CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Chicago Congressman Bobby Rush, a onetime Black Panther leader, wants J. Edgar Hoover’s name removed from the FBI’s headquarters in Washington.
The move to scrub the reference to controversial lawman from the building at 935 Pennsylvania Ave. NW is part of legislation Rush introduced that also would compel the feds to open their files on surveillance they conducted on domestic political organizations that included the controversial Black Panther Party.
Hoover (1895 – 1972) oversaw the FBI for decades and is credited with helping to modernize crime-fighting, but he is a problematic figure in American history.
The Oscar-winning film Judas and the Black Messiah — a biopic about Rush friend and Illinois Panther leader Fred Hampton — suggests Hoover or his agency effectively orchestrated Hampton’s killing by Chicago police officers in 1969. A mole within the Panthers provided inside information to the FBI.
“It is beyond time for J. Edgar Hoover, who has a clear legacy as the number one assailant on America’s constitutional guarantees for its citizens, to have his name is removed from the FBI headquarters,” Rush, 74, said in a news release Tuesday. “I want to shine a bright light on this dark chapter of our nation’s history. And I think it is very timely and very important that we do it at this moment.”
Earlier this year, Rush and some of his colleagues sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland requesting the release of unclassified and un-redacted FBI and Justice Department files that can shed light on Hampton’s death.
Actor Daniel Kaluuya won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Hampton in the Black Messiah film. Actor Darrell Britt-Gibson portrays Rush as a young man in the film.