Article – Howard Davis
A passionate and gripping, inspired by true events, political drama from director and co-writer Shaka King, Judas and the Black Messiah is a informative and instructive tale of human frailty that centers around the charismatic Chicago Black Panther leader …
Black Panthers on the Prowl
A passionate and gripping, “inspired by true events,” political drama from director and co-writer Shaka King,
Judas and the Black Messiah is an informative and instructive tale of human frailty that centers around the charismatic Chicago Black Panther leader Fred Hampton, who was murdered at the age of twenty-one during a police raid on his Chicago home. The raid was organized by the office of Cook County State’s Attorney Edward Hanrahan, whom Hampton had vehemently criticized, insisting his talk about a “war on gangs” was just rhetoric that justified and enabled a “war on black youth.” The police had been given inside information about the layout of the apartment by the FBI, who four years earlier had flipped a petty criminal and street hustler, William O’Neal, and encouraged him to become an informant while rising up through the ranks to become security captain of the local Illinois chapter and Hamptpn’s personal bodyguard