterson case and shining a light on unjust issues concerning the wrongfully convicted.

The incident could have stemmed from an incident that took place last Tuesday, when Njeri and her son Fred were allegedly threatened by U.S. marshals with a taser gun. Both were escorted off of Federal
property (the Court Building located at 219 South Dearborn) during a Patterson jury trial and are currently on a list with other activists who are not allowed on Federal property. Akua Njeri, Deloris Quinn and David Bates were also allegedly assaulted by Federal Marshals and are expected to fill out a report.

As a journalist I called the FBI and talked to their spokeperson, Cynthia Yates. She confirmed that the Hampton home was visited by FBI agents, but she could not reveal the nature of the interview … but Yates added that the agents was very respectful of the Hampton home and its occupants.
 
 

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