COINTELPRO targeted militants and Black youth, often kids under 18, whose leadership, discipline, and community organizing scared the political establishment far more than any weapon.

Rewatching Judas and the Black Messiah reveals how history is rarely simple. It is layered, full of contradictions, and deeply human. The story of Fred Hampton and Bill O’Neal shows this clearly. Their lives reflect the complexity of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, and the ways in which systems of power exploited divisions within Black communities.