This blog post is a step away from the norm. It’s a start of a new category, where I post about books I have read.
Im not anti TV or movies, I will consume that latest blockbuster, but I shy away from watching series on the telly, as I get more enjoyment out of a good book.
My daughter is very politicised, attuned to current afffairs of domestic and international governments.
My lad is obsessed with movies, the casting, method acting. One actor that has grabbed his attention is Danial Kaluuya.
I saw a couple of trailers on IG for Judas and the Black Messiah and decided I would take a break from the norm.
This is the story about Fred Hampton, the leader of the Black Panther movement in Chicago in late 1960’s and his downfall, aided by the collusion of the Chicago PD, the FBI and an informer of the name of William O’Neal.
I don’t want to provide too many spoiler alerts, but Hampton was a messiah, building the panthers up to prominence, which put the fear of god into J Edgar Hoover, and resulted in his assassination at the age of 21!
Kaluuya is awesome as Hampton.
My reading theme at the moment is the civil rights era of the USA, so this itch was very much scratched with the period of the movement.
I was absolutely compelled to read this book, after watching Judas and the Black Messiah.
Daniel Kaluuya was immense as Fred Hampton.
I am ashamed to say that I was not fully aware of the events leading upto the complicity of state bodies in his assasination, nor the fight to clear his name after his death at the age of 21. The book goes into more detail of the challenges Hampton’s lawyers faced with the judge at the time.
What a legacy.
This book is simply essential reading for the 1960's civil rights movement.