Shaka King’s historical dramatization of the betrayal of Black Panthers leader Fred Hampton by FBI informant Bill O’Neill is a progressive masterpiece. King’s depicts the war between the revolutionary Black Panthers and the inherently racist FBI led by paranoid J. Edgar Hoover. The Panther’s programs to bring the community out of poverty (free healthcare, breakfast, and education) disprove Hoover’s description of the panthers as “the single greatest threat to [U.S.] national security.
Politically, the film shows the modern audience that institutional racism on broad display in the 1960s is not so different from 21st century America. Through the moral degeneration of Roy Mitchell (the Federal agent to whom O’Neill reports), King argues that the police are an inherently racist institution. In contrast, the socialist idealism of the Black Panthers unifies all oppressed Chicagoans through the Rainbow Coalition. King embraces Fred Hampton’s plan for progression: provide free breakfast, free healthcare, and free education, and the oppressed will be set free.