3. Celebrating Fred Hampton & Judas and The Black Messiah Review

Filmagra

Fred Hampton was a revolutionary Marxist-Lenist. Does Judas & The Black Messiah honor his memory and political ideology in a respectful and productive way? Of course not. In this episode I discuss and praise what Fred Hampton was really about, fighting for his local, national and Global black community. And not just Black people, but, as he says, “the international proletariat”. Let’s dive into why Hampton was so amazing and posed a serious threat to American social order. Later sections of this episode discuss how Judas & The Black Messiah is, dramatically, a great film, but fails at truly celebrating Hampton -- or in other words it fails to inspire its spectators to become revolutionaries themselves.

Films Mentioned:

Belly (dir. Hype Williams, 1998)

Black Panther (dir. Ryan Coogler, 2018)

Judas & The Black Messiah (dir. Shaka King, 2021)

The Butler (dir. Lee Daniels, 2013)

Plays Mentioned:

Once On This Island (playwright Lynn Ahrens)

Podcasts & Episodes Mentioned: Low Society | #082 Twerking on Satan

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3oI33sMEGwI4JMPwpIBcm0?si=32876c8567e34b97

https://soundcloud.com/low-society/082-twerking-on-satan

Primary Sources:

Digital Copies of Black Panther Party Newspaper

https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/black-panther/index.htm

Fred Hampton Intro Clip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJBNoLJSLS8

Fred Hampton’s “It’s A Class Struggle Goddammit”

https://www.lfks.net/en/content/fred-hampton-its-class-struggle-goddammit-november-1969

People’s Trial For Fred Hampton pulled from July 1969 issue of BLACK PANTHER: http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/White%20Materials/Preparation/Prep%20020.pdf

Other Sources:

Noname declined joining Judas & The Black Messiah OST

https://www.okayplayer.com/culture/noname-judas-black-messiah-soundtrack.html

David McCloud Medium Article: My problem with Judas and The Black Messiah

https://captpigment.medium.com/my-problem-with-my-problem-with-judas-and-the-black-messiah-b7b49318095

My Letterboxd review of Judas

https://letterboxd.com/fourt_mind/film/judas-and-the-black-messiah/